Canada Spouse Visa
By: Jamie Hanson | Posted: 16th February 2011
Spouse Visas for Canada are offered through spouse sponsorships. Spouse sponsorships are split into three main categories: marriage, common-law and conjugal. Through a Canada Spouse Visa your partner and dependent children may be eligible for Canadian Permanent Residency. Canada Spouse Visas have requirements to be met by the sponsor and by the applicant.
Canada Spouse Visas are available for heterosexual couples and same sex couples as well. In order to do a spouse sponsorship as a married couple, you would need to have been married in Canada or been married in one of the following countries that legally recognizes same sex marriages:
- Norway
- Spain
- Belgium
- South Africa
- Sweden
- The Netherlands
- In the USA- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont
Regardless of the sexuality of the couple or the spouse sponsorship category used for the Canada spouse visa, the sponsor must meet all of the government requirements. One of which include signing a spouse sponsorship agreement pledging financial support if necessary. You may not be eligible to be a sponsor on a spouse sponsorship application if you are in prison, in bankruptcy, defaulted on child support, etc.
Canada Spouse Visa applicants must be married to their sponsors and the marriage legally valid. If the marriage took place outside of Canada, it must be legally valid their as well as in Canada.
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.
Spouse sponsorships for the Canada Spouse Visa through the common-law category are possible as long as the couple has been living together for at least a period of one year. The couple will need proof that they are living together and have combined the lives together.
The conjugal partner category is for applicants to a Canada spouse visa that, due to exceptional circumstances beyond their control, cannot submit a spouse sponsorship application as common-law partners.
Any of these aforementioned "spouse sponsorship" categories can be used for a Canada Spouse Visa.
Know more about Canada Spouse Visa and about Canada Immigration Representatives at http://www.immigrationpros.ca/
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Tags: common law, married couple, dependent children, visa applicants