Citizenship Application - Didn’t declare marital status

[AjayKumars]

My husband and I were married in India on Nov 2025. I have been a Canadian citizen since July 2024. My husband applied for Canadian citizenship in March 2026.

At the time of his application, he declared his marital status as single because we mistakenly believed that our marriage would need to go through another registration or recognition process in Canada before it could be reported. Based on that same misunderstanding, we also filed our most recent tax returns as single.

We recently learned that providing an incorrect marital status is considered misrepresentation.

His citizenship application is currently in progress. He has completed biometrics, his background verification is in progress, and he has been invited to take the citizenship test.

Given these circumstances, would it be better for him to notify IRCC immediately by submitting a webform explaining the mistake (along with a letter of explanation and updated marital status), or should he wait until after the citizenship process is complete and then update his marital status with CRA and other government agencies?



Has anyone been in a similar situation or have experience with how IRCC typically handles this?

 

[armoured]

-Deal with CRA and whomever else asap - these could potentially cost you money.

-In parallel, he should send a webform to IRCC regarding his app and update - include all information that he would/should have included at the time. (I don't recall how much detail is about spouse in citizenship app). Include a short explanation as to why it was left out (your registration explanation).

-While misrepresentation including not telling truth about marriage is serious, 'misrepresentation' itself has to be material (meaning, it would have had some impact on the handling of the file, the treatment by an officer, or some other /significant/ meaning). That's basically not the case for citizenship - it is handled as an individual application and his eligibilty or not for citizenship is not affected by being married to another Canadian.* So basically: I don't think it's worth worrying about it.

* I warn others: DON'T provide mistaken or misleading information, with IRCC or others, including omitting information like being married. Whether or not you THINK it's innocuous or a meaningless error or irrelevant is not the test. It is /possible/ that in some circumstances it might be relevant and treated as material. (I don't want to come up with fanciful scenarios for the specific case of citizenship, like married to Pol Pot or something, but I don't exclude hte possibility it might be in some instances)

We know of a lot of cases of applicants for PR who have not reported eg being married or just living together (which turned out to be common law) - and in THAT context it's very important (with consequences like never being able to sponsor your spouse).