Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s family sponsorship definition of terms must be taken into account when applying under any of the Canadian Family Class permanent residence programs.
Spouse
You are a spouse if you are married to your sponsor and your marriage is legal.
If you were married in Canada:
- you must have a marriage certificate issued by the province or territory where the marriage took place.
If you were married outside Canada:
- the marriage must be valid under the law of the country where it took place and under Canadian law, and
- the marriage, if performed in an embassy or consulate, must follow the law of the country where it took place, not the country the embassy or consulate represents.
Sponsoring your same-sex partner as a spouse
You can apply to sponsor your same-sex partner as a spouse if you:
- are a citizen or permanent resident of Canada and
- were married in Canada and issued a marriage certificate by a Canadian province or territory on or after one of these dates:
- British Columbia (on or after July 8, 2003),
- Manitoba (on or after September 16, 2004),
- New Brunswick (on or after July 4, 2005),
- Newfoundland and Labrador (on or after December 21, 2004),
- Nova Scotia (on or after September 24, 2004),
- Ontario (on or after June 10, 2003),
- Quebec (on or after March 19, 2004),
- Saskatchewan (on or after November 5, 2004),
- Yukon (on or after July 14, 2004) or
- all other provinces or territories (on or after July 20, 2005).
If you were married outside Canada, you may apply to sponsor your same-sex partner as a spouse as long as the marriage is legally recognized according to both the law of the place where the marriage occurred and under Canadian law.
It is your responsibility to provide information to CIC confirming that your same-sex-marriage was legally recognized when and where it occurred.
Common-law partner
You are a common-law partner—either of the opposite sex or the same sex—if:
- you have been living together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year in an ongoing 12-month period (you are allowed short absences for business travel or family reasons).
You will need proof that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and set up a household together. This can be in the form of proof of:
- joint bank accounts or credit cards.
- joint ownership of a home.
- joint residential leases.
- joint rental receipts,
- joint registration or payment of utilities (electricity, gas, telephone),
- joint management of household expenses,
- joint purchases, especially of household items, or
- mail addressed to either person or both people at the same address.
Conjugal partner
This category is for partners—either of the opposite sex or same sex—in situations beyond their control that keep them from living together so they would count as common-law partners or spouses.
A conjugal relationship is more than a physical relationship. It means you depend on each other, there is some permanence to the relationship, and there is the same level of commitment as a marriage or a common-law partnership.
You may apply as a conjugal partner if:
- you have had a conjugal relationship with your sponsor for at least one year and you could not live together or marry because of
- an immigration barrier,
- your marital status (for example, you are married to someone else and living in a country where divorce is not possible) or
- your sexual orientation (for example, you are in a same-sex relationship and same-sex marriage is not permitted where you live) and
- you can prove there was a reason you could not live together (for example, you were refused long-term stays in each other’s country).
You should not apply as a conjugal partner if:
- you could have lived together but chose not to, as this shows that you did not have the level of commitment needed for a conjugal relationship (for example, one of you may not have wanted to give up a job or a course of study, or your relationship was not yet at the point where you were ready to live together),
- you cannot prove there was a reason that kept you from living together,
- you are engaged to be married (in this case, you should either apply as a spouse once the marriage has taken place or apply as a common-law partner if you have lived together continuously for at least 12 months).
Dependent children
A son or daughter is dependent when the child:
- is under age 22 and does not have a spouse or common-law partner,
- is over age 22 and has
- been enrolled as a full-time student on an ongoing basis and
- depended largely on the financial support of a parent since before age 22,
- became a spouse or a common-law partner before age 22 and has
- been enrolled as a full-time student on an ongoing basis and
- depended largely on the financial support of a parent since they became a spouse or common-law partner, or
- is over age 22 and has depended largely on the financial support of a parent since before age 22 because of a physical or mental condition.
People who cannot be sponsored
You cannot be sponsored as a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner if:
- you are under age 16,
- you (or your sponsor) were married to someone else at the time of your marriage
- you have lived apart from your sponsor for at least one year, and either you or your sponsor are the common-law or conjugal partner of another person,
- your sponsor applied for permanent residence but did not include you on their application as someone who should be examined or
- your sponsor has sponsored another spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner in the past, and three years have not passed since that person became a permanent resident (or five years if your application was received on or after March 2, 2012).
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