Inland or outland: the choice that matters most
Inland
For a spouse already in Canada who intends to stay. A spousal open work permit can be filed alongside, so they can work while it is processed. The trade-off: an inland refusal carries no right of appeal, and leaving Canada during processing can create problems.
Outland
Processed through a visa office, and available whether the spouse is abroad or in Canada. The advantage is real: an outland refusal carries a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division, where fresh evidence can be heard. That appeal right is worth a great deal in a file where genuineness may be questioned.
Neither is universally better. The choice turns on where your spouse is, whether they need to work or travel, and how badly a refusal would hurt. That is exactly the analysis a form-filling service will not do for you.
Who you can sponsor
- Spouse: legally married, with the marriage recognised both where it took place and under Canadian law.
- Common-law partner: cohabiting in a conjugal relationship for at least 12 continuous months. The cohabitation has to be documented, and this is where these applications most often come apart.
- Conjugal partner: a narrow category for couples who could neither marry nor cohabit because of a genuine barrier, such as immigration or marital status or persecution. It is not a fallback for couples who simply have not lived together.
Sponsoring a partner from a country with a restrictive passport
Not every passport carries the same weight. Some open nearly the whole world. Others open fewer than 40 destinations. Under the 2026 Henley Passport Index, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan and Cuba are among the countries with the most restricted passports. Not coincidentally, they are also among the countries IRCC processes the highest volume of permanent residence applications from, including spousal and partner sponsorships.
That intersection matters practically. Visa offices serving high-volume, lower-mobility countries see more applications, and with them, more instances of marriage fraud alongside genuine relationships. The practical effect for a genuine couple is scrutiny they did not create but still have to answer.
This is public legal education, not a claim that we specialize in any one nationality. Each country below has one or two documents that take the longest to obtain and cause the most delay if you start late. Get these moving first.
- Cuba: We've filed spousal sponsorship applications for Cuban nationals, including the full document package. Start early on a Cuban civil registry marriage certificate with a certified translation. IRCC wants the original, not a photocopy. If the marriage took place in Cuba, the foreign spouse needed a Certificado de Soltería (Capacidad Legal para Contraer Matrimonio), a single-status certificate, to marry there. If that step was rushed, gaps in that paper trail can surface later in the file.
- Sri Lanka: Marriages are registered under three separate legal regimes. General, Kandyan, or Muslim marriage law each has its own registrar and certificate format. Confirm which regime applied to your marriage before requesting the certificate. Requesting the wrong form from the Registrar General's Department is a common, avoidable delay. See our resource page for applicants from Sri Lanka.
- Bangladesh: Get the registered marriage certificate first, not the Nikah Nama alone. Since the Special Marriage Act, 1872 rules changed in 2012, an old-style City Corporation "Certificate of Marriage" or a magistrate/notary affidavit is no longer valid proof of marriage. For a Muslim marriage, the Kazi who performed the ceremony issues both the certificate and the Nikah Nama. IRCC will want both the Bengali and English versions.
- Nigeria: A birth certificate issued after 1992 must come from the National Population Commission (NPC) and be legalized at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja. This is a step people often miss, and one that can take weeks to fix once discovered. If an NPC certificate isn't available, a sworn affidavit or declaration of age is an accepted alternative under a 2012 National Assembly ruling.
- Pakistan: A private Nikkah Nama is not enough on its own. It must carry your union council's registration seal, or the equivalent registration for a non-Muslim marriage. Affidavits are not accepted as proof of marriage, divorce, or death for Pakistani nationals. Resolve any gap in that formal registration before filing anything else.
The Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan points above are drawn from public government and legal-reference sources on how each country issues and registers these documents. This is general education, not a claim of filed experience with those four nationalities specifically.
Whether you can sponsor
Eligibility to sponsor is assessed before anything else, and several bars are absolute. You generally cannot sponsor if you are in default on a previous sponsorship undertaking or an immigration loan, in receipt of social assistance other than for a disability, an undischarged bankrupt, or subject to certain criminal convictions or removal orders. Confirm this first. A file that fails here fails before the relationship is ever considered.
What actually persuades an officer
Genuineness is not proved by volume. It is proved by a documented shared life that is internally consistent:
- Joint finances, leases, insurance, and mail at a shared address
- Communication across the whole life of the relationship, not just the months before filing
- Travel to see each other, with the stamps and bookings to match
- Evidence that both families know about and acknowledge the relationship
- A written account of how the relationship developed that matches every document filed and every answer either of you would give in an interview
How we run these files
Common questions
Inland or outland?
Inland allows an open work permit alongside. Outland carries a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division if refused. Which matters more depends on your spouse's location, their need to work or travel, and the risk profile of your file.
Can my spouse work while we wait?
In an inland application, generally yes. A spousal open work permit is filed with the sponsorship. It is one of the main reasons couples choose inland.
What if we have not lived together for 12 months?
Then common-law does not apply. Depending on the facts you may be married, may qualify as conjugal partners if a genuine barrier prevented both marriage and cohabitation, or may need to wait. Conjugal is a narrow category and is often claimed wrongly.
We were refused already. Is it over?
No. An outland refusal can be appealed to the Immigration Appeal Division, where fresh evidence is admissible. Other refusals may be challenged by judicial review in the Federal Court, on a short deadline. Get the refusal reviewed before you refile.
What does it cost?
Spousal and partner sponsorship starts at $5,500 in professional fees, or $6,500 with the open work permit filed alongside. See our published fees. Government fees are additional. Permanent residence matters generally require a $5,000 deposit to begin.
General legal information, not legal advice. Eligibility, routes and processing depend on your specific circumstances and on IRCC requirements current at the time you apply. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results.