Canadian spouse Visa

What differs Canadian immigration law from that of the USA, Australia, and the UK is the absence of Fianc?e Visa category. There exists the so-called Family Visa Class that allows a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who meets certain income requirements to sponsor the immigration of his spouse, common law partner, or conjugal partner. The two last cases are very difficult to prove, therefore, the most certain variant is to apply for Spouse Visa, which means you have to marry in the fianc?e's country of residence or elsewhere before the application. With Spouse Visa, a woman entering Canada automatically becomes its permanent resident and can apply for Canadian citizenship in three years.

Application procedure

The procedure is initiated by the sponsor when he returns to Canada after marriage. The application kit should be downloaded from Citizenship and Immigration Canada website (www.cic.gc.ca). It contains all the necessary forms with instructions and the list of required documents for each country the spouse may come from. Note that the application kit includes sponsorship application and spouse's permanent resident application, so her documents must be sent to Canada. It is necessary to include maximum possible evidence that your marriage is not a sham: photos, phone bills, air tickets, etc. Note that immigration officers do not consider marriage certificate to be a sufficient prove of your genuine relationship.

The sponsor will mail both his sponsorship application and his spouse's permanent resident application to Case Processing Centre (CPC) in Mississauga, Ontario. After the sponsor has been approved, his spouse's permanent residence application will be sent to the appropriate Canadian visa office in her country of residence. If the sponsor lives in Quebec, he will need to submit additional application after being approved in Mississauga. It may happen that the spouse will obtain her visa without any interview. However, she can also be invited to the interview where final decision will be taken.

Spouse's children

When the woman fills in the application for permanent residence, she can list all her dependent children to enable them to enter Canada with her.

Dependent children are:

• children under 22 that do not have a spouse or common-law partner;
• full-time students that have been financially dependent on their parent since they were under the age of 22, or since becoming a spouse or common-law partner under the age of 22;
• children that became financially dependent on their parent since they were under 22 due to disability.

Dependent children must qualify for the above criteria both for the date of application and for the date of granting permanent residence (irrespective whether they are already 22).