Outland Spousal/Common-Law Partner Sponsorship

The outland spousal/common-law partner sponsorship allows any Canadian citizen or permanent resident to sponsor his or her spouse of common-law partner to obtain Canadian permanent residence status in Canada regardless of their sponsored person’s country of residence.

 

The outland spousal/common-law partner sponsorship is not an immigration program on its own. It is a part of the Spousal Sponsorship program which falls under the Family Class immigration category. Under this program, any Canadian citizen or permanent resident may sponsor his or her spouse of common-law partner to obtain Canadian permanent residence status regardless of where his or her spouse or common-law partner is residing at the time the application is made. However, for the sponsored person to receive the permanent residence (PR) visa, both the sponsor as well as the sponsored person need to be approved by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

 

There are two components for any spousal sponsorship application, and in this case, for the outland spousal sponsorship application. They are:

 

  • The Canadian citizen or permanent resident applies for the sponsorship of his or her spouse or common-law partner; AND
  • The spouse or common-law partner applying for permanent residence once his or her spouse or common-law partner has applied for spousal sponsorship.

 

The Outland spousal/common-law partner sponsorship program is the best path chosen when the sponsored person is residing outside Canada. However, it has been made possible for the spouse or common-law partner who is living inside Canada to apply through this program. Though the program allows for the sponsored person to travel in and out of Canada as and when they please during the application processing time, it is the discretion of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly CIC) whether to allow the person to re-enter Canada once the person has exited.

 

Despite the fact whether inland or outland sponsorship path is chosen, both the sponsor and the sponsored person is required to meet certain requirements. To learn more about these requirements, click here.

 

The outland applications are processed through the visa offices or centralized intake offices that serves the applicant’s country of origin, or where the applicant had resided for at least one year (12 months) before the application was made. Processing time may vary depending on the applicant’s residency status. In order to get a better understanding on the processing times for outland sponsorship applications with respect to the applicant’s current country of residence, please contact us.

 

Immigration Refuges and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly CIC) is committed to process spousal/common-law partner sponsorship applications as quickly as possible due to the nature of the application. The processing time for these applications are 12 months or less, depending on the context of the application. To know more about outland spousal/common-law partner sponsorship process, contact us.

 

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