Spousal sponsorship Canada: spouse, common-law or conjugal partner

Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner

• Spouse: a person you are married to;
• Common-law partner: a person you have lived with in a conjugal relationship for at least 12 consecutive months;
• Conjugal partner: a relationship of at least one year, but you cannot live together, for example because of immigration or legal obstacles.

These are not synonyms: the category depends on your actual situation.

From inside Canada or from abroad

• Inside Canada: the sponsored person lives with you in Canada and has valid temporary resident status;
• From abroad: the sponsored person lives outside Canada. A Canadian citizen living abroad can sponsor if they plan to live in Canada; a permanent resident living abroad cannot sponsor.

The two procedures are not identical: we determine which one applies to your situation.

In Québec

• IRCC: the sponsorship and permanent residence application is filed with IRCC first;
• MIFI: the sponsor who lives in Québec then submits an undertaking application to the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration, only after receiving confirmation from IRCC;
• if the undertaking is accepted, Québec issues the sponsored person's Québec Selection Certificate (CSQ).

How we can help

Pro Immigration can help you:

• review your situation and choose the procedure (inside Canada or from abroad);
• assess the eligibility of the sponsor and the sponsored person;
• select and organize the evidence of your relationship;
• prepare the application, and the MIFI undertaking in Québec;
• file the application, follow it and respond to IRCC's document requests.

IRCC assesses whether the relationship is genuine: the useful evidence varies from one couple to another. We cannot guarantee that the application will be approved, or a processing time.