Spousal sponsorship document checklist
Quick answer
A spousal sponsorship application needs documents from both people: the sponsor's proof of citizenship or permanent residence and their ability to meet the undertaking, and the applicant's identity, relationship and admissibility documents. Relationship evidence is the part officers scrutinise most, and it should cover the whole history of the relationship rather than a single event.
Create my checklist
Tick whatever is true of you and the situation-dependent items narrow to your circumstances. Nothing is sent anywhere and no contact details are needed.
Generally required
- Valid passportBiographical pages, and every page containing a stamp or visa.
- Digital photo meeting IRCC specifications
- Proof of current immigration statusWhere you are living outside your country of citizenship.
Program-specific
- Sponsor's proof of Canadian citizenship or permanent residence
- Sponsorship undertaking and agreement forms
- Marriage certificate, or evidence of a common-law or conjugal relationship
- Relationship evidencePhotographs across the relationship, messages, travel records, joint financial or housing documents.
- Police certificates for the applicant
- Immigration medical examination for the applicant
- Statutory declaration of common-law union, where applicable
Situation-dependent
- Divorce or death certificate ending a previous marriage
- Birth certificates and custody documents for dependent children
- Applicant's current Canadian status documents
- Open work permit application for an in-Canada applicant
- Sponsor's income documentsIncome is generally not assessed for a spouse or partner, but is where dependent children with children of their own are included.
- Police certificates from each country of residence since age 18
- Explanation addressing a previous refusal
May be requested
- Interview or additional relationship evidence
- Translations with a translator's affidavit
- Evidence addressing a period of separation
Where applications most often go wrong
- • Submitting hundreds of photographs but no continuous timeline of the relationship
- • Leaving a previous marriage undocumented
- • Forgetting that an in-Canada applicant may apply for an open work permit alongside the sponsorship
Keep or share this result
Copy a plain-text summary with the estimate disclaimer and the official source attached.
This checklist is a preparation aid. The document requirements that govern your application are those on the official IRCC document checklist generated for that application at the time you submit it.
Related resources
Have an RCIC review my document plan
Send us your situation and we'll tell you which documents to prioritise and which are most likely to cause delays.
No obligation · Your information is kept private · Reviewed by CICC Licence No. R709890