For my spousal sponsorship application, what is a common-law partner?
Your common-law partner:
- isn’t legally married to you
- can be either sex
- is 18 or older
- has been living with you for at least 12 consecutive months, meaning:
- you’ve been living together continuously for one year, without any long periods apart
- if either of you left your home it was for:
- family obligations
- work or business travel
- any time spent away from each other must have been:
- short
- temporary
When at least one partner chooses to end the relationship, we consider the partnership to be over.
You will need to give proof of your common-law relationship.
Answers others found useful
- What is a complex family sponsorship application?
- What are the changes to the spousal sponsorship program?
- Am I affected by the changes made to reduce spousal sponsorship wait times?
- How can I sponsor my spouse or children?
- Which family members can come with me to Canada when I immigrate?
- How can I include a dependent child on my application?
- I already became a permanent resident. Can I still add my dependent child to my application?
- What counts as income for sponsoring my parents and grandparents?
- What’s considered social assistance when sponsoring my parents and grandparents?
- What proof do I need for changes to my information after I was invited to apply to sponsor my parents?
- What if my birth certificate is different from other documents (or I don’t have one)?
- I was invited to apply to sponsor my parents, but didn’t get an email confirmation. How do I get it?
- On the interest to sponsor form I only mentioned one parent. Can I now apply to sponsor them both?
- Will you refuse my application if I put a different parent than on my interest to sponsor form?
- Do I need a marriage certificate for my parents/grandparents sponsorship application?
- I’m sponsoring my parent. I don’t know where their separated spouse is. How do I apply?
- Do I include time on parental leave in my employment history for sponsoring my parents?
- What do I put for the date of birth (or death) of my family member if I don’t know it?
- How can I quickly get information about my Canadian citizenship to sponsor parents/grandparents?
How to video
Form and guide
Glossary term
- Date modified: