Can you sponsor your spouse if you are doing a trial seperation ?

[Corrine]

Hi all me and my husband are currently living apart.  We have been living in different houses for 5 days, we do not want to file for divorce.  We intend to work on our issues and rebuild our relationship and unite together again.  We have a 9 month old baby, in total we been together for two and a half years.  Our major issues are money and Immigration! its causing alot of tension and stress. But, thats not why I asked my husband to leave I just feel he puts me last on his list of priorities he spends way to much time with friends.  

Can I still sponsor my husband if we are living apart for a time.  I did an inland application still in process.  My husband is not living on the streets or anything like that he works in the construction industry.

[CharlieD10]

I've read cases in CanLII (legal database) where the Inland application was refused because the spouse was not cohabiting with the sponsor.  This is especially pertinent to Inland cases, because you are asking that the person be granted residence as your spouse, and that the requirement for them to obtain the PR visa in their own country be waived because they are here in Canada.  If they do not live with you, what is the purpose of the sponsorship then?  The applicant can be found guilty of misrepresenting his circumstances.

If you are going to work things out and rebuild and pursue the sponsorship, your husband needs to be living with you. 

And, as an aside, this is not immigration advice, it's marriage advice: You don't tell someone that you need to be more of a priority in their lives and then proceed to put more distance between the two of you:  it's counter-productive.  If you're going to be a priority in his life, live together and learn to spend quality time together, limit the amount of time you both devote to other activities and other people and focus on strengthening your bond with each other.  I'm just saying. 

[canadianwoman]

If the visa officer prcessing the visa finds out you are not living together, and are in a trial separation, he/she will refuse the visa. The spousal/partner visa is for spouses and partners. If the applicant is no longer one of these, then there is no reason for Canada to issue them a visa.

If you can work it out and he moves back home soon, then the visa application could proceed smoothly. Again, though, if the visa officer finds out or feels that he just moved back to facilitate getting a visa, the visa will be refused because the relationship will be considered to be just for immigrating to Canada.