Before you start

Doing Your Home Work

Don't make the mistake of applying before educating yourself about the process! Many delays and complications can be avoided if you anticipate them in before applying and take steps to remedy any issues that and Immigration officer may need to investigate or question you about...

Make sure you read the manuals and guides provided by Citizenship and Immigration Canada in order to ensure your application is processed as quickly and efficiently as possible, my philosophy is help the Immigration officer to help you..if your relationship is truly genuine it should not be difficult to provide the proof.

Please be aware that it is an offence to Apply under false pretences and misrepresentation can result in being banned from Canada for life if it should be determined that you have indeed deliberately applied for Permanent Residency fraudulently.

Does your Relationship Qualify for a Spouse/Common-law/Conjugal Class Application?

Your first step in applying is Determining which category you should apply under:

Are you legally married and can prove your marriage is genuine?
Have you legally resided with your partner for 12 continuous months and you can prove your relationship is genuine?
Can you prove you have been in a relationship for longer than 12 continuous months and been forced to live apart and can prove your relationship is genuine? If so you will be able to apply as Conjugal Partners.

If you are unable to provide proof that your relationship is genuine you will not qualify for Permanent Residency in Family Class however you may be eligible for Federal Skills Class, Provincial Nominees Program or a work permit to enable you to achieve a common-law application.

Do you qualify to be sponsored?

Spouse

Are you 16 Years of age of Older and Legally Married to your sponsor?
Are able to prove your age, identity and marriage?
Are you admissible to Canada?
Do you have any legal dependants that make you inadmissible to Canada?
Are you medically admissible?

Marriages of the Same Sex

Are you 16 Years of age or older and Legally Married to your sponsor either inside Canada or Legally performed outside Canada? The marriage must be recognized both by the law of the country it was preformed in and Canadian Law.
Are able to prove your age, identity and marriage?
Are you admissible to Canada?
Do you have any legal dependants that make you inadmissible to Canada?
Are you medically admissible?

You do not Qualify to be sponsored by your spouse in if;

You or your sponsor were the spouse of somebody else when you got married!
You have lived apart and separated from your Sponsor for 12 months or longer and you or the sponsor are in a Common-law relationship with another person!

Common-law Partner

Have you lived with your spouse for a period of 12 continuous months or longer prior to applying for Permanent Residency?
Are you admissible to Canada?
Do you have any legal dependants that make you inadmissible to Canada?
Are you medically admissible?
Can you provide proof of you co-habitation? - Joint Bank Accounts, Joint Rental Lease, proof of the same address?

Conjugal Partner

You can apply as a conjugal partners if you have maintained a continuous Conjugal Relationship for a period of 1 year or longer and been forced to live apart due to circumstances that prevent then from applying either as a spouse or Common-law partner. Sometimes due to Immigration rules preventing long stays in each others countries or Religious beliefs preventing the applicant from marrying the sponsor etc..

Please refer to the Applicants Guides for further information

Inside Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/5289E.PDF
Outside Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/3999E.pdf

Does your Sponsor Qualify to Sponsor you?

There are a number of requirements your sponsor must be able to meet before they can sponsor you to come to Canada.

Is your Sponsor 18 years or older?
Is your Sponsor a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident*?

Reasons your sponsor may not be eligible to sponsor you:

Your Sponsor is in receipt of social assistance other than disability**
Your Sponsor is an un-discharged Bankrupt
Your Sponsor has previously sponsored a person or their family members that received assistance during the period of undertaking.
Your Sponsor has previously Co-Signed to sponsor a person or their family members that received assistance during the period of undertaking.
Your Sponsor has been ordered to leave Canada
Your Sponsor has missed or has been late on making payments on an Immigration Loan
Your Sponsor is currently detained in Jail, Prison, Penitentiary or Reformatory
Your Sponsor has been convicted of a sexual offence or an offence against a member of the applicants family within the 5 years prior to your application.
Your Sponsor is in default of a court order for Child Support payments to their Spouse, former Spouse, Common-Law partner, former Common-law Partner or Child.
Your Sponsor has made an application to revoke their Citizenship for which a decision has not yet been made.
Your Sponsor is subject to a report of inadmissibility
Your Sponsor has been charged with an offence under an act of Parliament by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years
The Sponsor is not able to provide proof of enough funds to enable them to support the Applicant for the 3 years of Undertaking.

* If the Sponsor must reside in Canada during the application process if they are a Permanent Resident, however Canadian Citizens may reside outside Canada during the process of they can show they intend to reside in Canada.

**Social assistance is money received from the government to pay for housing, clothing, food, subsidised child care, medical etc due to a lack of income. Canada Child Tax Benefit, Universal Child Care Benefit and other such benefits do not come under Social Assistance.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

The information on this website is a reproduction of an official work that is published by the Government of Canada and has not been reproduced in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of the Government of Canada.

The above information has been reproduced from; Sponsoring your family:Spouses and dependent children—Who can apply produced by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.