Outland Spousal Sponsorship

This information may be out-of-date. Please refer to our most current guidance on Canadian Spouse Visas.

You, as a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, may apply to sponsor your spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, who are living outside Canada to come over and live with you in Canada. Although the Canada government understands your frustration of living apart from your partner, due to a huge amount of application, the processing time for this visa is up to 12 months. It is, however, much shorter than in other countries in the world such as Australia where the processing time can be more than 24 months.

Sponsor Eligibility

As a sponsor, you must be able to prove that you

• Are legally a citizen or permanent resident of Canada;
• Are at least 18 years old;
• Can provide the basic needs for you and your family, including food, clothing, and shelter;
• Can support your spouse/partner financially; and
• Can ensure that your spouse/partner does not need to ask for financial help from the Canadian government.

Although there is no minimum income requirement to sponsor your partner, unless you are sponsoring a spouse or partner that has a dependent child, and their dependent child has 1 or more children of their own, you need to sign in an undertaking to prove that you commit to:

• providing financial support for your sponsored family members, starting when they become permanent residents
• repaying any provincial social assistance your sponsored family members get during that time