Sponsor your spouse, partner or child: After you apply

On this page

• Processing your application
• Track and update your application

Processing your application

During processing, we’ll ask the people you’re sponsoring to submit their:

• medical exams
• police certificates
• biometrics
  • When the biometrics fee is paid, we’ll send your family members a letter asking them to give their biometrics.
  • Your family members must show this letter when they give their biometrics.
  • They have 30 days to give their biometrics in person at their closest collection point.

We’ll send instructions and let your family members know how much time they have to send us this information.

You must tell us of any change in circumstances, such as:

• birth or adoption of children
• marriage or divorce or separation
• death of an applicant or dependant

If you live in Quebec

You must do the following steps before we assess the eligibility of your family members:

• The person you’re sponsoring must complete and sign the form Demande de sélection permanente – Catégorie du regroupement familial (PDF, 269 KB) (in French only) and return it to you promptly.
• You must enclose this form with your undertaking application to the Government of Quebec.

If the Government of Quebec approves your undertaking application, they’ll send us the information we need to process your family members’ permanent resident application.

If we approve your family members’ permanent residence application

To finish processing their application, your spouse, partner and child, and their dependants who are immigrating to Canada with them (if applicable), will have to send us:

• their passports, or photocopies of their passports (we’ll let you know which one they should send)
• 2 photos
• proof of payment for the right of permanent residence fee, if you haven’t sent it to us already.

We’ll let them know where to send this information.

Documents your family members will get

If your family members are outside Canada

We’ll send them these documents once we finish processing their application:

• a document confirming they have been approved to become Canadian permanent residents
  • We call this document the Confirmation of Permanent Residence.
• a permanent resident visa, if required
  • If the persons you’re sponsoring are from countries whose citizens need a visa to travel to Canada, we’ll give them a permanent resident visa in their passport. We’ll do this even if they’re already in Canada.

Once your family members receive these documents, they can travel to Canada. Make sure to check the expiry dates on the permanent resident visa and Confirmation of Permanent Residence. Your family members must meet an officer at a Canadian port of entry before their documents expire. The officer will make the final decision to allow your family members to enter Canada as permanent residents.

Find out more about how your family members can prepare for arrival.

If your family members are inside Canada

They have to meet an immigration officer to receive their Confirmation of Permanent Residence.

We’ll send them a letter to schedule their appointment and we’ll let them know what documents to bring. The officer will make the final decision to allow your family members to stay in Canada as permanent residents.

If we refuse your family members’ permanent residence application

If we refuse their permanent residence application, we’ll let you know:

• Why we refused it.
• How to appeal the decision, if you’re sponsoring a spouse, partner or child from outside Canada.
  • You can’t appeal our decision if you’re sponsoring a spouse or partner who’s inside Canada.

Track and update your application

During processing, track your application and make sure it’s up to date by:

• checking the status of your application
• updating your address or other information, if necessary
• adding or changing your representative or getting access to your family’s information, if necessary
• withdrawing your application, if desired
• paying the right of permanent residence fee or requesting a refund

Check the status of your application

If you’re a sponsor

You can use the Application Status tracker (opens in a new tab) 

• to find out where we are with your application
• only after you get an acknowledgement of receipt (AOR) letter or email
  • You’ll get an AOR after we receive your application and check that it’s complete.

Due to COVID-19, it’s taking us longer to

• check that your application is complete
• send you an AOR letter or email with your application number

As the sponsor, if you want to check on the application status for your spouse, partner or child, you must first request to get access to their information.

If you’re being sponsored

You can check your application in 2 ways:

In your online account

Follow these steps:

1. Get the application number. You’ll receive this by mail when we’ve started processing your application.
2. Create an online account.
3. Link your application to the account.

In the Application Status Tracker

You can also use the Application Status tracker (opens in a new tab) .

If your processing time has passed

If your application is complex, it may take us longer than normal processing times to process it.

Keep your information up to date

To avoid delays in processing, make sure your contact information and your application details are up to date.

Tell us about changes in your application, such as:

• marriage or divorce or separation
• birth or adoption of a child
• death of an applicant or dependant
• contact information updates, including
  • email
  • phone number
  • mailing address

Don’t mail us changes for your contact or application information. If you do, we won’t acknowledge your request and we won’t update your application. This could lead to a delay in processing your application.

If you change your contact information, make sure you check your old contact information until we update your application.

Add or change a representative or get access to your family member’s information

Even as the sponsor, you don’t automatically get access to your family members’ information. You have to request it.

If you want to handle your spouse’s, partner’s or child’s application for them

You’ll be acting as a representative if you want to

• fill out and submit your family member’s application for them
• communicate with us on their behalf

To become a representative for your spouse, partner or child, complete, sign and save the form to appoint or change a representative. The person(s) you’re sponsoring must also sign the form, unless they’re under 18. Include the form with your application.

If you’ve already submitted your application, send it to us through our web form.

In your request, include your

• full name
• date of birth
• country of birth
• application number (if you know it)
• relative’s client ID number (UCI) (if you know it)

Upload the form after you’ve completed all the required fields.

If you want to check on your spouse’s, partner’s or child’s application status

As the sponsor, you may want to access your family members’ information without being in charge of their application. For example, you may want to check their application status on their behalf, but not act as their representative.

To protect their privacy, they need to give us their written consent before we’ll share any of their personal information with you or give anyone access to their application information.

Find out how the persons you’re sponsoring can give you access to their information.

Withdraw your sponsorship application

You can withdraw your sponsorship application any time before the person you’re sponsoring becomes a permanent resident of Canada.

You may be able to get a refund if we haven’t started processing your application.

Use our Web form to request the withdrawal of your sponsorship application.

In your request, include your

• full name
• date of birth
• country of birth
• application number (if you know it)
• relative’s client ID number (UCI) (if you know it)
• signed withdrawal request letter

Submit your right of permanent residence fee or request a refund

The right of permanent residence fee must be paid before the people you’re sponsoring can become permanent residents. If it wasn’t paid, we’ll contact them to explain how they can pay the right of permanent residence fee online.

You can request a refund for the right of permanent residence fee if:

• you’re withdrawing your sponsorship
• your family member was refused
  • We can only issue refunds once you decline your right of appeal.

Sending proof of payment or requesting a refund

Use our web form. In your request, include the following:

• full name
• date of birth
• country of birth
• application number (if you know it)
• relative’s client ID number (UCI) (if you know it)
• copy of the official receipt
• copy of signed right of appeal letter (if you have one)
• letter of explanation (if you’re requesting a refund)