How to Complete Form IMM 5532 for Spousal Sponsorship to Canada

If you’re sponsoring a spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner, the IMM 1344 isn’t the only form that carries weight in your application. Form IMM 5532, Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation, is the one where Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) digs into the actual substance of your relationship — how you met, how it grew, and whether the paper trail backs up the story. Officers lean on this form heavily when deciding whether a relationship is genuine, so it deserves at least as much care as the sponsorship undertaking itself.

This guide walks through each part of the form, flags the questions people tend to get wrong, and explains what kind of supporting evidence strengthens your answers.

What Is IMM 5532 and Who Needs It?

IMM 5532 is a joint form: both the sponsor and the principal applicant (the person being sponsored) fill out sections of it, and both must sign. It’s required for spousal, common-law, and conjugal partner sponsorships under the Family Class or the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada class. If you’re only sponsoring a dependent child with no partner involved, this particular form doesn’t apply to you — you’d be looking at a different evaluation form instead.

The form has three parts:

• Part A — Sponsorship Evaluation and Information about the Sponsor (completed by the sponsor)
• Part B — Information about the Principal Applicant (completed by the person being sponsored)
• Part C — Information about the Relationship (completed jointly)

A hard rule applies across the whole form: every question needs an answer. Leaving something blank because it “doesn’t apply” or feels awkward is one of the most common reasons applicants get follow-up requests from IRCC, which slows everything down. If a question genuinely doesn’t apply, write “N/A” rather than leaving it empty, and if you run out of room, attach an extra page labelled with your name, the form section, and the question number, then upload it as a supporting document.

Part A: The Sponsor’s Section

This is where IRCC evaluates whether you, as the sponsor, meet the basic requirements to take on a sponsorship undertaking.

Employment history (past five years). List every employer you’ve had over the last five years, in order, with no time gaps. If you were unemployed, a student, a stay-at-home parent, or self-employed during any stretch, say so explicitly rather than skipping that period — an unexplained gap is a near-guarantee of a request for more information. If you were self-employed, name the business and describe what you did. Officers aren’t judging whether your work history is impressive; they’re checking that the timeline is complete and consistent with your other documents (tax returns, pay stubs, etc.).

Previous sponsorships or co-signed undertakings. If you’ve sponsored anyone before, or co-signed someone else’s sponsorship, list their names and dates of birth. This matters because a sponsor who defaulted on a past undertaking can be barred from sponsoring again, so IRCC cross-checks this against its own records.

Dependants who rely on you financially. This includes anyone who depends on you for support and isn’t already captured elsewhere in your application, such as a previous spouse or a child from an earlier relationship. 

Address history (past five years). Same rule as the employment section: no gaps, and no P.O. boxes — IRCC wants a residential address history. If you moved frequently or spent time abroad, list each address in order with the dates you lived there.

Relatives living in Canada. You’ll be asked whether you have relatives in Canada — aunts, uncles, cousins, and so on — beyond those already listed on IMM 5406. Provide names, addresses, and how each person is related to you. Don’t assume a name listed on the Additional Family Information form (IMM 5406) needs to be repeated here — the instructions are specific about not duplicating those entries.

Marriage-fraud investigation consent. Near the end of Part A, you’ll see a question asking whether you consent to IRCC and the Canada Border Services Agency sharing the results of any marriage-fraud investigation with your spouse or partner. This is entirely voluntary — saying no has no bearing on how your application is processed. Read it carefully before deciding, since your consent stays in effect until you formally revoke it in writing.

Sign and date. The sponsor’s signature goes at the end of Part A.

Part B: The Principal Applicant’s Section

This half is shorter and is completed by the person being sponsored. It captures similar identity and consent information from their side, including the same voluntary consent question about marriage-fraud investigation results. As with Part A, every question needs a response, and the principal applicant signs and dates their section separately.

Part C: The Relationship

This is the heart of the form, and it’s completed together. IRCC uses it to test whether the relationship reads as authentic rather than assembled for immigration purposes, so vague or generic answers do you no favours here.

How you met and how the relationship developed. This is the biggest open-ended question on the form, and it deserves real detail — not “we met online and fell in love,” but a genuine narrative: where and when you met, what drew you to each other, key moments as things progressed, and how you moved from dating to committing to each other. Aim for at least a full paragraph, and use an attached page if you need more space. Consistency matters more than length — both partners’ accounts should line up with each other and with what appears in your supporting documents (message logs, travel records, photos).

Living arrangements and time spent apart. If you live together, describe your household. If you don’t — a common situation for couples in different countries — you’ll need to explain the circumstances and account for how you’ve maintained the relationship despite the distance: visits, calls, financial support, joint planning for the future. Immigration restrictions, cost, or work obligations are all legitimate reasons for time apart, but they should be explained rather than left implicit.

Whether the marriage or partnership was arranged. If applicable, describe how it was arranged — by whom, when, and where. An arranged marriage is not a red flag on its own; IRCC recognizes this as a legitimate cultural practice. What matters is that your answer is consistent and detailed.

Ceremonies and events. List every event tied to the relationship — engagement, wedding ceremony, reception, honeymoon, any traditional or customary ceremony. The more of these you can document with photos and guest lists, the stronger your evidence package becomes.

Who knows about the relationship. You’ll be asked whether family and friends are aware of the relationship. If they are, list as many as you reasonably can from both sides, since letters from people who’ve known about the relationship from early on carry real weight as supporting evidence. If they don’t know, or only some do, explain why — cultural, family, or personal reasons are all acceptable, but the explanation needs to be there.

Space for anything else. Part C typically includes a catch-all question where you can add any further detail that supports the genuineness of the relationship. If your relationship has a straightforward history with plenty of documentation already covered elsewhere, you may not need much here — but if there’s anything unusual about your situation that the earlier questions didn’t capture, this is the place to explain it.

Interpreter declaration, if used. If either of you needed an interpreter to complete the form, that section must be filled out and signed by the interpreter.

Both signatures. Part C closes with both the sponsor and the principal applicant signing and dating the form.

Supporting Evidence

Coming Soon.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Gaps in employment or address history. Even short, uneventful periods need to be accounted for.
• Vague relationship narratives. “We love each other and talk every day” doesn’t tell an officer anything specific. Names, dates, and concrete details are what make an answer credible.
• Inconsistency with other forms. Your answers on IMM 5532 should match what’s on IMM 1344, IMM 5669, and your supporting documents. Discrepancies — even small, honest ones — invite scrutiny.
• Skipping the additional-page option. If a box is too small for your answer, don’t compress it into a sentence. Attach a labelled extra page instead.
• Forgetting supporting evidence. The form is only half the picture; photos, correspondence, joint financial records, and letters from people who know the relationship are what corroborate it.

Submitting the Form

IMM 5532 goes in with the rest of your sponsorship application package — alongside IMM 1344, IMM 0008, and any other required forms — following the document checklist for your specific situation (married vs. common-law, inside vs. outside Canada). Always download the current version of the form directly from IRCC’s website before you start, since older versions may not be accepted.

Taking the time to answer every question thoroughly and consistently, and backing it up with real evidence, is what turns IMM 5532 from a bureaucratic hurdle into a form that actually works in your favour.

This guide is for general informational purposes and isn’t a substitute for advice from a licensed immigration professional. For the current official form and instructions, refer to IRCC’s website.