Spousal Sponsorship

Are my marriage documents still valid in Canada?

No. A marriage or marriage documents will be valid and recognized in Canada and for the purposes of immigration if it is legally recognized where it took place and under Canadian Federal Law.

It is important that when you submit your spousal sponsorship application, that you provide the necessary marriage documents to show that your marriage was legal in the country or state where your marriage took place.

Since your marriage will also need to be valid under Canadian law (federal and provincial), a marriage that was entered into by proxy will not be recognized and is considered invalid. Also, as Canada does not recognize polygamous marriages, they are excluded from the definition of marriage. Some countries have no divorce legislation or do not permit divorce; in this case, the responsibility is on the applicant to show that the applicant and their former spouse are separated and do not have a married relationship.

How long can I expect to wait for paid spousal sponsorship before entering Canada?

When the Embassy or High Commission of Canada asks the sponsor to pay the Right of Permanent Residence Fee ($490) and the applicant to submit the passport, this is very good news. This means that the application is processing properly and will be finalized. However, this does not mean that the application is approved and it also does not mean that the applicant will receive the passport with the immigrant visa and Confirmation of Permanent Residence anytime soon. In some cases, the applicant will receive the passport shortly after, however, in some cases, it might still take a few weeks, even a few months sometimes.

If the process takes longer, this does not automatically mean that there is an issue with your application. Often immigration has backlogs in their visa posts abroad, and your application might simply be in the queue for finalization and approval. It is normal to feel anxious while waiting for the last step to be completed – however, if your application has been properly prepared, you have nothing to worry about.

The CIC website provides us with some useful guidelines on processing times. Processing times might be faster or shorter than the time posted. Usually, the CIC website is pretty accurate on processing times and immigration regularly updates these times.

If the processing of your application is taking much longer than the time posted as well as longer than what we usually experience in our office, we will submit a request for an update at the Embassy or the High Commission to ensure that your file is being handled adequately. We cannot call immigration to request these updates- we can mail, email and fax letters. We also cannot send letters too often as we keep in mind the backlogs. Usually, immigration is responsive and provides us with an update.

We recommend that you do not make any travel plans until you receive your passport. Once the application is approved, your passport will contain an immigrant visa which will allow the applicant to travel to Canada. The applicant will also receive a confirmation of permanent residence which will be used upon “landing.” The landing process can take place at a Canadian port-of-entry (airport or land border) as well as by taking an appointment at a local CIC office if the applicant is already in Canada. The applicant will only become a Permanent Resident once this “landing” process has taken place.

Please contact our office if you need help to submit an update request to the Embassy or the High Commission.

What are steps for an overseas marital sponsorship application?

How long does it take?

These are questions I get asked very frequently. The procedures on marital spousal sponsorships are indicated on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website. However, the information is of general nature, and once the process is in place, applicants and sponsors can easily be confused as to what are the steps left to finalize the application and have their partner finally travel to Canada.

Do you qualify to apply?

The first aspect I look at as a lawyer before starting a spousal sponsorship application is to determine whether you and your partner are in a real, committed and long term relationship. We must then demonstrate that as a couple, you are eligible to apply. You have to be married, in a common law relationship (living together for at least one year) or be conjugal partners.

Does the sponsor meet the eligibility requirement?

Then, the sponsor has to meet the eligibility criteria, such as not be bankrupt, not be on welfare, not be in default of any spousal or child support and finally, not have been convicted of any crimes of violent nature against a family member. To determine all of these, a series of questions is asked during the consultation.

Admissibility issues?

As for the applicant – she or he must not be inadmissible to Canada for criminality, misrepresentation or financial issues. In the event of inadmissibility, these applicants may still be able to be sponsored by their spouses, but the application must clearly address these issues and have the required special requests.

If the sponsor were herself/himself sponsored to Canada, then she/he would not be able to sponsor a spouse for 5 years.

List of documents

Once all these eligibility criteria have been addressed, we can move on to preparing the overseas spousal sponsorship application. Once you hire us as your immigration lawyer, we will provide you with a list of documents and specific instructions to start preparing the application. The Citizenship and Immigration Canada website provides with the minimum documentation to be submitted. As lawyers having submitted thousands of files, we know that these documents are not sufficient and could easily result in the refusal of your application or cause long delays.

For this, we have prepared, over the years, a very accurate and detailed list of documents which will reflect the relationship of the couple and the reasons why the application should be approved. An overseas spousal sponsorship is not about only filling up forms and providing a marriage certificate as well as a couple of pictures. There is much more that comes into play when preparing an adequate and complete application.

The specific documents we submit will contain accurate information which will assist the immigration officer reviewing your application in making an affirmative determination. These immigration officers assess hundreds of cases every month, and it is crucial to prepare the application in a way which will shed light on the particular facts of your love story. You and your partner are not simply a file number but real people, with real feelings, emotions and ambitions. Many officers often forget this and systematically refuse incomplete or thin applications.

Forms and Questionnaire

Once the documents are submitted to our office, we will then ask you to complete a questionnaire about the details of your relationship, from the first moment you met, your fist kiss, to dating and to either the proposal and marriage or the permanent cohabitation as well as your future plans as a couple. We ask you these questions because as lawyers when we submit any application, we include at the top of the package what we call in legal terms a “submission letter” (cover letter). This submission letter is usually about 4-6 pages and outlines in details how your relationship with your partner came to be, why you fell in love and why you have decided to proceed with the sponsorship. If your story contains some specifics issues or facts, it will be important to include these in the submission letter by providing a detailed explanation. This will allow the officer to fully understand the story and avoid back and forth questions or requirements of documents by the Canadian Embassy. For example, if there were criminal charges or convictions, divorces, previous applications, and refusals if the sponsor is currently living abroad etc. These are all matters which should be addressed in the submission letter with complete explanations.

How will we know as lawyers what extra information to include in the submission? We will know following our initial consultation as we would have obtained all of the background information which will allow us to categorize any red flags in your case. Further, my experience has been that every couple is different and every story is different – it is important to demonstrate how unique each application is.

Once this portion is completed, the documents and the submission letter, we will then ask you to fill out a series of immigration forms. Some for the applicant and some for the sponsor. We complete the forms toward the end of the preparation of the application as immigration forms often expire, sometimes every month. Submitting an expired form to CIC can result in the entire application being returned and even sometimes refused.

Closer to when the application will be filed, we also request the applicant to undergo the medical examination, as these medical tests expire as well.

First Step – CPC Mississauga – Eligibility of the Sponsor

At this stage, the application is almost complete. As the client, you will be able to review the entire application along with the submission letter to ensure that it is to your liking. We will then be submitting the application by courier to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga where takes place the first step – the eligibility of the sponsor. This process can take anywhere from 2-5 months depending on the backlog of the office, even though the CIC website oscillates between 1-2 months for the processing time of this first step.

Transfer of Application for Further Processing

Once the eligibility of the sponsor is approved, we will receive a letter indicating so. The letter will also usually indicate that the application has now been forwarded to the visa office abroad responsible for your file. In some cases, if the applicant is already living in Canada under proper status, the record can continue to process in Mississauga or be sent to Ottawa for processing.

The application will now process at the visa post abroad (Embassy, High Commission or Consulate General). Once the file has been assigned to an immigration officer, the officer will submit requests, usually in the forms of emails or letters requesting updated forms, new clearances, sometimes updated medicals and other information about the spouses. This is standard practice. There can be many back and forth with the officer at this stage to adequately finalize the file, and this stage can take months to complete.This is the longest part of the application. This is where a lot of couples get frustrated and impatient! Therefore important to have adequate representation on file to guide you through what is “normal” and what is not.

Processing Times

CIC provides on its website approximate processing times for each visa post abroad on sponsorships – these processing times are regularly updated. However, having practiced immigration law for so many years, I can confidently say that about 50% of the cases are processed in the time frame indicated by CIC. In some cases, files might process faster but, most often than not, much much longer.

Why is this? Clients often ask me to call the Embassy or send a request to expedite or “find out what is going on.” Some clients even try to call the Embassy or show up in person to demand an explanation! None of these actions are solutions and in fact, can negatively affect your application. An application can take longer to process simply because there is a backlog at the Embassy. A backlog means that there are many pending applications and often only 1 or 2 immigration officers on duty to review and complete these files. Officers are human beings as well and not machines. They must review each application carefully and ensure that all the requirements are met. This all makes sense as Canada is one of the best countries in the world and we want to ensure that only deserving people enter.

Becoming a Permanent Resident of Canada is a Privilege and Not a Right

Also, it should be reminded that it is a privilege to become a permanent resident of Canada, and eventually a Canadian citizen, not a right. I am often surprised at my clients who are impatient and end up in distress when the processing of their application is not going three times faster then what is posted! What I tell my client is that the 12-month waiting time is a glimpse of a moment when you look at the long-term plan of being re-united with your spouse in Canada forever.

My experience has also shown me that a complete application with strong supporting documents tends, in most cases, to drastically reduce the average processing time. I have often been pleasantly surprised when some applications took a few months from beginning to end. However, this should be taken with a grain of salt – as I always say: “In immigration, we hope for the best, but we are prepared for the worst.”

It is important in immigration law to view and understand the administrative world of CIC in a very realistic manner. As experienced professionals dealing with CIC on a daily basis, we are here to guide you and provide you with the clear answer as to what you can expect.

I did the medical examination and on the CIC website it says “Decision Made”.

It’s also been exactly the number of months indicated on the processing chart. When will I get the decision?

The online tool allowing you to check your application status on the CIC website should be used with discretion. Though the online tool will indicate an updated status, for example, “Decision Made”, there are still steps that immigration must follow before they can provide you notice of the decision in writing. This can sometimes take a few weeks or a few months. It is best to wait until you have received an email or letter from CIC directly providing you an update and information on the status of your application.

The processing times posted on the CIC websites are estimates based on when the application is received until a decision is made on an application. The processing times are based on how long it took to process 80 percent of all cases within a certain time period; and as indicated on the CIC website, these processing times are subject to change.

Though the processing times can give you an idea of how long it will take to make a decision on your application, it is still only an estimate. How quickly your application will be processed will be assessed on a number of things. To find out why your application is taking so long to process, click here.

You can contact our office at [email protected] for more information or click here to book a consultation with a lawyer.

The good news is that you can. The Operation Manual 2 on the Processing of the Members of the Family Class states the following:

What happens if the common-law partner (principal applicant) is married to another person?

“Persons who are married to third parties may be considered common-law partners provided their marriage has broken down and they have lived separate and apart from the spouse for long enough to establish a common-law relationship – at least one year. In this case, they must have cohabited in a conjugal relationship with the common-law partner for at least one year.

Cohabitation with a common-law partner cannot be considered to have started until a physical separation from the spouse has occurred. A common-law relationship cannot be legally established if one or both parties continue their marital relationships.

Officers must be satisfied that a principal applicant is separated from and no longer cohabits with a legal spouse. This evidence may be in the form of a signed formal declaration that the marriage has ended and that the person has entered into a common-law relationship. An officer may require that the person produces other written evidence of a formal separation or of a breakdown of the marriage. Acceptable documents include a separation agreement, a court order in respect of custody of children identifying the fact of the marriage breakdown, documents removing the legally married spouse(s) from insurance policies or will as beneficiaries (a “change of beneficiary” form.)”

In many cases, individuals who are separated from their spouses are not able to obtain a divorce in a timely manner due to different circumstances (court backlogs, missing spouses etc). This policy allows married individuals who are separated and in a common law, relationship to sponsor their current partner.

I am in the spousal sponsorship process for my spouse from overseas but there is now an armed conflict in his city – can he come to Canada sooner?

This is truly an unfortunate situation, however, depending on the details of your case you may have some options available to you. If you haven’t already applied, you may consider submitting an application for a temporary resident visa. Your spouse will have to meet the eligibility requirements for this application, and submit a strong application with good supporting documents. However, consider that, if your spouse is called for an interview for the spousal sponsorship application, he or she will have to return to the country of citizenship to attend the interview. In this instance, a temporary resident visa may offer only a temporary solution.

If your spouse is ineligible for either of these options, you should prepare to wait until the permanent residence application is approved. Given the urgency of the application and the safety concern for your spouse, it is recommended that you submit a very strong application that will ensure that your application meets regular processing times, and any undue delays are avoided.

I want to sponsor my wife to Canada – she is currently in Canada as a visitor. Should I submit an in-Canada sponsorship application or an overseas spousal sponsorship?

An in-Canada sponsorship application is very different than an overseas sponsorship application. It is important to understand the differences as this can greatly impact processing times as well as travel.

First, the processing times for an overseas application are usually shorter. An in-Canada application can take as long as 2-3 years to process, during which time your spouse will not be able to leave Canada. Should your spouse leave Canada and return, the border officer may choose to “cancel” the pending in-Canada application given the travel outside Canada.

Second, an in-Canada application is primarily intended for those spouses who are already in Canada but do not have legal status to remain in Canada; or for those spouses who are already in Canada but cannot return to their country of citizenship for various reasons (fear, lack of travel document, etc.).

Your wife is currently in Canada as a visitor. She can stay in Canada with you while the overseas application processes, as long as she maintains and renews her status as a visitor (Temporary Resident Visa, Visitor Record, Extensions, etc.).

Finally, if the in-Canada application is refused, you do not have the right to appeal the decision at the Immigration Appeal Division. The right of appeal is a fundamental right which can eventually allow your spouse to become a permanent resident if your application was refused for erroneous and unreasonable reasons. Further, sometimes, the only way to have an approval on a spousal sponsorship, is to go through the appeal process (Ex: complex criminality related sponsorships, financial refusal, etc.).