February 6, 2018

Frustrated of living alone in Canada? Now you can sponsor your better half through Canada’s Spouse Visa.  Now what exactly is Spouse visa?  How do we apply?  Who can sponsor?Want To Know The Requirements And Processing Time For Sponsoring Your Spouse To Canada?  All of the above questions and many more keep haunting our minds. Here as Canada Spouse Visa team let us guide through the above task.

Canada Spouse Visa:

First of all Canada Spouse visa is especially for the spouse, and dependent children of a person residing in Canada (on temporary or permanent Visa) thereby allowing the spouse and dependent children to visit Canada in order to stay with their better half. (on temporary or permanent Visa) In order to sponsor one needs to be at least 18 years of age, must be Canadian citizen registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act or be a permanent resident living in Canada, or be a student studying in Canada or be on work permit in Canada, one must be able to prove that one is not receiving social assistance for reasons other than a disability and last but not the least one needs to prove that one has enough income to provide for basic needs of the principal applicant that is spouse or dependent children.  But here again in Quebec it is not the same for sponsoring your spouse or dependent children.  Now here I would like to bring to your notice the difference in the process prior 2015 and post 2015 whereby the process for applying has been made simpler by having only one application kit for everyone, one guide of 75 pages instead of 180 pages being followed earlier and many more.

Canada Spouse Visa Requirements For Sponsoring Your Spouse To Canada

As is mentioned above, Canada spouse visa is exclusively for partners or spouse and dependent children of people who are either international students or students who are in their post-graduation work permit.  In order to acquire this visa one has to comply with the following requirements:

  • Sponsor must be a citizen of Canada or permanent resident of Canada or a temporary resident (a student or one who is on work permit).
  • Sponsor’s age should be at least 18 years.
  • Sponsor should sign a sponsorship contract of 3 years with Canadian administration to financially support the partner or spouse and children.
  • If couple got married in Canada they must provide the marriage certificate issued by the province.

Here if any of the documents are found missing, then the file will be returned back without processing.  But if all the documents are found appropriate then it is intimated through mail or letter in case of no mail id provided whereby one finds themselves with a file number and details about the next steps to be followed.  Once this is done then a request is sent through your mail for additional documents like Police Clearance certificates and so on.  We suggest that while your file is in process; track your application in order to find out about any additional documents needed and so on.

Canada Spouse Visa Processing Time For Sponsoring Your Spouse To Canada

This depends not only on the applicant’s location but also on the documents and profile of the applicant. Only after payment is made will the file be processed and so it is necessary that one makes online payment before submitting the application.

Canada Spouse Visa Application Form:

Now here the above forms are accepted in two ways either outside Canada and the other is within Canada.  Now even these forms have been made simpler.  Even applicants from around the world having spouse in Canada can apply for spouse visa to reside with their partner either on spouse dependent work permit, visitor visa or PR/Citizen dependent visa.  However it is safe that an applicant enters Canada only after getting their visa.  For applicants residing within Canada before and during the application, the spouse in order to qualify for spouse visa has to have legal status in Canada such as visa.

Prepare for Arrival:

Now the next step is to prepare oneself to arrive and settle in Canada.  When one enters the port of entry to Canada, the border officer asks for documents like a valid visa which is the document sent when your application was approved, your valid passport or travel document, permanent resident visa, spouse dependent work permit visa, visitor visa or dependent PR and citizen visa counterfoil which must be valid and Quebec selection certificate, if one is going to live in Quebec.  It is best to reveal the funds one is bringing into Canada including cash, stocks, bonds, money orders and traveller’s cheques. Then the border officer checks whether your permanent resident visa and COPR hasn’t expired and also asks information in order to confirm information given by you in the application.  Once satisfied, the officer will allow you to enter Canada as a permanent resident and also start the process to mail your permanent resident card to the address mentioned in your COPR.