OP 2 Processing Members of the Family Class Updates to chapter ........................................................................................................................................ 4 1. What this chapter is about ...................................................................................................................... 6 2. Program objectives ................................................................................................................................. 6 3. The Act and Regulations ........................................................................................................................ 6 3.1. The forms required are shown in the following table. ..................................................................... 7 4. Instruments and delegations .................................................................................................................. 7 4.1. Delegated powers ........................................................................................................................... 7 4.2. Delegates/designated officers ......................................................................................................... 7 5. Departmental policy ................................................................................................................................ 8 5.1. Family class requirements .............................................................................................................. 8 5.2. Who must complete an IMM 0008? ................................................................................................ 8 5.3. When does a family class application exist? ................................................................................... 8 5.4. Lock-in age of dependent children .................................................................................................. 8 5.5. Time limit for returning a completed IMM 0008 ............................................................................... 9 5.6. Processing priorities ........................................................................................................................ 9 5.7. Non-routine cases ........................................................................................................................... 9 5.8. Sponsorships by Canadian citizens living abroad......................................................................... 11 5.9. Assessing an application ............................................................................................................... 11 5.10. Non-accompanying family members ......................................................................................... 11 5.11. Inadmissibility and non-accompanying family members ........................................................... 11 5.12. Exclusion from membership in the family class – R117(9)(d), R117(10) and R117(11) (former OM OP 03-19) ............................................................................................................... 12 5.13. Who qualifies as a dependent child? ......................................................................................... 15 5.14. Human reproductive technologies ............................................................................................. 16 5.15. Establishing identity and relationship ........................................................................................ 16 5.16. Relationships of convenience .................................................................................................... 17 5.17. Conjugal relationships - Dissolutions of convenience ............................................................... 17 5.18. Adoptions ................................................................................................................................... 17 5.19. Medical requirements ................................................................................................................ 17 5.20. Exceptions to medical inadmissibility ........................................................................................ 17 5.21. Criminal and security requirements ........................................................................................... 18 5.22. Misrepresentation ...................................................................................................................... 18 5.23. When must requirements be met by family members? ............................................................. 18 5.24. Sponsoring one other relative regardless of age or relationship ............................................... 18 5.25. Characteristics of conjugal relationships ................................................................................... 19 5.26. Assessment of conjugal relationships ....................................................................................... 20 5.27. Marriage in Canada ................................................................................................................... 22 5.28. Minimum age for marriage......................................................................................................... 23 5.29. Valid marriage: degrees of consanguinity ................................................................................. 23 5.30. Recognition of a marriage ......................................................................................................... 24 5.31. Persons who have undergone a sex-change ............................................................................ 24 5.32. Freedom to marry ...................................................................................................................... 24 5.33. Legality of foreign divorces ........................................................................................................ 25 5.34. Recognition of a common-law relationship ................................................................................ 26 5.35. What is cohabitation? ................................................................................................................ 26 5.36. How can someone in Canada sponsor a common-law partner from outside Canada when the definition says “is cohabiting”? ............................................................................................ 27 5.37. When does a common-law relationship end? ........................................................................... 28 5.38. What happens if the common-law partner (principal applicant) is married to another person? 28 5.39. What happens if the sponsor’s common-law or conjugal partner relationship breaks down and the sponsor wants to sponsor a previously separated spouse? ........................................ 28 5.40. Same-sex marriages within or outside Canada......................................................................... 29 5.41. Foreign common-law registrations and same-sex marriages ................................................... 29 5.42. Simultaneous common-law or conjugal partner relationships with two or more people (polygamous-like relationships) ................................................................................................. 29 5.43. Prohibited relationships - Common-law partners ...................................................................... 30 2006-11-14 1 OP 2 Processing Members of the Family Class 5.44. Inability to cohabit due to persecution or any form of penal control .......................................... 30 5.45. What is a conjugal partner? ....................................................................................................... 31 5.46. Can conjugal partners be substitutes for fiancé(e)s? ................................................................ 32 5.47. Assessment of conjugal partner relationships ........................................................................... 32 5.48. Prohibited relationships - Conjugal Partners ............................................................................. 34 5.49. What happens if the conjugal partner (principal applicant) is married to another person? ....... 34 5.50. Internet relationships ................................................................................................................. 35 5.51. Switching categories between spouses, common-law partners and conjugal partners ............ 35 6. Definitions ............................................................................................................................................. 36 7. Procedure: Processing an application .................................................................................................. 38 7.1. Spouses, common-law partners, conjugal partners, and dependent children (FC redesign) ....... 38 7.2. Other members of the family class ............................................................................................... 38 7.3. Creating a family class file ............................................................................................................ 39 7.4. Time limit for submitting supporting documents or information .................................................... 39 7.5. Reviewing an application .............................................................................................................. 39 7.6. Closing a file .................................................................................................................................