Spousal Sponsorship Lawyers in Toronto & GTA

What it means to sponsor someone

When you agree to sponsor, you sign an undertaking, promising to give financial support for the basic needs of the people you’re sponsoring, and any of their dependent children.

Basic needs include: food, clothing, shelter and other needs for everyday living, dental care, eye care and other health needs not covered by public health services.

Before signing the undertaking agreement, you should make sure that those you sponsor won’t need to ask the government for financial help. If they receive social assistance, you’ll need to pay back what they received. You won’t be able to sponsor anyone else until you have repaid the amount.

The undertaking is a binding promise of support, meaning that it is your responsibility to support the applicant(s) for the length of the undertaking period even if your situation changes. For example, the undertaking won’t be cancelled even if:

• the person you are sponsoring becomes a Canadian citizen
• you become divorced, separated or your relationship with the sponsored person breaks down
• you or the person you sponsor moves to another province or country
• you have financial problems

The length of time you are legally responsible for the person you sponsor varies based on the type of family member you are sponsoring, and is either 3 or 10 years for non-residents of Quebec. Quebec has different undertaking length.

Who can become a sponsor

You can become a sponsor if you are:

• at least 18 years old
• a Canadian citizen, a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act or a permanent resident living in Canada:
• able to prove that you are not receiving social assistance for reasons other than a disability, and;
• can provide for the basic needs of any person you are sponsoring (and in some limited situations, that you meet the low-income cut-off).

You can’t sponsor a spouse or partner if you:

• were sponsored by a spouse or partner and you became a permanent resident less than 5 years ago
• sponsored a previous spouse or partner and three years have not passed since this person became a permanent resident

Who you can sponsor

You can sponsor a:

Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner if:

• they are at least 18 years old
• your relationship is genuine (real) and wasn’t entered into just to get permanent resident status in Canada

If your spouse or common-law partner is applying in the Spouse or Common-law Partner in Canada class, they must already co-habit (live) with you in Canada.

Dependent child

If you’re sponsoring a spouse or partner, any dependent children should be listed on their application forms. If you are sponsoring one or more dependent child(ren) as the principal applicant(s), you must submit a complete set of application forms and documents for each child.

Next steps

Let’s get your documents ready

Some documents take a long time to get, so you should get them ready now.

We can assist with submitting your profile. Contact a Toronto Immigration Lawyer today at Affinity Law and let us make things easy and less confusing for you.