ITA Application - Couple Applying Separately, or One Joint Application?

[ZJB1600]

Hello, my partner and I are coming to the end of our permanent residency applications and we ran into a small issue that we're not certain how to resolve. We have been collecting all the documents and both filling out our own separate applications, as this is how we did our Express Entry applications.

We have included the necessary information about each other on our applications as requested. But when we got to the end it estimated our fees and it's charging each of us twice, once for ourselves and once for our partner. This is expected of course, since each application is for two people, we're just not sure how the payment is going to work. Should we each submit our own application, pay the fees, and request a refund afterwards? Should we only submit a single application?

One of our issues with submitting just one application is that the principle applicant has more information than the spouse on the forms, so whoever ends up applying as the spouse on the principle form will have less information to be processed, and the picture of them as an applicant will not be as complete as if they had had their own principle application. Any thoughts on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[legalfalcon]

Hello, my partner and I are coming to the end of our permanent residency applications and we ran into a small issue that we're not certain how to resolve. We have been collecting all the documents and both filling out our own separate applications, as this is how we did our Express Entry applications.

We have included the necessary information about each other on our applications as requested. But when we got to the end it estimated our fees and it's charging each of us twice, once for ourselves and once for our partner. This is expected of course, since each application is for two people, we're just not sure how the payment is going to work. Should we each submit our own application, pay the fees, and request a refund afterwards? Should we only submit a single application?

One of our issues with submitting just one application is that the principle applicant has more information than the spouse on the forms, so whoever ends up applying as the spouse on the principle form will have less information to be processed, and the picture of them as an applicant will not be as complete as if they had had their own principle application. Any thoughts on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

If you are filing together, then you should only file one application. Filing two applications will not help and will create issues, wherein IRCC will stop the processing of one as per the procedure.

Also, as a dependent spouse, you do not get points, so there is no point in providing information which is not required as it is irrelevant and will be ignored anyway.

 

[lampbreaker]

If you are filing two separate applications, then the spouse should be listed as non-accompanying and letter of explanation should be provided. Separate payments will then be made. If filing one single application, payment will only be needed once.

 

[Santacan]

Hello, my partner and I are coming to the end of our permanent residency applications and we ran into a small issue that we're not certain how to resolve. We have been collecting all the documents and both filling out our own separate applications, as this is how we did our Express Entry applications.

We have included the necessary information about each other on our applications as requested. But when we got to the end it estimated our fees and it's charging each of us twice, once for ourselves and once for our partner. This is expected of course, since each application is for two people, we're just not sure how the payment is going to work. Should we each submit our own application, pay the fees, and request a refund afterwards? Should we only submit a single application?

One of our issues with submitting just one application is that the principle applicant has more information than the spouse on the forms, so whoever ends up applying as the spouse on the principle form will have less information to be processed, and the picture of them as an applicant will not be as complete as if they had had their own principle application. Any thoughts on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Why are you applying separately?

 

[ZJB1600]

Thank you for the responses so far. As far as points are concerned, are points used for the residency application? We've already completed our Express Entry applications and been invited to apply, I thought the points and CRS were only for the Express Entry pool?

We were applying separately since that's how we did our Express Entry applications, we thought each of us needed to submit our own application and we would be judged individually regardless of whether or not we had a spouse. We don't consider either of us to be a dependent spouse, but it sounds like for this application it would be better if one of us takes that role. As I said in my original post, the principal applicant is asked for more information on the application than the spouse is, for instance they don't ask me for her proof of funds in the document checklist, so we thought we both needed our own application, so they get all the information possible. I suppose I would just include her fund proof under my own? Thanks again for all of the help, it is appreciated.

 

[lampbreaker]

After filling out the actual PR application (not EE profile), they will recalculate your CRS score. It needs to be above the cutoff for the round in which you got your ITA. If you fill EE profile as single (married but spouse not accompanying), get ITA and then add a dependent spouse which causes reduction in points, then they will deny your application (unless the reduced points are above cutoff).

I understand that neither of you are actually dependent upon the other, but it's not really that big a deal, its only for immigration purpose. Nobody else needs to know that one of you applied as a dependent. If you have all the necessary documents as principal applicants, go ahead and apply that way. It makes no difference. Nobody needs your complete picture. Its not portrait that they are going to hang in a gallery. Just make sure you mention the spouse in both applications and make them 'not accompanying'. Add letter of explanation explaining the situation.