Spousal Sponsorship

If a spouse or partner sponsored you, you have to wait five years from the day you became a permanent resident before you can sponsor a new spouse. Becoming a Canadian citizen during those five years doesn't shorten the wait.

Count from the date you became a permanent resident, not from your citizenship date. An application sent before the fifth anniversary falls under the bar.

Not while your undertaking for the previous spouse is still running. For a spouse, that undertaking lasts three years from the day they became a permanent resident, and IRCC treats you as still financially responsible for them during that time.

The date that matters is when your former spouse became a permanent resident, not the date of your separation or divorce.

Each of these can stop a sponsorship. IRCC lists them as reasons you may not be eligible, and the regulations require the sponsor to be clear of them from the day the application is filed until the day it is decided.

Several of these bars end when the situation ends, such as a discharged bankruptcy or a debt brought up to date. Guide 5289 says that if you fix the situation that made you ineligible, "you can reapply at a later date" (Guide 5289).

In most cases, no. If your spouse was a family member who didn't come with you and wasn't examined when you immigrated, the regulations exclude them from both sponsorship classes. The temporary public policy that allowed some of these sponsorships has ended, and IRCC names no replacement.

The regulations keep one exception: the exclusion doesn't apply where your spouse "was not examined because an officer determined that they were not required" to be examined (IRPR, s. 117(10)). Whether that applies depends on what happened in your own immigration file.

Not by itself. There is no minimum income for sponsoring a spouse unless a dependent child in the application has a child of their own. What can stop a sponsorship is receiving social assistance for a reason other than a disability.

A job loss also doesn't end the undertaking once your spouse is a permanent resident: IRCC lists financial problems, "for example, job loss or debt", among the changes that leave you responsible (IRCC).

Not for a marriage performed outside Canada where one of you wasn't physically present. IRCC doesn't recognize those marriages for sponsorship. The regulations make one exception, for someone who marries a member of the Canadian Forces who couldn't attend because of their service.

If your marriage was performed this way, it can't be the basis of a spousal application. Whether another relationship category fits depends on how you have lived together; the common-law partner page sets out that test.

A marriage certificate or proof that the marriage was registered with the government. A record of solemnization or a marriage licence from a Canadian ceremony isn't accepted as proof.

Request the registered certificate before you prepare the application, so the file isn't held up waiting for it.

No, if the earlier marriage still existed on your wedding day. The regulations exclude a spouse when either of you was married to someone else at the time of your marriage, under both the Family Class and the in-Canada class.

The test looks at your status on the day you married each other, so what matters is whether the earlier marriage had legally ended before your wedding. The same provisions also exclude a spouse where the couple has lived apart for at least a year and one of you has since become the partner of someone else.

No. Submitting the sponsorship doesn't authorize work. Your spouse first needs the acknowledgement of receipt, or to qualify for the two-week exception, and then an approved open work permit before starting any job.

A visitor with a valid visitor record already has the temporary status the permit application needs; the missing piece is the acknowledgement of receipt.

Yes, if they apply to extend before it expires. A worker who applies on time keeps their status as a worker while IRCC decides, and can keep working under the same conditions during that period.

The extension application has to be in before the expiry date. A late application means a gap in status, which then raises the restoration question covered further down this page.

The January 2025 notice changed the family open work permit for spouses of international students and foreign workers. The sponsored-spouse open work permit is a separate permit with its own eligibility rules, set out on IRCC's sponsorship pages.

If your spouse qualifies through the sponsorship, check the rules on the sponsored-spouse page above, not the rules for families of students and workers.

An accompanying dependent child can also apply for an open work permit while living with the principal applicant and the sponsor.

The child's eligibility depends on the principal applicant's: the same acknowledgement of receipt and living arrangement apply.

The sponsor can ask IRCC to withdraw the sponsorship at any time before the spouse becomes a permanent resident. If IRCC processes the request only after the spouse has become a permanent resident, the sponsor stays responsible for the full undertaking period.

A separation also goes to eligibility: a spouse must be "in a genuine relationship with you" (IRCC), and the in-Canada class and the open work permit both require living with the sponsor. IRCC also asks to be told about a divorce.

Tell IRCC. Births, marriages, divorces and deaths in the family have to be reported while the application is open, so the application reflects the whole family.

Reporting a new child during processing protects that child's own path: an undeclared family member can't later be sponsored, as explained under "Who can sponsor" above.

It can be very serious. Withholding a material fact that could cause an error is misrepresentation under the Act. A finding of misrepresentation makes the person inadmissible for five years and bars a new permanent residence application during that time.

For a sponsored spouse, the Family Class appeal right survives a misrepresentation refusal. Any difference between an earlier application and the new one is best identified and explained before you submit.

It means an officer needs more information before deciding. IRCC will say in writing what it needs and when. Not answering a request for information can lead to refusal, so requests need a complete and timely reply.

IRCC's pages don't say why a particular file is chosen for an interview. Guide 5289 and the After you apply page were checked for this.

Yes, unless a separate bar applies. Guide 5289 and the After you apply page set no waiting period for a new spousal application after a refusal. A misrepresentation finding is different: it bars a new permanent residence application for five years.

Before reapplying, you can ask IRCC for a copy of your file, so the new application can address the refusal reasons directly. IRCC's access to information and privacy pages explain who can make a request and how.

After a Family Class refusal, an appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division may also be open; see "We want the option to appeal if we're refused" above.

See our pages on refusal analysis and reapplying after a refusal.

Possibly. A visitor, worker or student who lost status by not meeting a condition of their stay can apply to restore it within 90 days, and the officer restores it if they still meet the original requirements and haven't broken other conditions.

Restoration keeps the in-Canada class open without relying on the public policy. Our page on restoring status explains the application.

Yes, if lack of status is the only issue and the rest of the in-Canada class requirements are met. The public policy also depends on you submitting the sponsorship undertaking and on the two of you living together.

The policy waives the status requirement, not the rest of the test. The marriage still has to be genuine, the couple has to live together in Canada, and the sponsor has to be eligible.

No. The policy only covers inadmissibility caused by lack of status. Criminality and misrepresentation are separate grounds, and IRCC says they should be resolved before applying for permanent residence.

A criminal record has its own processes, separate from the sponsorship. Our inadmissibility page explains the options.

Not automatically. Under the public policy, the Canada Border Services Agency may grant a temporary deferral of removal, but not to everyone, and not to someone who applies after being called to a pre-removal interview. A regulatory stay applies only after approval in principle.

Timing therefore matters: an application filed before a pre-removal interview is treated differently from one filed after it. The policy also notes that a removal order for reasons other than lack of status can still lead to refusal at the final stage.

IRCC's published guidance doesn't set a separate rule for spouses whose refugee claim was refused. Guide 5289, the 2005 public policy and the sponsorship eligibility pages were checked; the general rules on status, inadmissibility and genuineness apply.

Whether the in-Canada route is available depends on the spouse's current status, any removal order and its grounds, and the relationship evidence. The practitioner note above explains why that evidence carries particular weight in these files.