It’s almost Valentine’s Day. While it’s a joyous and romantic celebration for many couples – this holiday may be especially difficult for long distance lovers, as they are forced to be separated due to their immigration status.
As a special treat, Sabrina, principal lawyer from Varity Law, will guide our readers through the ins and outs of spousal sponsorship, with the hope that more couples would be reunited as soon as possible.
Who can sponsor?
In Canada, anyone who fulfills all of the following requirements can sponsor their partner:
- The sponsor is 18 years or older;
- The sponsor is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident;
- The sponsor does not receive any government financial assistance or social aid;
- The sponsor and sponsee have enough income to support themselves;
- The sponsor and sponsee are in fact in a committed, romantic relationship (not “marriage of convenience”)
While #1-3 above are hard & fast rules, #4 – 5 are less clearly defined and require a lot of supporting evidence and explanations. Having an experienced immigration lawyer is especially useful in addressing those factors.
Moreover, spousal sponsorship is one of the most popular immigration programs. This is because the sponsee can receive permanent resident status right away, rather than having to first apply for temporary status such as visitor visa or work permit. As well, the sponsee can apply for a spousal open work permit at the same time (enabling them to work for any employer in Canada), achieving two goals with one application.
Financial Ability
Save for some special circumstances (e.g. the sponsee has many dependents including children and grandchildren), there is no hard requirement or cut-off line for how much income the sponsor and sponsee must have. Immigration officers assess the income requirement on a case-by-case basis.
In one of our recent successful cases, the sponsor and sponsee both have relatively low income. The sponsor worked as a pool cleaner, and the sponsee is a front-desk receptionist. Nevertheless, we presented a detailed financial plan that clearly explained their career aspects and how they would be able to support all of their expenses. Our efforts were not in vain, and the immigration officer approved their application, allowing them to stay with each other permanently in Canada.
Genuine Relationship
Due to this program’s popularity, it has been prone to fraud – used by partners whose relationship was not romantic and were business-like. In other words, they were not real couples and were abusing the program in order to get PR status. Consequently, immigration officers routinely screen for any factors that may lead to the conclusion that the relationship is not “genuine”. Innocent mistakes, such as personal statements and supporting letters that were poorly drafted, can easily lead to a rejection.
There is three types of relationship that is eligible for spousal sponsorship: married couples, common-law partners, and those in conjugal relationships.
Married couples are those who are legally married in any country. Although having a marriage certificate is strong evidence of genuine relationship, other factors such as the length of time the couple were together, whether they live together, and their financial interdependence are all likely to influence the application’s success rate.
Common-law couples must have lived together for at least one year. As well, this one year must be continuous, not on-and-off. Nevertheless, if there were strong reasons for why the couples were living together in intervals rather than all the time, then the application may be approved with suitable evidence and explanations.
Conjugal relationships are the hardest to prove. In this category, the partners are in a romantic relationship but are not married. They also do not live together due to reasons beyond their control, including being physically separated because they had to live in different countries.
Whichever category that the couple fits in, the key is proving that the romantic relationship is real and not only for immigration purposes.
Conclusion
Spousal sponsorship is a hugely popular immigration program, as the successful applicant would get their permanent resident status right away. At the same time, it has been a highly abused program by applicants who are not in genuine romantic relationships, leading to scrutiny by immigration officers. Having an experienced immigration law firm guide you through the spousal application will greatly increase your success rate. We invite you to book a free consultation with Varity Law today by calling 905-597-9357. On behalf of the Varity Law team, we wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day filled with love and togetherness.
