In October 2012, the federal government in Canada announced a new rule for conditional permanent residence for marital partners and spouses.
This Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations applies these three things to be true to become a Conditional Permanent Resident.
- The application for sponsorship must have been submitted before or on October 25, 2012;
- The person sending an application must be in relationship for 2 years with their sponsor;
- At the time of application submission both the spouses and sponsors do not have any child together.
The relationship between sponsored spouse and sponsor must be legitimate for at least two years and if the relationship is ended before two years then the conditional permanent resident status of the sponsored spouse can be cancelled.
If all these conditions are true, then the sponsored spouse submitting the form will be a Conditional Permanent Resident as soon as his/her application is approved. Citizenship and Immigration Canada will send a paper mentioning the sponsored spouse as a Conditional Permanent Resident. The applications can be submitted by the sponsored spouses within or outside Canada.
Rights of Conditional Permanent Resident
The rights of the conditional permanent resident are similar to the permanent residents of Canada. They have the right to work and study and reside anywhere in Canada. They will get the benefit of medical coverage, assistance in education, social benefits as the permanent residents. The difference is only that the Conditional Permanent Residents have to fulfill the criteria of living with the sponsor for two years otherwise their status of the permanent resident will be lost if the relationship breaks off before two years of conditional-period.
Changes to Conditional Permanent Residence Canada
Several Women’s Right activists have asked John McCallum, the Immigration Minister of Canada to change the rules of spousal sponsorship. The reason behind was that the women and the minority classes were penalized by their sponsors. The abused partners were forced to live in the abused relationship as they feared off losing their conditional permanent residence in Canada.
After considering this aspect the Immigration Minister John McCallum has proposed the amended rule. According to the revised rule, the sponsored spouses will be given the conditional permanent residence immediately after arriving in Canada. With this amendment, the women and their children will be saved from the abusive relationship as they are no longer dependent on the sponsors.
However, the minister acknowledged that the rule of Conditional Permanent Residence was made by the previous Conservative government to deal with the marriage fraud or issues related to “marriage of convenience.”