How to sponsor your spouse from India

Are you interested in finding out how to sponsor your spouse from India for Canadian immigration?

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) allows Canadian citizens or permanent resident to sponsor their spouses, common-law partners, dependent children and conjugal partners from abroad.

If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and you are married to someone from India or have lived together with that person for one year as common-law partners, you can sponsor him or her for permanent residence (PR) in Canada.

Obtaining PR in Canada will give your spouse from India the opportunity to live and work in Canada and allow him or her access to health care and social services.

See if you're eligible to sponsor your spouse

There are several important requirements that both of you will need to meet in order to be eligible for family sponsorship in Canada.

You must first take into account the age restriction regarding sponsors, who must be at least 18 years of age.

There is no financial threshold for spousal sponsorship, but you must show that you have a plan to financially support your family—including yourself and the sponsored person. You can do so by showing that you have sufficient income, savings, or assets to support everyone in your family unit. In addition, individuals receiving social assistance are not eligible for sponsorship unless it is due to a disability.

Your Indian spouse or partner, on the other hand, will be assessed for possible inadmissibility and criminal convictions.

One of the most important steps in the process of sponsoring a spouse to Canada is to provide the required documents to prove that your relationship with the sponsored person is genuine. If you are married, you will have to provide mandatory documents such as a marriage certificate in addition to other documents. Marriages that were legally performed in India are generally valid in Canada. If you are in a common-law relationship, you will have to provide documented evidence of your 12 month cohabitation period in lieu of a marriage certificate.

Although most documents issued in India are in English, if you have older documents that were issued in Hindi or another language, you will need to provide a translation of the documents. These translations will have to be certified and meet IRCC requirements.

If the documents presented are not satisfactory proof of a bona fide relationship, or if an officer would like to review updated documents regarding cohabitation or your relationship continuation while living apart, they may ask you for additional information or schedule an interview with you.

Remember that the officer who will review your application has discretionary power and files are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. It is therefore very important that you submit a solid sponsorship file and provide as much supporting documentation as possible.

See if you're eligible to sponsor your spouse

Sponsorship Process in Canada: What You Need to Know

You will need to apply at the federal level to the Ministry of Immigration, or IRCC.

You will need to submit two different application components together: your sponsorship section and your spouse's or partner's section for permanent resident (PR) status. IRCC requires that the two parts be submitted together.

You will also have to pay a family sponsorship application fee to IRCC.

You should make sure you send your application to the correct address. You will find this information in the sponsorship guide that you can download from the government website.

If you are a Canadian citizen living in India, you can stay there during the process, but you will need to prove that you intend to move to Canada with your spouse once he or she receives a permanent residence visa. If you are a Canadian permanent resident, however, you must reside in Canada in order to sponsor your spouse or partner.

The processing of a sponsorship application by IRCC takes an average of approximately 12 months.

See if you're eligible to sponsor your spouse