Short answer
A Canadian citizen, a permanent resident living in Canada, or a person registered under the Indian Act who is at least 18 may sponsor a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner for permanent residence. As of 2 November 2026, IRCC’s fee list shows CAD 1,260 for a spouse or partner, and its processing times tool, last updated 9 October 2026, showed about 18 months for an application from outside Canada. There is usually no income requirement, but the sponsor signs a three-year undertaking.
Who can sponsor a spouse to Canada?
The sponsor carries this application. Officers assess the sponsored spouse too, but the first question is whether the person in Canada is allowed to sponsor anyone at all.
The basic conditions
As of 2 November 2026, IRCC’s eligibility page says a sponsor must be at least 18 years old, must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada or a person registered in Canada under the Canadian Indian Act, and must live in Canada.
The rule that ends many plans
Two sentences on that page decide a great many cases. A Canadian citizen living outside Canada may sponsor, but has to show a plan to live in Canada when the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident. A permanent resident living outside Canada cannot sponsor.
I see this often enough to say it plainly. A Pakistani family whose son or daughter holds Canadian permanent residence but is working in Dubai or back in Lahore cannot start a spousal sponsorship from there. The residence question comes before the relationship question.
Quebec is a separate assessment
If the sponsor will live in Quebec, the province assesses part of the application under the Canada and Quebec Accord, and IRCC publishes a separate processing time for Quebec cases. The figures in this guide are the outside Quebec figures unless stated otherwise.
Who can be sponsored, and in which category?
There are three relationship categories for a partner, plus dependent children. Choosing the wrong one is not a technicality that gets sorted out later. It is a refusal.
| Category | What it means | Minimum period | Where the person lives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spouse | Legally married to the sponsor, and the marriage is valid where it took place and under Canadian law | No minimum period of marriage | Inside or outside Canada |
| Common-law partner | Not married, but has lived with the sponsor in a conjugal relationship | At least 12 consecutive months of living together | Inside or outside Canada |
| Conjugal partner | Not married and not common-law, and unable to marry or live together for legal, immigration, social, cultural or religious reasons | At least 1 year in an exclusive, mutually interdependent relationship | Outside Canada only |
| Dependent child | Under 22 and without a spouse or partner, or 22 and over and dependent since before 22 because of a mental or physical condition | Not applicable | Inside or outside Canada |
The age of the sponsored partner
IRCC’s page on who you can sponsor says a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner must be at least 18 years old. A marriage that took place when one party was under 18 does not become a sponsorship route just because that person has since turned 18 without the marriage being recognised.
Common-law means proof of living together
Twelve consecutive months is the test, and officers read it as twelve continuous months in a conjugal relationship with only short, temporary separations. For a couple split between Pakistan and Canada, this is usually the hardest category to evidence, because the time together has to be documented, not asserted.
Conjugal is narrow, not convenient
The conjugal category exists for couples who are genuinely blocked from marrying or cohabiting. IRCC lists legal, immigration, social, cultural and religious barriers. A couple who could have married at any point and simply did not is not in this category, and an application filed there to avoid the twelve-month cohabitation test tends to fail on exactly that point.
Outland or inland: which class applies?
For a spouse in Pakistan the answer is almost always outland, which is the family class. The inland class has conditions that a person in Pakistan cannot meet.
What the inland class requires
IRCC’s complete guide for this application, IMM 5289, says the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada class applies where the spouse or partner lives with the sponsor in Canada and has valid temporary resident status, or is exempt from needing that status under a public policy. That public policy covers only a narrow set of problems, such as having overstayed, worked or studied without authorisation, or entered without the required visa.
The open work permit
The inland route has one real advantage. A spouse, common-law or conjugal partner being sponsored while living in Canada with the sponsor can apply for an open work permit once they have an acknowledgement of receipt letter, and IRCC says that permit can be extended for two more years while the permanent residence application is processed. That is a permit to work while waiting, which the outland route does not provide.
Why outland is still usually right from Pakistan
The inland class needs the spouse to be in Canada already, and getting there means a visitor visa that is judged on its own merits. On the figures IRCC published on 9 October 2026, the inland category was also the slower of the two. For a couple where one is in Pakistan, the outland application is the straight road.
What does spousal sponsorship cost?
The government side of the cost is modest compared with most family routes. The sums below are the ones IRCC publishes, not an agent’s package price.
The published fee lines
As of 2 November 2026, IRCC’s fee list shows CAD 1,260 to sponsor a spouse or partner, described as including the sponsorship fee, the processing fee and the right of permanent residence fee. Sponsoring without the right of permanent residence fee is CAD 660, and each dependent child included in the application is CAD 180.
IRCC’s fee changes page sets out the components as they stood after the increase on 30 April 2026: the sponsorship fee went from CAD 85 to CAD 90, the sponsored principal applicant fee from CAD 545 to CAD 570, the right of permanent residence fee from CAD 575 to CAD 600, and the accompanying dependent child fee from CAD 175 to CAD 180.
| Fee | Amount in CAD | When it is paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsor a spouse or partner, all in | 1,260 | With the online application |
| Same application without the right of permanent residence fee | 660 | With the online application |
| Right of permanent residence fee on its own | 600 | With the application, or before the visa is issued |
| Each dependent child included | 180 | With the online application |
| Biometrics, one person | 85 | When IRCC issues the biometrics instruction letter |
| Biometrics, family of two or more applying together | 170 maximum | When IRCC issues the biometrics instruction letter |
The costs IRCC does not set
The medical examination is paid to the panel physician, not to IRCC, and the amount depends on the clinic and the tests needed. Police certificates, certified translations, photographs, courier charges and travel to the visa application centre all sit outside the fee table. So does any consultant’s charge.
The right of permanent residence fee can wait
The right of permanent residence fee is the largest single line at CAD 600, and the complete guide says it is refundable if the person does not become a permanent resident. A family who would rather not pay it at filing can submit the CAD 660 version and pay the remaining fee later, before the visa is issued.
How long does it take?
Long enough that couples should plan around it rather than hope. IRCC publishes a single figure per category and updates it monthly.
The published figures
On IRCC’s processing times tool, last updated 9 October 2026, a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner living outside Canada, sponsored by someone outside Quebec, showed about 18 months. The same screen said about 65,600 people were waiting for a decision in that category. The spouse or common-law partner living inside Canada category showed about 26 months.
That is worth reading twice, because the usual advice in Pakistani WhatsApp groups is the opposite. On the day I checked, the application filed from Pakistan was the quicker one by about eight months.
What IRCC says the figure means
The tool states that the time shown is how long IRCC expects to take on an application received today, that it is based on current inventory and staffing, and that it is not a maximum and not a guarantee. The same page warns that processing times may increase where more people apply than there are spaces under the Immigration Levels Plan.
Additions for applications sent from abroad
IRCC’s processing times page also tells applicants outside Canada and the United States to add three to four months for mailing time where the application goes through a Canadian embassy, high commission or consulate, and six to eight months where the application is for a minor sent directly to the Case Processing Centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
The undertaking, and what the sponsor is signing
This is the part families skim. It is a financial promise to the government, and it survives almost everything that happens afterwards.
Three years for a spouse
The complete guide says the undertaking for a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner runs for three years from the day that person becomes a permanent resident. The clock starts at landing, not at filing, so a family that waits eighteen months for a decision is committed for three years after that.
| Who is sponsored | Undertaking length | Starts from |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner | 3 years | The day they become a permanent resident |
| Dependent child under 22 | 10 years, or until the child turns 25, whichever comes first | The day they become a permanent resident |
| Dependent child aged 22 or over | 3 years | The day they become a permanent resident |
| Parent or grandparent | 20 years, or 10 years in Quebec | The day they become a permanent resident |
Ending the relationship does not end the undertaking
A divorce or separation after landing does not cancel the sponsor’s promise. If the sponsored person receives provincial, territorial or municipal social assistance during the undertaking period, the sponsor is in default. IRCC says a sponsor in default cannot sponsor another family class member until the amount has been repaid.
Usually no income test
IRCC says that in most cases there is no minimum necessary income requirement for sponsoring a spouse, partner or dependent child. The exception is where a sponsored dependent child has a dependent child of their own, which brings in the Financial Evaluation form, IMM 1283. Parent and grandparent sponsorship is different in every respect, and the guide to parent and grandparent sponsorship covers the income tables and the twenty-year undertaking there.
Proving the relationship is genuine
An officer is deciding one question: is this relationship real, or was it entered into mainly so that someone could get status in Canada. Every document in the file either answers that or wastes a page.
The form that frames the case
The complete guide requires the Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation form, IMM 5532, from a sponsor who is sponsoring a spouse or partner. It asks how the couple met, how the marriage was arranged, who attended, how the relationship has been maintained and what the plans are. Answer it in plain words, and make sure both sides of the couple describe the same history.
What actually helps a Pakistani file
- the registered nikah nama and the NADRA marriage registration certificate, with certified translations;
- photographs across the whole relationship, not only the wedding day, showing both families;
- call logs, message history and video call records over months, not a week before filing;
- proof of money sent, with the remittance receipts;
- passport stamps and tickets for every visit, each tied to a date in the written history;
- the wedding invitation card, the venue booking and receipts;
- joint property, joint accounts, insurance or a will that names the spouse, if any exist;
- letters from parents on both sides confirming the arrangement and their involvement.
Arranged marriages are not a problem, hidden facts are
An arranged marriage is an ordinary and accepted basis for a sponsorship. What damages a file is a history the two sides tell differently, a previous marriage that is mentioned by one party and not the other, or a gap between the nikah and the rukhsati that nobody explains. Write the history once, agree it, and keep it consistent across every form.
Undeclared family members
IRCC’s page on who you can sponsor states that the temporary public policy allowing certain undeclared family members to be sponsored ended on 10 September 2026, and applied only to applications received between 31 May 2019 and 10 September 2026. Outside that window, a family member who was not declared and examined in an earlier application is not eligible for family sponsorship. Declare every child and every former relationship the first time.
Medicals, police certificates and biometrics
These three steps are administrative, and they are also where avoidable months disappear.
The medical examination
IRCC’s page on medical exams says your own doctor cannot do the examination, and you must use a panel physician IRCC has approved. Book with a panel physician on IRCC’s own list, and keep the receipt and the confirmation number the clinic gives you.
Police certificates
IRCC says police certificates differ in every country and territory. A certificate that is not in English or French must be submitted with a copy of the original and a translation from a certified translator. For most Pakistani applicants this means a police character certificate obtained properly and translated properly, not a photocopy with a stamp added.
Biometrics
Biometrics are given at a visa application centre after IRCC issues the biometrics instruction letter. The fee is CAD 85 per person, to a family maximum of CAD 170 where two or more eligible people apply at the same time.
Who cannot sponsor
IRCC publishes a list of reasons a person is not eligible to sponsor. Reading it before filing saves a wasted fee and a refusal on the record.
Bars that apply to sponsoring a spouse or partner
- the sponsor was themselves sponsored by a spouse or partner and became a permanent resident less than five years ago;
- the sponsor signed an undertaking for a previous spouse or partner and three years have not yet passed since that person became a permanent resident.
Bars that apply to sponsoring a spouse, partner or child
- an application to sponsor the same person is already pending a decision;
- the sponsor is in jail, prison or a penitentiary;
- the sponsor is behind on an immigration loan, a performance bond, or court-ordered family support;
- the sponsor did not give the financial support agreed under a previous sponsorship;
- the sponsor declared bankruptcy and is not discharged;
- the sponsor receives social assistance for a reason other than a disability;
- the sponsor was convicted of a violent criminal offence, an offence against a relative causing bodily harm, or a sexual offence, in or outside Canada;
- the sponsor cannot legally stay in Canada and is under a removal order.
IRCC notes that some of these bars are applied differently in Quebec, and that there may be other reasons a person is found ineligible. If the sponsor is found ineligible, IRCC says it will explain why.
How to apply, step by step
The order below keeps the decisions in the right sequence. Settle the sponsor first, the category second and the evidence third.
Check that the sponsor qualifies first
Before anything else, confirm the sponsor is at least 18, is a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident or a person registered in Canada under the Indian Act, and lives in Canada. A permanent resident living outside Canada cannot sponsor at all. Read the list of reasons a person may not sponsor, which includes an undischarged bankruptcy and arrears on court-ordered family support.
Decide which relationship category fits
A married couple applies as spouses. A couple who have lived together for at least 12 consecutive months apply as common-law partners. A conjugal partner application is for a couple who have been in an exclusive relationship for at least a year but cannot marry or live together for legal, immigration, social, cultural or religious reasons. Pick the one that is true, not the one that looks easiest.
Choose outland or inland
If the sponsored spouse is in Pakistan, the application goes in as an outland case, which is the family class. The inland class is only for a spouse who is already living with the sponsor in Canada with valid temporary resident status, or who is covered by the public policy for people without status.
Build the relationship evidence file
Collect the marriage certificate or proof of 12 months of cohabitation, photographs across the length of the relationship, call and message records, proof of money sent, travel stamps showing visits, and evidence that both families knew about and attended the wedding. Complete the Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation form, IMM 5532.
Apply online and pay the fees
Applying online has been mandatory since 23 September 2022. The sponsor and the applicant each complete their own forms in the same package. Pay the sponsorship fee, the processing fee for the sponsored person, the right of permanent residence fee and the biometrics fee, and keep every receipt.
Complete biometrics, the medical and police certificates
Give biometrics at the visa application centre when IRCC asks for them. The immigration medical examination must be done by a panel physician that IRCC has approved, not by your own doctor. Police certificates that are not in English or French need a certified translation submitted with a copy of the original.
Answer every request, then plan the landing
Keep the online account and the email address live for the whole wait, and answer procedural fairness letters and interview requests by the date given. When permanent residence is confirmed, the three-year undertaking starts on the day the sponsored spouse becomes a permanent resident.
What goes wrong most often
The sponsor lives outside Canada
A permanent resident sponsor living in Pakistan or the Gulf cannot sponsor. Families discover this after paying someone to prepare a file. Check the sponsor’s status and residence on day one.
Filing as conjugal partners to skip the cohabitation test
A couple who could marry but have not are not conjugal partners. Choosing that category to avoid proving twelve months of living together usually produces a refusal that then has to be explained in the next application.
A relationship history that two people tell differently
The IMM 5532 answers and the two sets of forms are read side by side. A different account of how the couple met, who proposed, or when the families were told is read as a sign the relationship is not what it is said to be.
A thin evidence file
Thirty wedding photographs taken on one day and no other record of the relationship is a common pattern, and a weak one. Officers look for continuity over time, which is why call records, remittances and visit stamps matter more than any single document.
An undeclared child or a previous marriage
Leaving out a child or a divorce causes problems far beyond this application, because the person who was not declared and examined cannot normally be sponsored later. Declare everything the first time.
Treating the processing time as a deadline
About 18 months is an expectation, not a promise, and the published figure moves monthly. Couples who book a wedding reception, a job resignation or a tenancy around the published figure set themselves up for a hard few months.
A realistic example
This is a hypothetical illustration, not a real client. Imagine Hamza, a Canadian citizen who has lived in Mississauga for six years, and Ayesha, who lives with her parents in Sialkot. They married in Sialkot in March, with both families present.
- Before anything else. Hamza confirms he is over 18, a Canadian citizen, and living in Canada. He has never sponsored anyone before and is not in default on anything.
- Category. They are legally married, so this is a spousal application. Ayesha lives in Pakistan, so it is an outland case.
- Evidence. They write one shared history of the relationship, then attach the registered nikah nama with a certified translation, two years of call and message records, remittance receipts, Hamza’s passport stamps for three visits, the wedding card and photographs with both families. Each parent writes a short letter.
- Forms and fees. Hamza completes the sponsorship forms and the IMM 5532. Ayesha completes hers. They file online and pay CAD 1,260, then CAD 85 when the biometrics letter arrives.
- Checks. Ayesha gives biometrics in Islamabad, books her medical with a panel physician on IRCC’s list, and submits her police certificate with a certified translation.
- Planning. Reading about 18 months on IRCC’s tool, they plan for longer. Ayesha keeps her job, and they do not give up her family home or book a reception around a guessed date.
Nothing in that file is clever. It is one true story with the paperwork to support it, filed by a sponsor who was eligible on the day he filed.
The version that goes wrong
Now imagine a cousin who holds Canadian permanent residence but has been working in Doha for three years. An agent takes PKR 400,000 to prepare a spousal file and tells him residence can be sorted out later. He is a permanent resident living outside Canada, so he cannot sponsor. The application is refused, the government fee is spent, and the relationship history now has a refusal attached to it. Before paying anyone for a Canadian file, read the guide to checking a visa consultant in Pakistan. Under section 91 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, only members of a Canadian law society, the Chambre des notaires du Québec or the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants may be paid to represent or advise you on an application.
Key takeaways
- A sponsor must be at least 18, a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident or registered under the Indian Act, and must live in Canada; a permanent resident living outside Canada cannot sponsor.
- IRCC’s fee list showed CAD 1,260 to sponsor a spouse or partner on 2 November 2026, or CAD 660 without the right of permanent residence fee, plus CAD 85 for biometrics.
- On 9 October 2026 IRCC published about 18 months for an outland spousal application and about 26 months for the inland class, with about 65,600 people waiting outland.
- There is usually no minimum income requirement for a spouse, but the sponsor signs a three-year undertaking that starts at landing and survives a divorce.
- Common-law needs 12 consecutive months of living together; the conjugal category is only for couples genuinely unable to marry or cohabit.
- Relationship evidence should run across the whole relationship, and both sides must tell the same history on the IMM 5532.
- Canada reserves paid advice and representation on an application to authorised representatives under section 91 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to sponsor a spouse to Canada from Pakistan?
As of 2 November 2026, IRCC’s fee list shows CAD 1,260 to sponsor a spouse or partner. That figure combines the sponsorship fee, the processing fee for the sponsored person and the right of permanent residence fee. Sponsoring without the right of permanent residence fee is CAD 660, and each dependent child included costs CAD 180. Biometrics are CAD 85 per person, to a family maximum of CAD 170.
How long does spousal sponsorship take from Pakistan?
IRCC’s own processing times tool, last updated 9 October 2026, showed about 18 months for a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner living outside Canada where the sponsor lives outside Quebec. The same tool said about 65,600 people were waiting for a decision in that category. IRCC states plainly that this is not a maximum and not a guarantee.
Is it faster to apply from inside Canada or from Pakistan?
On the figures IRCC published on 9 October 2026, the outland route was faster. The outside Canada category showed about 18 months, while the spouse or common-law partner living inside Canada category showed about 26 months. That order has not always held, so check the tool on the day you decide rather than relying on what was true last year.
Does a Canadian sponsor need to prove a minimum income?
In most spousal cases, no. IRCC says there is usually no minimum necessary income requirement to sponsor a spouse, partner or dependent child. The exception is where the sponsored dependent child has a dependent child of their own, or the sponsored spouse’s dependent child has a dependent child. That case uses the Financial Evaluation form, IMM 1283.
How long is the sponsor financially responsible?
The undertaking for a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner runs for three years from the day that person becomes a permanent resident. A dependent child under 22 carries a 10-year undertaking, or until the child turns 25, whichever comes first. A dependent child aged 22 or over carries a three-year undertaking.
Can a Canadian citizen living in Pakistan sponsor a spouse?
A Canadian citizen living outside Canada may sponsor, but IRCC says they must show they plan to live in Canada when the sponsored person becomes a permanent resident. A permanent resident living outside Canada cannot sponsor at all. This single rule ends a large number of plans before they start, so settle it first.
What is a conjugal partner, and should we apply as one?
A conjugal partner lives outside Canada, has been in an exclusive and mutually interdependent relationship with the sponsor for at least one year, and cannot marry or live with the sponsor because of legal, immigration, social, cultural or religious barriers. It is a narrow category for couples who are genuinely blocked. A couple who could marry, and simply have not, is not a conjugal partner case.
What counts as proof of a genuine marriage?
IRCC asks whether the relationship is genuine and not entered into mainly to gain status. The nikah nama and registered marriage certificate are the start, not the finish. Add photographs across the relationship, call and message history, proof of money sent, travel and visit records, wedding invitations and evidence that both families were involved, plus the IMM 5532 questionnaire completed honestly.
Can a spouse visit Canada while the sponsorship is being processed?
A sponsored spouse may apply for a visitor visa, but it is assessed separately and on its own merits. An officer must still be satisfied the applicant will leave at the end of an authorised stay. A pending permanent residence application is a known reason for some visitor refusals, so apply with that in mind and do not treat the two applications as one.
Who cannot sponsor a spouse to Canada?
IRCC lists several bars. They include being sponsored by a spouse yourself and becoming a permanent resident less than five years ago, still being inside the three-year undertaking for a previous spouse, being in jail or prison, being behind on an immigration loan or court-ordered family support, being an undischarged bankrupt, receiving social assistance for a reason other than a disability, certain violent or sexual convictions, and being under a removal order.
Does the spouse need a medical examination and police certificate?
Yes. The immigration medical examination has to be done by a panel physician that IRCC has approved, and your own doctor cannot do it. Police certificates are required according to IRCC’s rules for where you have lived. A certificate that is not in English or French must be submitted with a translation from a certified translator and a copy of the original.
Can Ch. Bilal Rasheed handle a Canadian spousal sponsorship?
Only in a general way. A consultation in Lahore, on WhatsApp or by phone can cover how the route works, what the published rules say and whether the plan is realistic. No one can guarantee permanent residence. He is an immigration advisor in Pakistan, not a CICC licensee or a member of a Canadian law society, and section 91 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act reserves paid advice and representation on an IRCC application to authorised representatives.
