What Are the Eligibility Requirements for Spousal Sponsorship in Canada?

Discover the eligibility requirements for spousal sponsorship in Canada. Find out how Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor their spouse or partner for permanent residency.

Spousal sponsorship is one of the most popular reasons for migrating to Canada because the country allows free immigration. Family Sponsorship in Canada will enable individuals who are permanent citizens of Canada or reside in the country to sponsor a spouse for residency. This enables families to be together and put their lives together in Canada. However, the sponsor as well as the applicant have to meet other qualifying characteristics. In the rest of this blog, we will outline these requirements to help you navigate the spousal sponsorship process.

Who Can Be Sponsored?

Any person, whom you wish to sponsor should meet a legal definition as your spouse or a common-law part of your marriage which you both entered lawfully. Here's a breakdown of the eligibility requirements:  

Legal Marriage:

The legislative requirements to be met for a candidate and sponsor to qualify for marriage are as follows; Despite today’s advanced society, a candidate and sponsor must be legally married. Official documents also including a marriage certificate will be needed as proof. A marriage has to be legal in the country where it occurred as well as in Canada.

Common-Law Partnership:

Still, there are some important conditions to meet: first of all, you should not be officially married, but if you lived together resembling a marriage for more than a year, you may count on the support as well. This means that letters of intent to share the house and any other written agreements to share the utility bills and bank accounts will be produced.

Conjugal Relationships:

If you are in a common law partnership, which entails a marital-like relationship without cohabitation because of certain impediments like immigration prohibitions you may also qualify. This partnership must have taken at least one year.

Eligibility of the Sponsor:

The sponsor must meet specified criteria to sponsor their spouse or partner:

Age Requirement:

To be a sponsor, a person must be at least 18 years of age.

Canadian Citizenship or Permanent Residency:

The sponsor must be a permanent resident or a citizen of Canada and must be a resident of that country as well. In the case that the sponsor is a permanent resident, he or she has to be physically present in Canada and cannot be a conditional permanent resident.

Financial Capability:

As for the spousal sponsorship program, there is no prerequisite for the sponsor to earn a specific amount of money, only the core guts to.firebaseapp.com that they can support the partner or spouse. The sponsor shall not have been in breach of any previous sponsorship duties for the foregoing, the sponsor cannot receive social assistance for anything other than a disability.

Not Unduly Influenced:

The sponsor has to have not any prior bans or restrictions in the sponsorship caused by prior violations of the immigration law.

Application Process:

The spousal sponsorship procedure has multiple parts, and both the sponsor and the applicant must submit an application package to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The following are the main components of the application process:

Application Forms:

Both parties must complete the relevant application paperwork. The forms will differ depending on whether you are applying from within Canada or overseas.

Document Submission:

Both the sponsor and the applicant must submit supporting documentation. This includes proof of relationship (such as images or chat logs), identification documents, and proof of legal status in Canada (if relevant).

Processing Fees:

The sponsor must pay the application fee, which includes both processing and the right to permanent residence.

Interview:

In some situations, the IRCC may request an interview to confirm the validity of the relationship.

Processing Time:

The processing period for spousal sponsorship applications varies depending on several criteria, including the applicant's location and the application's completion. On average, the application can take anywhere from 12 to 24 months to be processed.

Conclusion:

Bringing a spouse or common-law partner to Canada is very easy provided you meet all the conditions and submits all the necessary documents. To ensure that you do not delay be certain that all the necessary forms are well filled and that all supporting documents have been attached. It may perhaps be useful to consult an immigration consultant or a lawyer so that they guide you how to go regarding the process as well as advise whether you are compliant with the present immigration codes. Within time you and your spouse can rebuild your life in Canada as you had planned and here are the procedures below.