Who Is the Principal Applicant in Spousal Sponsorship?
October 23, 2026
Common-law partner sponsorship in Canada lets a Canadian citizen or permanent resident sponsor an unmarried partner for permanent residence once the couple has lived together in a marriage-like relationship for at least 12 continuous months. At Kingwell Immigration Law, we help couples prove that relationship clearly and protect their options if IRCC refuses.
Most refusals turn on the evidence of cohabitation, and the stream you file under decides whether you can appeal. We explain both below, along with eligibility rules, fees, processing times and your options after a refusal.
Speak with a Toronto sponsorship lawyer at our firm about the strongest way to file your application.
Common-law partner sponsorship is part of Canada’s family reunification program. It allows a Canadian citizen or permanent resident to support an unmarried partner’s application for permanent residence, as long as the couple has lived together in a conjugal relationship for at least one year and meets IRCC’s eligibility rules.
Common-law partners are sponsored under the same rules as married spouses. Your partner can apply from outside Canada under the family class, or from inside Canada under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class.
Once approved, your partner becomes a permanent resident with the right to live, work and study anywhere in Canada. In most cases there is no minimum income requirement to sponsor a partner, which sets this program apart from parent and grandparent sponsorship.
Additional reading: family sponsorship in Canada
Under section 1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, IRCC treats a couple as common-law partners when three conditions are met:
Short, temporary periods apart for business travel or family obligations do not break the 12 months. IRCC looks at whether you kept one shared home and intended to return to it.
The regulations also recognize one narrow exception. A couple in a conjugal relationship for at least a year who cannot live together because of persecution or penal control is treated as common-law.
Filing before the 12 months are complete is a common and costly mistake. We review your timeline with you and advise whether to file now, wait, or consider a different category.
Both partners must meet IRCC’s sponsor eligibility rules, and some sponsors are barred even when the relationship is genuine.
To sponsor a common-law partner, the sponsor must:
IRCC may refuse a sponsor who:
Paragraph 117(9)(d) of the regulations excludes a partner who was a non-accompanying family member and was not examined when the sponsor became a permanent resident. If you were already living with your partner when you immigrated and left them off your application, they generally cannot be sponsored later.
IRCC’s temporary public policy that allowed some undeclared family members to be sponsored ended on September 10, 2026. For applications filed after that date, a humanitarian and compassionate application is usually the main remaining route, and we assess whether it fits your circumstances.
Filing inland keeps your partner in Canada during processing, but it removes the right to appeal a refusal to the Immigration Appeal Division. Filing outland preserves that appeal, which gives you a new hearing before an independent board member, and it is available even when your partner lives in Canada.
| Inland (spouse or common-law partner in Canada class) | Outland (family class) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where your partner lives | With the sponsor in Canada | Abroad or in Canada |
| Partner’s status in Canada | Valid status, or no status under the spousal public policy | Not needed if your partner lives abroad |
| Travel during processing | Leaving Canada puts the application at risk | Allowed, subject to normal entry rules |
Daniel Kingwell treats this as one of the most important and least-understood decisions in partner sponsorship. In his view, filing overseas is the starting point under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and inland processing is the exception.
He cautions that if there is any meaningful chance of refusal, filing inland gives up a significant avenue of recourse. An inland application also does not stop a removal on its own, and a pending sponsorship alone is rarely enough to defer a removal date.
We weigh your partner’s status, travel needs and refusal risk, then advise you on the stream that best protects your options.
Additional reading: inland vs outland spousal sponsorship in Canada
Book a consultation and we will advise you on the stream that protects your right to appeal.
IRCC decides common-law applications on paper, so your documents must show that you shared one home for the full 12 months. Officers look for consistent evidence from several independent sources, and gaps or contradictions in your addresses can quickly raise doubts about the whole relationship.
Strong applications usually combine evidence from these categories:
Tax returns deserve special attention. If either of you filed with the Canada Revenue Agency as single during the period you claim to have lived together, officers may treat that as evidence against your claim.
Never adjust dates to reach 12 months. A finding of misrepresentation brings a five-year ban from Canada.
Daniel Kingwell’s advice on this is direct: “Be upfront and deal with it.”
We review your evidence line by line and advise you on how to close any gaps before an officer sees them.
Choosing the right relationship category matters, because IRCC assesses each one against different proof.
| Spouse | Common-law partner | Conjugal partner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marriage required | Yes, valid where it took place and in Canada | No | No |
| Must have lived together | No | Yes | No |
| Minimum period | None | 12 continuous months of cohabitation | 12 months in an exclusive, committed relationship |
| Can apply inland | Yes | Yes | No |
| What you must prove | A genuine marriage | Continuous cohabitation and a genuine relationship | Legal, immigration, religious or other barriers that stopped you living together or marrying |
Conjugal status is not a fallback for couples who simply chose to live apart. We confirm the right category with you and advise on the evidence it needs before any forms are filed.
The application follows these steps:
Sponsors living in Quebec have extra steps. Quebec applies its own eligibility rules, and after IRCC confirms you can proceed, you must sign an undertaking with Quebec’s Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI).
We guide you through each step, from the first forms to landing, and prepare you for any interview or request along the way.
Before you submit, schedule a file review so our team can check every form and document.
The current sponsorship and permanent residence fees total $1,260 for a common-law partner with no dependent children, under the IRCC fee list in effect since April 30, 2026. A further $85 biometrics fee may apply if your partner is asked to give fingerprints and a photo.
| Fee | Amount (CAD) |
|---|---|
| Sponsorship fee | $90 |
| Principal applicant processing fee | $570 |
| Right of permanent residence fee | $600 |
| Total | $1,260 |
Only the right of permanent residence fee is refunded if the application is refused or withdrawn after processing starts. Current amounts are listed on IRCC’s fee list.
Processing times differ between the inland and outland streams. IRCC publishes forward-looking estimates for both on its processing times tool and updates them monthly, and we confirm the current estimate with you when we plan your filing.
Complete, well-organized files avoid the extra months that document requests add. We prepare every file to reduce the risk of avoidable delays.
Your common-law partner can apply for an open work permit while the sponsorship is processed, whether you filed inland or outland. The permit lets them work for almost any employer in Canada, but they must already be living in Canada with you to qualify for it.
Under IRCC’s open work permit rules, your partner must:
Partners without status whose inland file is processed under the spousal public policy must wait for an approval in principle letter before applying. The permit can be extended for two more years while the permanent residence application is still in process.
We review your partner’s status before filing and advise on the work permit plan that fits your stream.
Beyond the eligibility and evidence issues covered above, refusals usually trace back to one of these problems:
We identify these risks early and advise you on how to address each one before you file.
If part of your history worries you, book a case assessment and we will advise you on how to present it.
Your options after a refusal depend on how you applied. Outland refusals can be appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division within 30 days, while inland refusals can only be challenged through judicial review at the Federal Court, which requires leave and must be started within 15 days.
The sponsor starts the appeal by filing a notice of appeal with the Immigration Appeal Division, along with a copy of IRCC’s refusal letter. Sponsors in Ontario, except Ottawa, file with the IAD’s Toronto office.
The IAD hears the case again from the beginning, and the board member can consider new evidence and testimony from both partners. Your partner usually gives evidence at the hearing.
The IAD may also offer early resolution, a confidential process where Minister’s counsel decides whether to settle. If the case does not settle, it goes to a full hearing, which is why Daniel calls early resolution “a free kick at the can.”
When a settlement is reached, the file returns to the visa office for processing. The visa office cannot refuse again on the same ground, such as genuineness, unless new evidence arises.
Some refusals carry no appeal right, including those based on serious criminality or security grounds. Refusals for misrepresentation can still be appealed when the person refused is the sponsor’s common-law partner.
Additional reading: outland spousal sponsorship in Canada
Judicial review asks whether the officer’s decision was reasonable and fair, not whether the relationship is genuine. The Federal Court does not hear new evidence, and a successful review sends the file back to IRCC for a new decision.
We assess the refusal quickly and advise you on whether the grounds for review are strong enough to proceed.
Reapplying after a refusal on genuineness puts you back in the queue in front of the same decision maker. Daniel’s view is that reapplication is “almost never the answer,” unless the first application failed because of a technical defect.
We review the refusal reasons with you and advise on the route most likely to succeed.
Our team has challenged partner and spousal sponsorship refusals at both the IAD and the Federal Court.
Overseas sponsorship of conjugal partner from Saudi Arabia. IRCC refused the application on the basis that they did not meet the requirements of conjugal partnership, and the Immigration Appeal Division rejected their appeal. We represented them on appeal to the Federal Court, and the judge overturned the decision, agreeing that the officer and IAD had improperly considered their individual and relationship histories. Their PR application was returned to IRCC for processing.
Overseas spousal sponsorship from India. IRCC rejected their PR application on the basis that the arranged marriage was not genuine. We successfully appealed the decision to the Immigration Appeal Division, showing evidence of how the marriage was arranged, how the wedding took place, that they were having a child, and explaining their complicated prior marital history. IRCC was ordered to process the visa application.
Daniel describes his role in refusal cases simply: “I’m sort of the fire department.”
During law school, Daniel Kingwell went abroad, met his wife and came back to Canada having experienced the immigration system as a client, not a lawyer. As he describes it: “A bureaucrat gets to decide if I can live with my wife in Canada.”
As an LSO Certified Specialist practising since 2001, Daniel leads a team that prepares common-law applications with the refusal stage in mind. We never take a one-size-fits-all approach, and we represent couples across Canada remotely.
We guide you on the right stream, build the evidence of your 12 months together and represent you at the IAD or Federal Court if IRCC says no.
Call 416.988.8853 or contact our team to discuss your common-law sponsorship.
Yes, a person still married to someone else can qualify as a common-law partner in Canada if that marriage has broken down, but IRCC only counts the 12 months of cohabitation from the date of physical separation. Kingwell Immigration Law reviews your separation evidence so the file answers this upfront.
Yes, IRCC states that a common-law partner can be any gender, so same-sex couples apply under the same 12-month cohabitation rule and evidence standards. Kingwell Immigration Law helps same-sex couples present their relationship clearly, including where it was not legally recognized or safe to disclose in a partner’s home country.
Yes, a common-law partner can include dependent children, generally those under 22 without a spouse or partner, and IRCC charges $180 for each child. Kingwell Immigration Law confirms each child’s eligibility and flags when an income test applies, which happens when a dependent child has children of their own.
IRCC treats a common-law relationship as over once either partner chooses to end it, so the sponsorship no longer meets the definition and IRCC must be told. Kingwell Immigration Law advises sponsors on withdrawing the application and advises partners on whether another route to stay in Canada exists.
Yes, IRCC requires any document not in English or French to include a certified translation, or a translation plus an affidavit from the translator if they are not certified. Kingwell Immigration Law reviews translations before filing, because a missing affidavit or inconsistent name spelling can delay an otherwise complete application.
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