Inland Sponsorship (US Citizen spouse, CAN sponsor)

[chessmesser]

Hello friends
Spouse is currently in Canada from the USA as a visitor. Here's the unique part. They do not have a passport and has never even had a passport, they entered the country with birth certificate and driver's license as they normally do.

They are looking to stay in Canada with me. Will the lack of a passport effect the processing? They are already inside the country without documentation. I've done some reading but cannot find anything conclusive. The only thing I can see is they will sometimes allow this on H&C grounds. I don't want to waste ~$1400 on a PR application for her if it's going to get rejected in 8 months and she'll have to go back anyway.

I noticed that the form has a section where you can check off No if they do not have travel documents. They have everything else needed to prove their identity.

 

[armoured]

Is this a US citizen? Apply for the passport.

Personally I'd think it fine to apply with explanation as above AND info that has applied for passport.

They likely will require a passport before completion of the process. But getting one before then should be possible.

 

[armoured]

Personally I'd think it fine to apply with explanation as above AND info that has applied for passport.

Note, I warn I can't be certain that IRCC will accept app this way - but I don't think they'd reject the app, they'd return it as incomplete. (The difference being you wouldn't ahve to pay the fees again, mainly you'd just lose some time)

But more likely they'd accept and you'd just need the passport later.