Hi Everyone!
I claimed my husband as a dependent and I filed as married for the first time this year. I had my taxes filed at H&R block and I was very clear with the lady that my husband wasn't in Canada. She said that it doesn't matter as long as I am legally married that you can claim your spouse as a dependent. I had to tell her what his "world income" was in Canadian dollars and I gave her a copy of my marriage certificate to keep on file and I also had with me copies of Western Union transfers as proof that I support him from time to time. She said that CRA would most likely do an inquiry but because I'd given her proof of marriage and financial support that they wouldn't need to contact me again and that HR Block would take care of it if there was an inquiry. Hope that helps
On another note I just received a letter from CRA saying that I was being reassessed on my GST Benefit credit because my status had changed to married. I had to send them a letter explaining that my husband was not yet in the country and give them his world income for 2011.
Fingers crossed that there's good news this week for everyone!