The Cana­dian Par­lia­ment In Ottawa

Wel­come to my new series, “How to immi­grate to Canada“!

I recently received quite a lot of emails, ask­ing me ques­tions about the immi­gra­tion process. So I decided to explain the whole process in 10 posts, which will be pub­lished every Saturday.

I also encour­age you to ask any ques­tion you may have. I’m not an immi­gra­tion con­sul­tant, but from expe­ri­ence, I may be able to point you to the right direction!

In the series, we will see the dif­fer­ent options you have to come to Canada, as well as your rights and duties as a Per­ma­nent Res­i­dent, what hap­pens after you arrive etc.

Canada is com­mit­ted to reunite fam­i­lies. How­ever, as I wrote in Two Immi­gra­tion Myths, being mar­ried to or being in a rela­tion­ship with a Cana­dian cit­i­zen does not give you the right to live and work in Canada. How­ever, you may be eli­gi­ble to apply for per­ma­nent res­i­dence in Canada thought the spon­sor­ship cat­e­gory. Today, we will focus on spouse or partner’s spon­sor­ship, but other rel­a­tives may also be eli­gi­ble.

Who is eli­gi­ble to sponsor?

• The spon­sor must be a Cana­dian cit­i­zen or a per­ma­nent res­i­dent in Canada, and be at least 18 years old.
• The spon­sor must agree to pro­vide finan­cial sup­port for the appli­cant. As a result, you may not be eli­gi­ble to you receive gov­ern­ment finan­cial assis­tance for rea­sons other than a dis­abil­ity, declared bank­ruptcy and have not been released from it yet etc.

Who can be sponsored?

There are three categories:

• Spouse: you are legally mar­ried to your spon­sor. Note that same-sex cou­ple are rec­og­nized as long as the mar­riage is legal accord­ing to both the law of the place where the mar­riage occurred and under Cana­dian law.
• Common-law part­ner: you have been liv­ing together in a con­ju­gal rela­tion­ship for at least one year in a con­tin­u­ous 12-month period that was not interrupted.
• Con­ju­gal part­ner: for part­ners (of the oppo­site sex or same sex) who, in excep­tional cir­cum­stances, can­not live together nor can get legally mar­ried. For exam­ple, you are in a same-sex rela­tion­ship and same-sex mar­riage is not per­mit­ted where you live. Or if you were refused long-term stays in each other’s country.

How does it work?

Unlike with the skilled worker cat­e­gory, you do not have to go through a point sys­tem. All you have to go is to con­vince Cit­i­zen­ship & Immi­gra­tion that your rela­tion­ship with a Cana­dian cit­i­zen or per­ma­nent res­i­dent is genuine.

Sounds easy? Not so fast!

Imag­ine that, by default, immi­gra­tion offi­cers sus­pect you to be in a rela­tion­ship with a Cana­dian only to be able to immi­grate to Canada. Now, you have to prove them wrong. Which means dis­play­ing your pri­vate life… at length.

First, you have to decide in which cat­e­gory to apply: spouse, common-law part­ners, or con­ju­gal part­ners. In each cat­e­gory, you will have to prove the rela­tion­ship is gen­uine. But let’s be real­is­tic: immi­gra­tion offi­cials tend to trust spouses or common-law part­ners over con­ju­gal part­ners, unless you have a really good rea­son to not be mar­ried or live together.

Then, you have to decide whether you are apply­ing from within Canada, or from out­side Canada. If you are already in Canada (on a tourist, a stu­dent, a work visa, or even if you lost your legal sta­tus), you may apply from within Canada or from out­side Canada, it’s up to you. Both have good sides are bad sides:

• Apply­ing from within Canada: you will remain in Canada for the length of the process and may be eli­gi­ble for a work or study visa. On the other side, if you leave Canada dur­ing the immi­gra­tion process, you may not be able to enter the coun­try again. Besides, the process can be longer since most of the appli­ca­tions are processed in Buf­falo (NY), a very busy office. Finally, if your appli­ca­tion is turned down, you can­not appeal the decision.
• Apply­ing from out­side Canada: you may visit Canada while your appli­ca­tion is being processed (usu­ally in your country’s Cana­dian embassy), as long as you are accepted, but you will not be able to work. If your appli­ca­tion is turned down, you may appeal the deci­sion. It’s sup­posed to be faster.

How to apply

The first thing you need to do is to down­load the appli­ca­tion from Cit­i­zen­ship & Immigration.

Fill in the paper­work. Don’t for­get to add as many proofs that your rela­tion­ship is gen­uine as you can. This could include:

• Pro­vid­ing mar­riage cer­tifi­cate (if applicable)
• Proofs that you are liv­ing together (joint bank accounts, joint lease receipts, bills and mails received at the same address, joint purchases…)
• Pic­tures (mar­riage pic­tures, pic­tures in a relaxed set­ting or for spe­cial occa­sions, pic­tures taken months apart…)
• Let­ters of fam­ily and friends acknowl­edg­ing the relationship
• Travel doc­u­men­ta­tion (board­ing passes, hotel book­ings, pass­port stamps…) show­ing travel together

The appli­ca­tion pro­vides rel­a­tively lit­tle space for expla­na­tions. Don’t hes­i­tate to type on a sep­a­rate sheet of paper for more details.

Once your appli­ca­tion is com­plete, you must undergo a med­ical check-up. The appoint­ment must be made with a Des­ig­nated Med­ical Prac­ti­tioner (list here). You won’t get the results of the med­ical exam as they will be for­warded directly to the visa office. How­ever, you will get a call if there is a prob­lem (nice, I know).

Then, you must pay the fees and join the receipt to your appli­ca­tion. For one per­son, the total is $1040. The spon­sor fee is $75, the appli­cant fee is $475 and the right of per­ma­nent res­i­dence fee is $490.

And that’s it! You may mail your application.

What hap­pens next

• First, the case pro­cess­ing cen­ter will assess the spon­sor eli­gi­bil­ity. This is usu­ally pretty quick and straightforward.
• Then, the spouse or partner’s appli­ca­tion will be assessed. This is usu­ally the longest step, because that’s when the gen­uine­ness of the rela­tion­ship is studied.
• Is there is any doubt, the appli­cant will need to go for an inter­view with a CIC agent. Ques­tions will be about the rela­tion­ship with the spon­sor, rea­sons for emi­grat­ing etc.
• Finally, there is a secu­rity check, and the med­ical results will be reviewed.
• Per­ma­nent res­i­dent is granted.

The most com­mon rea­son to refuse a spon­sor­ship appli­ca­tion is the belief the rela­tion­ship is not gen­uine. So be pre­pared and pro­vide as many proofs of your rela­tion­ship as you can.

Spon­sor­ing some­one is a seri­ous respon­si­bil­ity and the process is quite drain­ing, for both the appli­cant and the spon­sor. My own advice: if your rela­tion­ship is new, or if you don’t really know each other, think about it twice. Mar­riage fraud does exist, and CIC does not like to assess appli­ca­tions where both parts met on the web three months ago and have never seen each other!

Related arti­cles:

1. Immi­gra­tion: The Skilled Worker Cat­e­gory (2÷10)
2. How Long Does The Immi­gra­tion Process Take? (6÷10)
3. 10 Com­mon Immi­gra­tion Ques­tions (8÷10)
4. The Two Immi­gra­tion Myths (1÷10)
5. 5 Immi­gra­tion Mis­takes To Avoid