Three relationships, and they are not interchangeable
Most sponsorships are of a spouse or partner, and most difficulties come from two things. Choosing the wrong class for the relationship, and an exclusion that turns on something that happened years before the relationship existed.
- Spouse. Legally married, at least 18, any gender.
- Common law partner. At least one year of continuous cohabitation in a conjugal relationship. Where cohabitation was impossible because of persecution or penal control, the Regulations deem you common law partners even though you have not lived together.
- Conjugal partner. At least one year in a conjugal relationship, living outside Canada, and unable to live with you or marry you. The barriers the government recognises include a marital status that cannot be dissolved, a sexual orientation that is not accepted or is criminalised where they live, and persecution, and that list comes from its published guidance rather than from the Regulations themselves. The category exists for people whose circumstances prevent cohabitation, not for people who have simply not moved in together.
- There is no income requirement. Sponsoring a spouse or partner who has no dependent children carries no minimum income test, and nor does one whose dependent child has no children of their own.
- The undertaking is three years. From the day they become a permanent resident.
- A conjugal partner must use the outland route. Only a spouse or common law partner has the choice between the two classes.
Inland against outland
| Inland, spouse or common law partner in Canada | Outland, family class | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can use it | A spouse or common law partner living with you in Canada | A spouse, common law partner or conjugal partner, wherever they are |
| Status required | They must hold valid temporary resident status, or be covered by a public policy exemption | None |
| Open work permit | Yes, and this is the main practical advantage. Normally requires the acknowledgement of receipt, and valid temporary status or an applied for restoration, and is issued for up to two years. Where the file is proceeding under the spousal public policy because they are out of status, it waits for the approval in principle letter | Also available where they are in Canada living with you and the application is complete, which people often do not realise |
| Travel while waiting | Risky. Leaving can cancel their temporary status and they may not be readmitted | They are outside Canada already, so the question does not arise in the same way |
| If it is refused | They must leave at the end of their authorised stay. The appeal right attaches to a refusal to issue a permanent resident visa, and an inland applicant is not issued one, so do not assume an appeal is available here | A refusal to issue the permanent resident visa carries an appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division, brought by the sponsor within thirty days |
| Conjugal partners | Not available | The only route |
What a refusal leaves you with is part of the choice, not an afterthought, and we weigh it on the facts of the file rather than by default.
The open work permit is broader than most descriptions of it, and narrower than the acknowledgement of receipt alone suggests. The public policy extends to spouses, common law partners and conjugal partners being sponsored while living in Canada with the sponsor, and to an accompanying dependent child, under either class, so official summaries that describe it only for an inland spouse understate who can apply. But it also requires valid temporary resident status, or eligibility for restoration together with an application for it, and if the permanent residence application is being processed under the spousal public policy, meaning the applicant is out of status, the work permit cannot be applied for until the approval in principle letter arrives rather than on the acknowledgement of receipt. It needs the same residential address as the sponsor and a complete permanent residence application, and runs for a maximum of two years.
The exclusions, and the one that catches innocent people
A spouse you did not declare years ago can be excluded permanently
If you previously applied for permanent residence and became a permanent resident, and at that time your spouse was a non accompanying family member who was not examined, they are excluded from the family class. The relationship being genuine today does not cure it.
There is narrow relief where an officer determined that the person was not required to be examined. That relief is then withdrawn where an officer finds you were told they could be examined and were able to make them available but did not, or where they did not appear, or where the spouse was living separate and apart from you and was not examined.
This is the single most common reason a genuine marriage cannot be sponsored, and it is worth establishing before you spend anything. Where the exclusion applies, a request on humanitarian and compassionate grounds is the remaining avenue rather than an appeal, for a reason set out below.
- Genuineness has two limbs, and either defeats you. The relationship fails if it was entered into primarily to acquire status or a privilege under the Act, or if it is not genuine. A relationship that became real can still fail on how it began.
- An existing spousal undertaking blocks a new one. If you already sponsored a spouse or partner and that undertaking has not ended, you cannot sponsor another. Since a spousal undertaking runs three years, that is the practical length of the bar.
- Being sponsored yourself creates a five year wait. If you became a permanent resident or citizen after being sponsored as a spouse or partner, you must hold that status for five years before sponsoring a spouse or partner.
- Marriages Canada will not recognise for this purpose. Where either of you was married to another at the time. Where one of you was not physically present at the ceremony, whether by proxy, telephone, fax or internet. The exception is narrow and specific, applying where the absent party was absent because of their own service as a member of the Canadian Forces, and it also requires the marriage to be valid both under the law of the place where it happened and under Canadian law. And a person under 18 is not a spouse or partner at all.
- Separation plus a new partnership excludes the earlier spouse. Where you have lived separate and apart for at least a year and either of you has become another person's common law or conjugal partner.
Requirements checker
A structured way to see where you stand against the published criteria. It returns an indication only, not an eligibility decision, not legal advice, and not a prediction that you will be invited.
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