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Spouses, Common-Law Partners and Conjugal Partners

Spouse
Sponsoring your same-sex partner as a spouse
Common-law partner
Conjugal partner
Excluded relationships

Spouse

You are a spouse if you are married to your sponsor and your marriage is legally valid.

If you were married in Canada:

• You must have a Certificate of Marriage issued by the province or territory where the marriage took place.

If you were married outside Canada:

• The marriage must be valid under the law of the country where it took place and under Canadian law.
• A marriage performed in an embassy or consulate must comply with the law of the country where it took place, not the country of nationality of the embassy or consulate.

Sponsoring your same-sex partner as a spouse under the family class (CIC’s Interim Policy)

You can apply to sponsor your same-sex partner as a spouse if

• you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident; and
• you were issued a marriage certificate by a Canadian province or territory on or after the following dates:
  • Quebec (on or after March 19, 2004)
  • Ontario (on or after June 10, 2003)
  • British Columbia (on or after July 8, 2003)
  • Yukon (on or after July 14, 2004)
  • Manitoba (on or after September 16, 2004)
  • Nova Scotia (on or after September 24, 2004)
  • Saskatchewan (on or after November 5, 2004)
  • Newfoundland (on or after December 21, 2004)
  • New Brunswick (on or after July 4, 2005)
  • All other provinces or territories (on or after July 20, 2005).

If you were married outside Canada, you cannot apply to sponsor your same-sex partner as a spouse. However, if you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, you may qualify to sponsor your partner as a common-law or a conjugal partner.

Common-law partner

You are a common-law partner—either of opposite sex or same-sex—if you have been living with your sponsor in a conjugal relationship for at least one year. The year of living together must be a continuous 12-month period and cannot be intermittent periods that add up to one year. However, you are allowed temporary absences for short periods of time for business travel or family reasons.

You will have to provide documents that prove that you and your common-law partner have combined your affairs and have set up your household together in one home. This could include:

• joint bank accounts or credit cards;
• joint ownership of a home;
• joint residential leases;
• joint rental receipts;
• joint utilities (electricity, gas, telephone);
• joint management of household expenses;
• proof of joint purchases, especially for household items; or
• correspondence addressed to either person or both people at the same address

Conjugal partner

The conjugal partner category is for partners—either of opposite sex or same sex—in exceptional circumstances beyond their control that prevent them from qualifying as common-law partners or spouses. A conjugal relationship is more than a physical relationship. It is a mutually dependent relationship, and it has some permanence and the same level of commitment as a marriage or a common-law union.

You may apply as a conjugal partner if:

• you have maintained a conjugal relationship with your sponsor for at least one year;
• you have been prevented from living together or marrying because of:
  • an immigration barrier;
  • your marital status (e.g., you are married to someone else and living in a country where divorce is not possible); or
  • your sexual orientation (e.g., you are in a same-sex relationship and same-sex marriage is not permitted where you live);
• you can provide evidence of an impediment to living together (e.g., evidence of refused long-term stays in each other’s country).

You should not apply as a conjugal partner if:

• you could have lived together but chose not to, indicating that you did not have the level of commitment required of a conjugal relationship (e.g., you did not want to give up a job or a course of study, or your relationship was not yet at the point where you were ready to live together); or
• you are unable to provide evidence of an impediment that prevented you from living together; or
• you are engaged to be married. In this case, you should either apply as a spouse once the marriage has taken place or apply as a common-law partner if you have lived together continuously for at least 12 months.

Excluded relationships

You cannot be sponsored as a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner if:

• you are under 16 years of age;
• you or your sponsor were married to someone else at the time of your marriage;
• you have lived apart from your sponsor for at least one year and either you or your sponsor are the common-law or conjugal partner of another person;
• your sponsor is a permanent resident of Canada or a naturalized Canadian citizen and at the time of his or her application for permanent residence in Canada, you were a family member who was required to be examined to ensure that you met immigration requirements but you were not examined; or
• your sponsor previously sponsored another spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner and three years have not passed since that person became a permanent resident.