Spousal and Common-Law Sponsorship

People searching for a spousal sponsorship lawyer usually want the same two things: someone licensed to prepare and file the application, and a fee they can see before they commit. Both are below, and so is every eligibility rule this application actually turns on, as IRCC publishes it.

Canada Shaws Consulting Inc. · Richmond, BC · Practising since 2015 · Regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC)

Tell us about your relationship, where your partner is now, and anything in either history that might be questioned. We review it at no charge and reply with which route applies, what evidence you are missing, and what it would cost.

Who IRCC allows to sponsor

Four conditions decide whether you can be a sponsor at all, and IRCC checks them before it looks at the relationship. They are worth checking yourself before you spend anything.

Condition	What IRCC requires
Age	You are at least 18 years old.
Status	You are a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a person registered in Canada under the Canadian Indian Act.
Where you live	You live in Canada. A Canadian citizen living abroad may sponsor, but only if they can show they plan to live in Canada when the person they are sponsoring becomes a permanent resident. A permanent resident living outside Canada cannot sponsor.
The undertaking	You sign an undertaking and a sponsorship agreement, committing to support the person you sponsor. For a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner the undertaking runs for 3 years from the day they become a permanent resident.

Who cannot sponsor

These are the bars IRCC publishes. Each of them is checked before the relationship is assessed, so any one of them decides the timing of your application before the evidence does.

• You were yourself sponsored as a spouse or partner and became a permanent resident less than 5 years ago.
• You signed an undertaking for a previous spouse or partner and it has not yet been 3 years since that person became a permanent resident.
• You are in default on a previous sponsorship undertaking, on an immigration loan, or on a court-ordered support payment such as alimony or child support.
• You are an undischarged bankrupt.
• You are in prison, on parole or on probation.
• You were convicted of a violent criminal offence, an offence against a relative that caused bodily harm, or a sexual offence, in Canada or abroad. Whether the conviction bars you depends on the offence, the sentence and how long ago it was.
• You are under a removal order, or you are in Canada under a temporary resident permit.

A bar does not always end the plan. Several of them expire, and some are about timing rather than outcome. What matters is identifying which one applies before the application is filed, because a sponsorship refused on a bar costs the government fees and the months, and the file starts again.

Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner

IRCC treats these as three separate categories with three different evidentiary burdens. Choosing the wrong one is a refusal, not a correction.

Category	What it means	What has to be shown
Spouse	You are legally married, and the marriage is valid both in the country where it took place and under Canadian law. Both of you must be at least 18.	The marriage certificate, plus evidence that the relationship is genuine and continuing.
Common-law partner	You have lived together in a conjugal relationship for at least 12 continuous months, without any long separations.	A documented shared address across that whole period. The word carrying the weight is continuous, because a broken twelve months is not twelve months.
Conjugal partner	You have been in a committed relationship for at least one year but could not live together or marry, because of a legal, immigration or serious cultural barrier outside your control.	Why marriage and cohabitation were genuinely impossible. This is a narrow category and it is refused often when it is used as a shortcut around the twelve months.

Dependent children can normally be included in the same application. Who counts as a dependent child is defined by age and circumstance, and it is fixed at the date IRCC receives the application. See the rules for sponsoring a child.

Inland or outland: which one applies to you

Both routes lead to the same permanent residence. The difference is where your partner is while the application is processed, what they are allowed to do in the meantime, and whether a refusal can be appealed.

	Inland (spouse or common-law partner in Canada class)	Outland (family class)
Where your partner is	In Canada, living with you, holding valid temporary status	Anywhere, including inside Canada
Open work permit while waiting	Can be filed alongside the sponsorship application	Only in limited circumstances
Travel during processing	Leaving Canada carries a real risk of not being allowed back in, which can end the inland application	No restriction arising from the application itself
Appeal if refused	No right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division	Right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division
Living together	You must be living together in Canada for the whole time the application is processed	Not required during processing

The appeal right is the part most people do not weigh until it matters. An outland refusal can be argued in front of a tribunal that can substitute its own decision; an inland refusal generally cannot, and the alternatives are starting again or seeking judicial review in Federal Court.

What officers are assessing

One question sits under the whole application: is the relationship genuine, and was it entered into for a reason other than acquiring status under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act? Everything in the package is read against that.

• Finances shared over time: joint accounts, transfers, insurance beneficiaries, shared bills. A pattern across months carries more than a large sum on one day.
• A shared address that the documents agree on: leases, government mail, driver’s licences, tax filings. Contradictions between them are read as a signal, not as an administrative slip.
• Communication with continuity across the relationship, not a folder assembled the week before filing.
• Statements from family and friends who can describe the relationship rather than assert it.
• Time spent together, with travel records and an explanation for the gaps.
• Consistency between the two packages. The sponsor’s forms and the applicant’s forms have to agree on every date, address, previous marriage and spelling of a name.

Do you need a spousal sponsorship lawyer?

For most sponsorship applications, no. A Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant is licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants to give immigration advice and to represent you before IRCC, which is the same authority a lawyer has for this work.

The practical difference appears if an application is refused. An outland refusal can be appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division, and only a consultant holding the RCIC-IRB licence or a lawyer may represent you at that hearing. Our team includes an RCIC-IRB, so an appeal does not mean starting again with a new representative.

Anyone charging a fee to advise on Canadian immigration must be a licensed RCIC, a lawyer in good standing with a Canadian provincial or territorial law society, or a Quebec notary. You can check any representative on the CICC public register in under a minute.

Government fees before a spousal sponsorship lawyer charges anything

These are IRCC’s own fees, published in its fee schedule. They are what you would pay whether you used a representative or not, and they are separate from our professional fee below.

IRCC fee	Amount
Sponsoring a spouse, partner or child: sponsorship fee, principal applicant processing fee and right of permanent residence fee together	CAD 1,260
Open work permit holder fee, where an open work permit is filed alongside	CAD 100
Biometrics, one person	CAD 85
Biometrics, family of two or more applying at the same time	CAD 170 maximum

Government fees change. These were taken from the IRCC fee list on 5 September 2026. Confirm the current amount there before you pay. Medical examinations, police certificates and translations are charged by the providers, not by IRCC.

What a spousal sponsorship lawyer costs

These are our professional fees, on top of the government fees above. Most firms will not publish theirs; we do, so you can compare before you send anything. The assessment itself is free.

Service	What it covers	Professional fee
Assessment of your case	You send the form, we review your situation and reply with which route applies and what it will take.	Free
Spousal sponsorship, full representation	Married couples. Route decision, document plan, all forms, submission letter, filing and follow-up.	CAD 4,500
Common-law or conjugal sponsorship, full representation	As above, with the additional evidence work a common-law or conjugal relationship requires.	CAD 5,500
Spousal open work permit	Filed alongside an inland application so your partner can work while it is processed.	CAD 1,150
Application review	You prepare it; a senior RCIC reviews the forms and documents before you submit.	from CAD 275
Paid consultation	20, 40 or 60 minutes with a senior RCIC, for cases that need advice before a decision. Credited against full representation if you retain us within 7 days.	from CAD 120

Fees are professional fees only. They do not include IRCC or ESDC government fees, biometrics, medical examinations, translations, or applicable taxes.

Your journey with Canada Shaws

The same seven steps apply to every matter we take, whichever programme it is. The first two cost nothing, and the third is optional.

1. Free preliminary assessment. You complete our client intake form with your background, your goals and your current circumstances. An RCIC reviews what you have provided and carries out a preliminary assessment to identify the immigration programmes or pathways that may be relevant to your situation on the information available at this stage.
2. Assessment follow-up and information review. Our client representative contacts you to introduce the pathways the RCIC identified, explain our service process and professional fees, and understand your circumstances better. They may also review what you submitted, clarify anything incomplete or unclear, and confirm whether more information is needed. You can ask questions and see the available next steps.
3. Optional paid RCIC consultation. After the assessment and follow-up, you decide whether you want to speak directly with an RCIC before proceeding. If your questions are complex, or you want a detailed professional discussion of the options identified, you may book a paid consultation. It is optional. You can also proceed straight to signing up if you are ready.
4. Sign up with your RCIC. If you decide to proceed, you enter into a formal service agreement directly with the RCIC who will be professionally responsible for your matter. Once it is in place, the file moves into formal case preparation.
5. Detailed information and document preparation. Our team collects and reviews the detailed information and supporting documents your matter requires, and guides you through preparing them.
6. Application preparation and RCIC final review. The case team prepares your application package under the supervision of your RCIC: forms, supporting documents, submission letters and any other required materials. Your RCIC carries out the final professional review before submission.
7. Submission, updates and next steps. After submission we keep you informed of material developments. If immigration authorities request further information or issue a decision, our team guides you through the response, the result, and what happens next.

Who will handle your file

Every file is prepared under a named licensed consultant, and you can verify either of us on the CICC public register before you pay anything.

Both consultants are listed as Entitled to Practise on the CICC public register. Verify any Canadian immigration consultant at register.college-ic.ca.

Questions people ask before they apply

Is there an income requirement to sponsor my spouse?

No. IRCC states that in most cases there is no income requirement to sponsor a spouse, partner or dependent child. Income is assessed only in specific situations, such as sponsoring a dependent child who has dependent children of their own.

How long am I financially responsible for?

The undertaking for a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner runs 3 years from the day they become a permanent resident. It does not end if the relationship ends, and it is also what bars you from sponsoring a new partner until those 3 years have passed.

We are not married. Do we qualify as common-law?

Twelve continuous months of living together in a conjugal relationship is the threshold, and continuous is where most applications run into trouble. A period apart that breaks the cohabitation restarts the clock. Spouse, common-law and conjugal partner compared sets out the distinctions.

Can my partner work while we wait?

With an inland application, an open work permit can be filed alongside it. This is a separate route from the open work permits available to spouses of workers and students, which narrowed on 21 January 2025. See open work permits.

Can I sponsor while living outside Canada?

A Canadian citizen can, provided they show they plan to live in Canada when the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident. A permanent resident sponsor must be living in Canada. Sponsoring a spouse while living abroad covers both.

What happens if we are refused?

An outland refusal carries a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division; an inland refusal does not. The most common reasons are avoidable. See ten common reasons for refusal and how officers assess these cases.

Is a spousal sponsorship lawyer required for this?

No. A spousal sponsorship lawyer and an RCIC hold the same authority to represent you before IRCC. The one place the distinction bites is an appeal after an outland refusal, where a lawyer or an RCIC-IRB may appear. Our team includes an RCIC-IRB.

Start your spousal sponsorship lawyer alternative here

Send us your situation in a short form. There is no charge for the assessment and no obligation: you will get back the route that applies to you, the evidence you are missing, and what the work would cost. If your case needs advice before you decide anything, we will tell you that too.

Requirements described on this page are taken from the published criteria of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (and, where a page says so, Employment and Social Development Canada or the relevant province) and were checked on the date below. Immigration rules change, and the official criteria govern, so confirm the current requirement before you act on anything here.
No representative can guarantee an immigration outcome, and we do not promise one. What we commit to is a complete, correctly prepared application and a named licensed consultant responsible for it. Canada Shaws Consulting Inc. provides immigration consulting services as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants; we are not a law firm and do not provide legal services.
Page last verified: 5 September 2026.