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Partners of Canadian citizens and permanent residents will now be able to stay in the country while their immigration applications are being considered, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Joe Volpe announced the new policy for most spouses and common-law partners of Canadians regardless of their status on February 18, and declared it would be effective immediately.
"This change addresses real concerns about the hardships that some couples would experience if they had to be separated during the application process. Reuniting families is a key objective of Canada's immigration law," said Mr. Volpe.
However, he added that procedures to prevent partners who are not in a genuine relationship from entering Canada would continue to be followed in order to safeguard the integrity of the immigration system. The minister also said progress was being made to speed up processing of partners applying from outside Canada. He went on to say that most of these applications were being processed within six months.
