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May I have a co-signer?

Your spouse or common-law partner may help you meet the income requirement by co-signing the sponsorship application. A common-law partner is a person who is living with you in a conjugal relationship and has done so for at least one year prior to the signing of the undertaking.
The co-signer must:

• meet the same eligibility requirements as the sponsor;
• agree to co-sign the undertaking;
• agree to be responsible for the basic requirements of the person you want to sponsor and his or her family members for the validity period of the undertaking.

The co-signer will be equally liable if obligations are not performed.
If your co-signer is a common-law partner, you must submit the Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union (IMM 5409).

Note: Assets, potential earnings, or assistance from other family members will not be considered.

Losing your permanent resident status does not happen automatically. You cannot lose your permanent resident status simply by living outside of Canada long enough that you don’t meet the residency requirement. Unless you have gone through an official process, you have not lost or given up your permanent resident status, even though you may not be eligible to return to Canada as a permanent resident.
You may lose your permanent resident status if:

• an adjudicator determines that you are no longer a permanent resident following an inquiry; or
• a visa officer determines you do not meet the required residency when you apply for apermanent resident travel document or temporary resident travel document.

You may lose your permanent resident status in one of the ways described above if:

• you do not live in Canada for two out of five years;
• you are convicted of a serious crime and told to leave Canada; or
• you become a Canadian citizen.

You do not lose your permanent resident status if your PR card expires.

It is important to note that a permanent resident does not lose their status under A46(1)(b) until there is a final determination of the decision made outside Canada that they have failed to comply with the residency obligation under A28.

Permanent residents are not finally determined to have lost their permanent resident status until the right of appeal has been exhausted.

5. Departmental Policy

When an officer believes a permanent resident has failed to comply with their A28 residency obligation, then that officer should report the permanent resident under the provisions of A44(1) and recommend the issuing of a departure order.

The form Questionnaire: Determination of Permanent Resident Status (IMM 5511B) has been developed specifically to assist officers in making decisions regarding the permanent residency obligation, keeping in mind that the questionnaire alone is not sufficient to determine compliance with the residency obligation, and a detailed interview including examining humanitarian and compassionate criteria under A28(2)(c) is needed.

Furthermore, the officer cannot seize the person’s documents (such as the IMM 1000, Immigrant Visa and Record of Landing and the IMM 5292B, for example) despite writing an A44(1) report and issuing a removal order unless the officer believes there are reasonable grounds to do so in accordance with A140. The rationale behind this is that the person has a right to appeal the removal order and, until final determination of status, they remain a permanent resident and are the lawful owner of said documents.

For persons who have been permanent residents of Canada for more than five years, the only five-year period that can be considered in calculating whether an applicant has met the residency obligation is the one immediately before the application is received in the visa office. A28(2)(b)(ii) precludes a visa officer from examining any period other than the most recent five-year period immediately before the date of receipt of the application.

Write all your Canadian addresses for the six (6) years before the date of your application or since you became a permanent resident, whichever is more recent ("the relevant period"), including the postal codes.


If you were residing, employed or attending school outside Canada, you must also list all your foreign addresses, including the postal codes.

The relevant period


The relevant period is your residence period (your calculation of time physically present in Canada). This information is used to help make sure you have met the physical presence requirement for Canadian citizenship. The minimum amount of time you need to be in Canada to be eligible for citizenship is 1,460 days within the six years immediately before applying. This means that your relevant period starts a minimum of 1,460 days before you sign your application.

The sponsor's obligation to provide for the basic requirements of the sponsored immigrant continues for the full sponsorship period even if the sponsored immigrant becomes a Canadian citizen.

Repayment of Social Assistance by Defaulting Sponsors

Under IRPA, all social assistance received by a family class sponsored immigrant is considered a federal and provincial debt of the sponsor. Financial assistance received from Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities is not considered "social assistance" under IRPA.
Sponsors who default on their sponsorship obligation need to know the amount of social assistance that they are required to repay. Prior to determining the debt amount for the defaulting sponsor, staff must verify the term and expiry of the sponsorship period and how long the sponsor was in default.

[...]

In these cases, the debt amount is calculated by using the social assistance amount that applies to the sponsored person(s) only, less any earnings, income, unassigned support payments received and any overpayment, sponsorship or other deductions made during the sponsorship period. In addition, any outstanding overpayments that have not been recovered also must be deducted. The net amount is the sponsorship debt which the sponsor must repay.

Deferral of Sponsorship Debt Recovery

There are certain circumstances where sponsors may be deferred from debt recovery activity. In such cases, sponsorship debt continues to accrue until the end of the sponsorship period.

Sponsorship debt recovery may be deferred in cases where:

- the sponsored person is temporarily or permanently waived from the requirement to pursue support from their sponsor;
- the sponsor is incapacitated;
- the sponsor has undergone bankruptcy and the entire sponsorship debt was covered by the bankruptcy discharge;
- the sponsor has documented extraordinary circumstances;
- an open eligibility investigation has commenced for the sponsored person;
or
- CIC confirms the validity of an undertaking is under review;