On receiving my Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR), I am planning my first landing there in Canada after couple of months (around May this year). Now, my question is that immediately after my first landing, or within few days thereafter, I am planning to file a complete visa application under Spousal Sponsorship program for my wife. However, I would be staying there in a temporary accommodation only (say airbnb or hotel room), as I need to accomplish some work including opening a Canadian bank account, then board my flight to a third country for some other work, and hence, I would not be having any local address or a place to call home, as such, at the time of filing my wife's visa application. Therefore, I need to know whether I can file the said application within days after landing there and without a local address? If yes, what documents other than marriage certificate and copy of wife's passport would be required for the purpose?
spousal sponsorship on first landing as new immigrant
- Thread starter CASM
- Start date
I am married but this is yet to be notified to IRCC and I am travelling alone/ myself only
The short answer is no. As a PR, you must be physically living in Canada in order to sponsor your spouse. If you have a temporary address and are then leaving Canada, you won't meet this requirement and can expect a refusal. You'll need to wait until you have moved to Canada permanently and are living here before you will be able to submit the sponsorship application.
This is a very big problem. If your spouse wasn't included in your PR application, you must return your PR visa and add your spouse to your application. If you fail to do this, you can never sponsor your spouse for PR. You cannot land using the visa that was issued to you as a single person. This is misrepresentation.
Thank you for your reply. But dear, I would be "physically living" in Canada when I file my spousal sponsorship visa application. As such, I didn't find anything on CIC/ IRCC website which mandates me to reside in Canada for a certain minimum time span in order to be eligible to apply for spousal sponsorship and just for your information, on the very first day of my first landing, I find myself to be eligible as a sponsor, as I meet the following requirements (which nowhere mentions that I have to be living there for a certain specified time period)
Requirements for the Sponsor:
- The sponsor must be at least 18 years of age;
- The sponsor must be a Canadian permanent resident living in Canada or a Canadian citizen;
- The sponsor cannot be in prison, bankrupt, under a removal order (if a permanent resident) or charged with a serious offence; and
- The sponsor cannot have been sponsored to Canada as a spouse within the last 5 years.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5289-sponsor-your-spouse-common-law-partner-conjugal-partner-dependent-child-complete-guide.html#eligibility
Thanks again for your prompt reply. But with utmost respect, modesty and humility, I would like to submit that I got married only days before getting my final COPR (Confirmation of Permanent Residency), and was very much single (bachelor/ not married) at the time of filing my PR application, which is why my spouse was not added (as I myself didn't know that back then). Please re-consider in light of the above facts as I don't see any misrepresentation.
Doesn't matter. It's still misrepresentation and the answer remains the same. There is nothing to reconsider. If you look at the letter than accompanied your COPR then you will see it specifically mentioned that you must notify IRCC of any changes to family composition before landing. Once again, you MUST notify the visa office that you are now married and return your COPR. Your COPR can no longer be used since it was issued to you when you were single and you are now married. You MUST then submit all of the required paperwork (including medical and PCC) to add your new spouse to your application. IRCC will then issue a new COPR once they have processed your spouse's paperwork. If you land using the COPR you have now you will never be able to sponsor your spouse for PR and will be committing misrepresentation which could result in your PR status being revoked. There are many discussions in the Express Entry section of the forum that discuss this issue and the process you must follow if you get married before landing in Canada. One last time, do not land using the COPR you have now.
All of us here are very familiar with this information. The answer remains the same. As a PR, you must be living in Canada to qualify to sponsor your spouse. If you submit the application and then leave, it will be refused. You must continue to live in Canada after the application is submitted.
Anyway - you have a bigger issue to address first. Your COPR is no longer valid. As said above, you need to return it and notify IRCC that you are now married - and submit the paperwork to add your spouse to your application. Expect to wait around 3-5 months of additional processing time to receive your new COPR.
As scylla said, doesn't matter. You MUST add your spouse to your current application. Failure to do so is misrepresentation and will result in the exclusion of your spouse from the Family Class, meaning that you will never be able to sponsor her. It could also result in the revocation of your PR status.
Noted and thanks! If I do submit the paperwork as mentioned above adding my spouse, including my own medical exam result and PCC etc. all afresh, shall that suffice? Because just as you said, I shall not land using the COPR I have now, but then I hope to get a revised deadline (last date) for my first landing altogether (according to new/ revised COPR)
There is no "if". You must do this.
You do not need to redo your medical and PCCs. If another medical is required, IRCC will request it.
It's a VERY good thing that you came to the forum for information, or you would have been one of the many people impacted by IRPR 117(9)(d).
The success rate of appealing that part of the legislation is extremely low.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/sor-2002-227/section-117.html
OK, I "WILL" do that. And if you could only suggest a final deadline/ last date by which I should file for revision/ new COPR, I'd be more than grateful and glad to hear from you.