Reuniting with spouse or partner in Canada
The family sponsorship program is suitable for those who were not able to immigrate as a family at once or who entered into a relationship with a Canadian while living in their home country.
Family reunification (family sponsorship) programs allow permanent residents and citizens of Canada to invite their family members and relatives to live permanently in the country. One of the options is reunification with a spouse or partner. Under this program, a Canadian resident is required to support their partner for 3 years, and the partner cannot qualify for social assistance from the government. Important: the relationship must be real!
Who can be sponsored
Canada identifies several categories of partners who can be sponsored. They all have to be over 18 years old:
- a spouse to whom a Canadian resident is legally married;
- a common-low partner with whom a Canadian resident has been living together for more than a year, but is not married;
- a conjugal partner with whom a Canadian resident has been in a relationship for more than a year, but is not married and not living together for valid reasons related to the laws of the partner's home country.
If the sponsor and the sponsored person are married, for example, got married in their home country or Canada, a marriage certificate is sufficient.
If there is no legal marriage, proof of living together is needed. This can be a joint rental agreement, shared utility bills, ownership of the real estate, registration at the same address, joint photographs, etc.
In the latter case, when a conjugal partner is sponsored, it is necessary to prove that living together or getting married is impossible. For example, this could be proof of a denial of a long-term stay in the partner's country. Also, the situations when the partner is married and the laws of their country prohibit divorce, or same-sex marriage is prohibited in the country fall into this category.
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