A Look at the Canadian Spouse Visa

If you are either moving to Canada to live and work or are already living and working in Canada you may be interested in bringing over a spouse or partner to live with you. While your spouse or partner can try to navigate the immigration process on their own and see if they can qualify under one of the visa programs to come to Canada legally to live and work, there is another option that you may not be aware of for your spouse or partner and will be of particular interest to you if you are permanent Canadian resident. A spouse, common law partner or conjugal partner of a permanent Canadian resident can be sponsored by the permanent Canadian resident for immigration into Canada. This type of immigration is under a spouse visa.

Under the spouse visa scheme, the spouse, common law partner or conjugal partner of a permanent Canadian resident will not need a work permit and will not need to undergo the points based skills assessment for immigration to Canada. With this type of visa, either a Canadian citizen or someone with the status of a permanent Canadian resident that currently lives and works in Canada can legally sponsor the applicant for migration to Canada for a period of three to ten years. The length of time varies as it is basically however long it takes for the applicant to establish themselves in the country. If there are other family members that the spouse that you wish to sponsor into the country then you would need to get a family class visa as opposed to a spouse visa as only one person can come to Canada under the spouse visa.

The spouse visa is quite beneficial because if you are coming to Canada under the spouse visa then you are able to take employment in Canada with no restrictions whatsoever. This is better than applying for and coming to Canada under a work permit as you are tethered to the job the permit is issued on and even have to have a specific employment offer. Under the spouse visa you are also entitled to live where you want with no restrictions. Another bonus to getting a spouse visa is that you are able to become a Canadian citizen after only three years of residency since you are automatically given permanent resident status when you are given a spouse visa.

There are some eligibility requirements that must be met in order to qualify for the spouse visa. The requirements vary depending on the relationship between the applicant and the sponsor.

For a spouse, a marriage certificate must be presented if the marriage occurred in Canada. For marriages that were done outside of Canada, they must be valid under Canadian law and the country where the marriage took place. For same-sex partners being sponsored as a spouse, the marriage must be legally recognized in Canada and where it took place.

For a common law partner sponsorship, you must be able to show that you have been living together continuously for at least one year. You can prove this with rental contracts, utility bill, joint banks accounts and more.

For a conjugal partner, you must not be able to qualify under spouse or common law partner. You must be able to prove that the relationship is of mutual dependence and commitment. To prove this, you can have a variety of circumstances such as marriage or communal living has been impossible due to an immigration barrier.