Spousal Sponsorship
Can You Sponsor Your Fiancée or Conjugal Partner?
Canada’s immigration system recognizes the importance of family. In this regard, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has established ways for you, a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident, to reunite with your family members if for some reason you are currently not living together. If your foreign partner is a member of the Family class, you meet the requirements of a Sponsor, and they meet the requirements of a Sponsored Person, you may be eligible to Sponsor your foreign partner under a Sponsorship application.
As a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada you have the right to Sponsor your foreign Spouse, Common-law Partner or Conjugal Partner if you meet the requirements of the Sponsorship class. However, it is important to note that you and your foreign partner must meet the definition of Spouse, Common-law Partner or Conjugal Partner. If your foreign partner is your fiancée you may think that they automatically qualify as a Conjugal partner. However, this is not the case.
Your Fiancée Is Not A Conjugal Partner
If you and your foreign partner are engaged that does not necessarily mean that you are Conjugal Partners and can therefore apply under the family class for Sponsorship. The reason for this is because Citizenship and Immigration Canada has decided not take the role of assessing future relationships or assessing two people who intend to enter into and maintain a Conjugal relationship. In fact, there is no category for fiancées in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or Regulation. If you and your foreign national fiancée want to apply under the Spousal Sponsorship category, you must first get married. The both of you must be married before you begin your Sponsorship application. In other words, your foreign national partner must be married to you, as a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada and then apply to come to Canada.
In most cases, if you and your foreign partner are engaged that means you have an intention to get married, you are not yet married. This means you both intend to establish a Conjugal relationship. Most often, you have not yet entered into a Conjugal relationship in such situations. Being engaged means you intend to eventually combine your affairs and live in the same household becoming mutually interdependent. Even if you are in a sexual relationship with your foreign national fiancée, this does not mean you have reached a level of mutual interdependence that is required to be considered a Conjugal relationship even if you intend to do so in the near future when you get married.
In short, the main reason you and your fiancée would not be considered Conjugal partners is because usually traditional fiancées have not established the level of mutual interdependence and they have not merged their affairs together in a way that would classify them as Conjugal partners for the purposes of immigration.
However, not to worry. If you are trying to have your foreign partner fiancée come to Canada, there are options you can possibly pursue.
At Akrami & Associates, our team of legal professionals are dedicated to finding a solution for your case no matter how difficult it may seem. We will consider the unique circumstances of your case and compile a strong application that will give you the best chance for successful results.
