Spouse Dependent Visa Alternatives

Hello,

I wanted to know the process or the way in which one could bring spouse to Canada once PR is activated. I got my PR in march before my wedding was decided and my PR will be activated in November as Plan the move in November. I am not getting Married till early Next year. I wanted to know about the options for the Spouse Visa as Sponsoring PR for Spouse takes 6-8 months.

Any insights would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Dhruv

Please elaborate on “got PR” and “will be activated”. I presume you mean got CoPR/visa in March and will land in November? Can you elaborate on “planning the move” in November? Do you wish to add spouse to your application? Do you wish to do the landing along with spouse, with her being or the application or otherwise?

This one should be obvious, but if you’re not officially getting married before you do your landing, your to-be spouse not your legal spouse yet, and you can’t prove that you were in a “common law partner” relationship, unless you were living together for a while. So I’m not sure how you will add as “accompanying” to your PR application before landing. If anyone on this forum has an answer feel free to add.

There’s no “spouse visa” or a “dependent visa” like you have in the US. If you do a quick google search you will find the answer: the only options are a tourist visa, and spouse PR sponsorship. Also, a PR cannot sponsor spouse unless the PR is living in Canada.

Based on my and others’ experiences, I know for certain that there are greater chances of spouse’s tourist visa to be rejected if you apply for tourist visa after the spouse’s PR application is already submitted!

I would recommend applying and getting the tourist visa for the spouse first (as an individual applicant with not relation to you). Usually the TRV (tourst visa) is valid till passport is valid. That will atleast enable him/her to come to Canada with you.

Once you become a PR and move here, you can sponsor PR under the "family class for spouse (“outland” if not living with you, else “inland”), or spousal sponsorship - inland if co-habiting with you for at least a year.

Usually spouse’s PR can take anywhere from 4-12 months, depending on whether the application is processed in Canada or in spouse’s country of residence.

The spousal PR sponsorship is an entire beast in itself and needs to be another post in the forum.

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Hello @avj

Thank you for the elaborated response. This indeed provides lots of helpful information.

I got COPR and I will be landing in November so I assume will get my PR card in a month or so after that I will be landing alone without my spouse to be. One of the other question that I had was what if she applies for an Express Entry Visa? Will be that be similar to Spouse PR or a total Different Application? Also Hypothetically if I manage to get married before entering Canada in November, can I add her in my application when I make landing?

Sincerely,
Dhruv

If you’re landing alone before getting married everything should proceed as normal.
If you get married before landing you will have to contact cic to add her to your application and issue CoPR and visa for her (probably a new CoPR for you as well). I haven’t done this but People on this forum might have and can add more details.

She can of course go through express entry process like you.After you become PR living in Canada she’ll get more points if she’s married to you. However in that scenario spouse sponsorship is much quicker and cleaner

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Hello @avj,

Thank you for more information.

So if I have my PR, your opinion is that Spouse Sponsorship will be quicker than individual Express Entry PR ?

Sincerely,
Dhruv

If you are PR and living in Canada, yes.

Hi @avj

I will be living in Canada with PR by November but I will be getting married in February. So in that case will the individual PR application will be faster? I apologize for asking this much questions.

Thank you very much for your insights on this.

Sincerely,
Dhruv

Express Entry can take anywhere from 5-12 months (assuming you have everything ready now). Spouse sponsorship usually takes about 4-6 months (after marriage in feb) depending on where it is processed. She’s probably not going to land as a EE PR before feb which means she’ll have to edit her application after it’s submitted to change marital status. Think about it. You can start the EE process if you want. But I would highly recommend her getting a tourist visa before submitting any PR application.

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Extremely helpful information overall, thank you @avj

@avj what is the mimimum IELTS score need for Dependent Spouse PR?

Is there a need for IELTS for spouse and child sponsorship? I thought they don’t need to write IELTS

Check this out: https://www.visasavenue.com/canada-immigration/all-about-canada-spouse-visa-or-sponsorship-visa/

" Well, IELTS is not required for Canada spouse visa , however, if you are spouse or partner is added in your Canada PR application via express entry, etc. you can get points for adding your partners IELTS score ."