The process to sponsor your partner in Canada improved

Canada is aiming to speed up the processing of 18,000 spousal sponsorship applications by the year-end.

This announcement was made by IRCC on September 24, 2020. The announcement outlines the innovative steps it’s taking to make the best efforts to reunite loved ones as soon as possible.

The target for the number of new immigrants obtaining PR in Canada via Canada immigration categories of partner, spousal, and children family class sponsorship is 70,000. The Government of Canada is considering family reunification as a top priority.

Certain new measures have been announced by IRCC to reduce the backlogs in the processing of spousal sponsorship applications. So, understanding the process of spousal sponsorship can help both ends of the process to make correct moves and decisions.

The purpose

Canadian PRs and citizens can sponsor a common-law partner, spouse, or conjugal partner to get PR for them. So, a Canadian PR or citizen will become a sponsor, and the one he/she is sponsoring becomes sponsored. The sponsor and the sponsored must be approved by IRCC. The relations between the sponsor and the sponsored falls under the following categories:

• Conjugal partner
• Common-law partner
• Spouse

Canada also approves of same-sex marriages.

Eligibility - Sponsor

A sponsor is eligible to sponsor his/her partner if:

• The sponsor is aged 18 years or more
• The sponsor is a Canadian PR, Canadian citizen, or one registered in Canada under the Canadian Indian Act
• The sponsor is a Canadian citizen living abroad it will be necessary to prove that the sponsor his/her intention to live with the sponsored person in Canada, once the sponsored becomes a PR
• The sponsor is a PR living in Canada
• The sponsor can prove that he/she’s not receiving social assistance except because he/she’s having a disability
• The sponsor can financially meet the basic needs of the sponsored person

Eligibility – Sponsored

The sponsored person must in any case be above 18 years of age.

Conjugal partner: A conjugal partner is a partner who is not legally married to the sponsor. Such a partner must have had at least a year’s relationship with the sponsor. This partner also lives outside Canada and cannot marry or live with the sponsor in his/her country of residence because of legal and immigration reasons.

Common-law partner: A common-law partner isn’t married legally to the sponsor. This person will have been living with the sponsor for at least 12 months consecutively.

Spouse: The spouse is legally married to the sponsor.

Steps to apply

The 2 applications to be simultaneously submitted by the sponsor are:

• Sponsorship application
• PR application

The procedure to apply have the following steps:

• Fetch IRCC’s application package
• Pay the application fees
• Email your application to IRCC

After making a successful application, the couple should be mindful of certain obligations. These are:

• The financial responsibility of the sponsored is on the sponsor for 3 years.
• Those who have been sponsored aren’t allowed to sponsor someone else for 5 years after them being sponsored for PR.

Now that you have a basic understanding of how spousal sponsorship works in Canada, you can use it to your advantage.

If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest or Migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Company.

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Note:

IRCC – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

PR – Permanent Residence / Permanent Resident