To be eligible to sponsor your spouse or partner for Canadian immigration, you must meet the following criteria:

• Age: You must be at least 18 years old.
• Residency Status: You must be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident living in Canada, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act. If you're a Canadian citizen residing outside Canada, you must demonstrate your intention to live in Canada when your sponsored spouse or partner becomes a permanent resident.
• Financial Support: You must be able to provide for the basic needs of your spouse or partner and not be receiving social assistance for reasons other than a disability. This includes signing an undertaking to financially support your sponsored family member for three years from the date they become a permanent resident.
• Previous Sponsorship: You cannot sponsor a spouse or partner if you were sponsored by a spouse or partner and became a permanent resident less than five years ago. Additionally, if you're still financially responsible for a previous spouse or partner that you sponsored (i.e., you're still bound by the three-year undertaking to take care of this person), you're ineligible to sponsor a new spouse or partner.
• Legal Obligations: You must not be in jail, prison, or a penitentiary; have declared bankruptcy and are not yet discharged; be under a removal order; or have been convicted of certain offenses.

To be eligible as the principal applicant in a spousal Permanent Residence (PR) application to Canada, the sponsored spouse or partner must meet the following criteria:

1. Age Requirement:
• The sponsored person must be at least 18 years old.
2. Relationship Authenticity:
• The relationship must be genuine and not entered into primarily for immigration purposes. Immigration officers will assess the authenticity by examining factors such as shared life, joint bank accounts, correspondence, and cohabitation.
3. Admissibility to Canada:
• The sponsored individual must not be inadmissible to Canada for reasons including criminality, security, or health issues. They must pass background, security, and medical checks.
4. Marital Status:
• The sponsored person must be legally married to the sponsor or have been living with the sponsor in a common-law relationship for at least one continuous year.

Ensuring that these criteria are met is essential for a successful spousal PR application.

Source: www.canada.ca

Date: March 10, 2025

Note: None of the above statements are legal advice and are not meant to be the same for everyone. You must check the latest policy from the IRCC website before applying. Although everything is clearly stated on the official website, you can seek legal advice if you don't understand something.

Contact Paragi Shah – Your Trusted Licensed Immigration Consultant

Paragi Shah is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC-IRB) and the CEO of Apaar Immigration Consultancy Inc. She is a Licensee in good standing of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). She is also a university professor and believes in providing ethical, reliable, and trusted services to meet your immigration and citizenship goals.

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