How to Apply for Canada Spousal Visa?

by Mansi Sahai Published on 31/Dec/2022

In Canada, the government understands the essence of families being together. Thus, the country put family reunification as one of the top priorities and aim at speeding up the processing of spousal sponsorship applications.

To put forward more clearly, Canada's spousal sponsorship program makes an ideal pathway for spouses and common-law partners of Canadian citizens and PR holder to reunite with each other. As a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, a person ageing above 18 years can become eligible to sponsor their partner to move to Canada permanently.

About spousal sponsorship

As mentioned, Canadian permanent residents and citizens can sponsor a spouse or common-law partner or conjugal partner to apply for permanent residence of Canada.

Both the citizen or permanent resident of Canada, i.e. the sponsor and the foreign national, i.e. sponsored person must get approved by the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for the sponsored person to apply for and obtain PR status in Canada.

In order to qualify, a sponsor and the person to be sponsored must prove their relationship to the IRCC and to your surprise, Canada also recognizes same-sex marriages, which means same-sex partners are also eligible to apply under one of the following categories:

Spouse- A person who is married to you legally and age minimum 18 years
Common-law partner- A person 18 years or above who is not married to you legally, but must be living with you for minimum 12 consecutive months
Conjugal partner- A person who is not married to you legally, but is in a relationship with you for minimum 1 year. A person must age 18 years of above and living outside of Canada. A conjugal partner cannot live with you in their country of origin or marry you because of certain immigration and legal angles. The reasons may include marital status, sexual orientation, persecution, etc. Thus, it is important to prove that you both can't live together or get married in the country of your conjugal partner.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to sponsor your spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, you must:

Age 18 years or above
Be a citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, or be registered as an Indian under Canadian Indian Act
Prove your plan to live in Canada with your sponsored partner once he/she become a PR holder (Only if you are a citizen of Canada but living abroad)
Be residing in Canada at the time of application (if you are a permanent resident)
Prove that you don't get any social assistance for a reason except any disability

Prove that you can support the sponsored partner financially