Spouse Sponsorship: Assessing a Common-law Relationship

Applicants in the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class who are not cohabiting with their sponsor at the time they are ready to be granted permanent residence (persons who have been removed or who have left Canada voluntarily) are not eligible for permanent residence. They have the option of submitting a new application to be processed abroad under the family class, subject to applicable fees.

Assessing for relationship of convenience

If the documents submitted do not provide adequate proof of a genuine conjugal relationship within the context of a marriage or common-law relationship, or if officers doubt that the applicant is living with the sponsor, an officer may request additional information or schedule an interview. To help assess whether R4(1) requirements are met, an officer has the discretion, on a case-by-case basis, to request that the sponsor and applicant complete and submit a Supplementary Relationship Questionnaire [IMM 5526 (PDF, 742 KB)] and/or to convoke them for an interview.

Spouse or common-law partner in Canada cases requiring further investigation should be referred to an inland IRCC office. The local IRCC office may interview both the sponsor and the applicant, separately, to establish whether the relationship is genuine. See Relationships of convenience for factors that may be considered during this interview.

Follow procedural fairness guidelines when concerns arise that are material to the decision. If an applicant is interviewed to address concerns, record all questions posed and answers given in the interview. Where applicable, the interview notes may then be used to substantiate the decision made on the application. This is especially important, given the right of a sponsor to appeal the refusal of an application processed abroad under the family class.

Sponsors and sponsored spouses and partners can voluntarily provide consent – on form IMM 5532 (Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation) – for IRCC to release to their spouse or partner any information obtained in connection with an investigation of marriage fraud. If they provide consent on this form, a spouse or partner is free to revoke it at any time by advising CPC-M in writing. Officers should not make negative inferences from the decision of a sponsor or a sponsored spouse or partner not to sign this consent form.

Same-sex marriages

“Marriage”, in respect of a marriage that took place outside Canada, means a marriage that is valid both under the laws of the jurisdiction where it took place and under Canadian law (R2). This definition is applicable to all classes or persons, whether the marriage is between opposite or same-sex partners.

A Canadian citizen or a permanent resident may sponsor their same-sex partner as a spouse, as long as the marriage is legally recognized under both the laws of the place where it occurred and under Canadian law, and they meet the respective requirements. Canadian citizens and permanent residents can apply to sponsor their same-sex partner as a spouse if they were married in Canada and issued a marriage certificate by a Canadian province or territory on or after the following dates:

• British Columbia (July 8, 2003)
• Manitoba (September 16, 2004)
• New Brunswick (July 4, 2005)
• Newfoundland (December 21, 2004)
• Nova Scotia (September 24, 2004)
• Ontario (June 10, 2003)
• Québec (March 19, 2004)
• Saskatchewan (November 5, 2004)
• Yukon (July 14, 2004)
• All other provinces or territories (July 20, 2005)

The onus is on the sponsor and applicant to provide information to IRCC confirming that their same-sex marriage was legally recognized when and where it occurred.

Same-sex partners who are not married (or whose marriage is not legally recognized) may be sponsored as common-law partners, provided they meet the definition of common-law partner. If they have not been able to cohabit for one year, the foreign national partner may apply as a conjugal partner provided they have maintained a conjugal relationship for at least one year.

Some countries allow civil registrations of common-law opposite-sex and/or common-law same-sex partners. Some foreign jurisdictions provide recognition for the unions of same-sex couples under legal means other than marriage, such as civil unions or domestic partnerships. For the purposes of immigration, these relationships must be processed as common-law partnerships.