Overseas Spousal Sponsorship Documents for Spouse and Common Law Partner
Overseas Spousal Sponsorship Documents for Spouse and Common Law Partner
Do you have a spouse or common-law partner currently residing outside of Canada that you would like to sponsor? It is very difficult to maintain a relationship when both partners are living in different parts of the world. True love never dies so why spend all your precious time apart? Do not hesitate to contact Akrami & Associates, who have successfully solved sponsorship cases, so that we can help you sponsor your spouse or common-law partner successfully as well. With Akrami & Associates, there is always a way!
Overseas Spousal Sponsorship Documents for Spouse and Common Law Partner: What is Spousal Sponsorship?
Spousal sponsorship is the act of a person providing funds for their spouse who lives in a different country in effort to bring them to their own (the sponsor’s) country. As you may already know, in this blog I will be talking about sponsoring a spouse whom resides outside of Canada. Now, there are many reasons as to why one may have a spouse in another country. Spousal sponsorship is an opportunity for spouses to reunite with one another and begin their lifelong journey together. The most important aspect of sponsoring a spouse successfully is that the sponsoring spouse is required to be a citizen or permanent resident of the country they are residing in and they have marriage certificate that is recognized in the country they got married in and in Canada. Spousal sponsorship is arguably easier to prove and be a successful sponsorship than a common-law sponsorship.
Overseas Spousal Sponsorship Documents for Spouse and Common Law Partner: What is Common-Law Sponsorship?
Common law sponsorship is when you lived with your partner for longer than a year without any long periods of separation. You may think that this is the same definition of a spousal sponsorship, however it is not. Although both are very similar in nature, they are different when it comes down to the documents. Essentially, you have to proof you have resided together for at least one year together without long periods of being absent from each other. One major difference between a spousal sponsorship and a common law sponsorship is the extensive amount of evidence (documentation) required. Extensive amount of documentation is required when sponsoring your common-law partner because it is truly difficult to prove that you and your partner are a true couple and not just abusing the power of a common law sponsorship in order to just sponsor an individual for the sake of getting them into the country.
Documents required from the Applicant when submitting a Spousal or Common Law Application
When sponsoring a spouse or common law partner, you need to provide/include many documents and evidence along with your application. The documents that have to be completed for the applicant are:
- Generic Application Form for Canada
- Additional Dependants/Declaration
- Additional Family Information
- Schedule A – Background/Declaration
- Spouse/Common-Law Partner Questionnaire
The Generic Application Form for Canada is an application in which the applicant wants to join family members in Canada. Remember only a family member who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident is eligible to sponsor you.
The Additional Family Information Form contains information about your family such as your children, brothers and/or sisters.
The Schedule A – Background/Declaration Form requires you to fill out all of your personal information such as where you live/lived, where you completed your previous studies, previous jobs, where you have lived etc.
The Spousal/Common-Law Partner Questionnaire form requires you to fill out information about your spouse or common-law partner such as when you guys met, how you guys are interacting with each other and information about your partner’s family.
In addition to all of these documents, you also have to include documents regarding you, the applicant, and your dependant children. Some documents include passport pages (info page), your and your dependant children’s birth certificate, custody papers, adoption papers, etc.
Overseas Spousal Sponsorship Documents for Spouse and Common Law Partner: Documents to be completed by the Sponsor
- Hence there are documents needed from the applicant, the sponsor is required to include some documents themselves as well. Some important documents that the sponsor needs to complete are:
- Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking
- Sponsorship Evaluation
- Financial Evaluation
- Use of a Representative (if applicable)
- Document Checklist
The Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking is a form that requires information and consent on your part (as the sponsor) to see if you agree to the sponsorship and to see if you are eligible to do so.
A Sponsorship Evaluation is an application that you have to complete that consists of questions about your past sponsorships, your place of employment, your income (financial status), and some family elated questions.
The Financial Evaluation is a form that has a lot of space for you to fill in your financial status in order for the government to see if you are eligible to be a sponsor. In order for the government to find out if you are eligible or not, they assess the size of your family and your income to determine whether or not you can handle another addition to your family financially.
The Use of Representative Form you do not have to hire a representative to help assist you with your case, however, if you do, you are required to complete the “Use of a Representative” form. The Use of a Representative form is a paper that inquires information about your representative such as their full name, the name of their firm or organization, your relationship to the representative etc.
Along with all these documents you are also required to submit a copy of the Document Checklist that you have successfully completed by providing all of the required documentation for (Document Checklist Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada).
Overseas Spousal Sponsorship Documents for Spouse and Common Law Partner: Difference between Common Law Sponsorship Documents and Spousal Sponsorship Documents
As you may have learned through this article, many of the documents required for a spousal sponsorship, are also required for a common-law sponsorship as well. The only major difference between the two is that for a spousal sponsorship, you obviously have to include a marriage certificate. In a common-law relationship, you are not legally married so you do not have a marriage certificate (which is why common-law sponsorships can be difficult to succeed). In order to successfully sponsor your common-law partner, you have to give sufficient and extensive proof (in documentation form) that proves that you both have been in a relationship (physically together) consecutively for at least 12 consecutive months (one year). It can be hard to prove this but some ways you can do so are to provide billing with the same billing address as your partner or you could also provide evidence that your credit card billing information is issued to the same address as your spouse or partner etc.
Contact Akrami and Associates Today!
No matter how big or how small your case may be, Akrami & Associates are always here to help assist and guide you with your case. As you read in this article, there are many documents required when applying to sponsor your spouse and especially when you want to sponsor your common-law partner. The number one reason many applications are returned and unsuccessful are because the applicants forgot to include a document or did not complete a document/form correctly. At Akrami & Associates sponsoring is second nature for us, the staff at Akrami & Associates are experienced and knowledgeable and have successfully dealt with hundreds of sponsorships. Contact Akrami & Associates for a consultation related to your sponsorship needs and we will do our absolute best to assist you to ensure a successful outcome. Remember, there is always a way!
