Spousal Sponsorship and Conditional Permanent Residence

Sponsored and common-law spouses and conjugal partners (including same-sex partners) must live in a legitimate relationship with their sponsor for at least 2 years from the date of their acquiring their Canadian Permanent Residency.

This condition applies to the couples who do not have a common child and who meet the condition of (i) having been married for two years or less, or (ii) have been living in conjugal relationship with the sponsor for two years or less or (iii) have cohabited in a common law relationship for two years or less.

However, the condition does not apply in any of the cases where the couple (i) has been married for more than two years, (ii) has been in a conjugal relationship for more than two years or has lived in a conjugal relationship for more than two years or, (iii) have children in common.

If the applicant couple does not remain in the relationship for the said period of time, their Canadian Permanent Residency will be revoked. However, there are certain exceptions in this case where permanent residency can be appealed for, such as where spouse has died, or one of the partners becomes a victim of domestic abuse, violence and/or torture.

Conditional Permanent Residence Period has been initiated to ensure that only genuine people can apply under this program. It is aimed at dissuading the earlier increasing trend of convenience marriages where people would get married for permanent residency card.

In many cases, Conditional Permanent Resident Period becomes extremely challenging to fulfil as people might be engaged in jobs in different cities or for other unavoidable reasons. These people stand high possibility of losing their spousal sponsorship approval. It is best to hire professional assistance in such complicated cases.

We, at Lexlords, have a long experience of dealing with people who were facing it difficult to establish their relationship as a genuine one, and were on the verge of receiving departure orders from Canadian Immigration Agencies. Our timely assistance has saved many from such untoward decisions.