Applying for Canada Spousal Visa Online from the Philippines (Part 2: Forms)

Important things to know about our application: 

• My husband is a Canadian permanent resident residing in Canada, but a Filipino citizen (holding a Philippine passport). I am a Filipino citizen.
• This is both our first (last and only) marriages.
• We dated for 2+ years before getting married. 
• We have been married for around a month by the time we lodged the application.
• Both my husband and I have no record of visa overstay or violations in Canada and in any other country. 
• I (sponsored applicant) have not resided in any country other than the Philippines.
• We don't have any dependent on this application.
• This blog series is published months after we completed the entire process. The month and year the post was written is at the end of each post.
• This is not a comprehensive guide or a hack to get approved, but merely a record of our experience. For the latest information, visit https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp .
• You may view all parts of the series here

In this section, I will tell you what we understood and did about the forms. I am not an immigration expert so I won't be able to objectively explain each part but the best that I can do is to give you an idea of what the forms are about and some tips on completing them.

Outline of Part 2: Forms

• Part One: Digital Forms
• 1.1: IMM 008 - Generic Application Form for Canada
• 1.2: IMM 5406 - Additional Family Information
• 1.3: IMM 5669 - Schedule A: Background/Declaration 
• Part 2: "Physical" Forms
• 2.1: IMM 344 - Application to Sponsor, Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking 
• 2.2: IMM 5532 - Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation Form 
• 2.3: IMM 5533 - Document Checklist: Spousal Sponsorship (Including Dependent Children) 
• More tips

Part One: Digital Forms

Digital forms are filled out right in the Permanent Residence portal (see Part 4 of this series for the process). If you're familiar with Google Forms, Typeform or other digital forms, the digital forms are very similar to those.

1.1: IMM 008 - Generic Application Form for Canada

This form required basic information such as:

• Application details - preferred language, where I planned to live in Canada
• Personal details - name, country of residence, citizenship, birth information, physical characteristics, marital or relationship status
• Contact information - address and phone contact info. All communication from the immigration are by default be mailed to that mailing address UNLESS the applicant chose to have all these communication emailed to instead (option is available at the end of this section of the form).
• Information of valid passport.
• National identity document information (optional) - I answered No to this one because it is not required for applicant from the Philippines.
• Education/occupation - this includes your highest level of education attained, current occupation as well as intended occupation
• Language detail - mother tongue, ability to speak English/French and official test to measure English/French ability (optional)
• Dependants - Since I could not get through the marital status field without adding my husband's name in my profile's spouse/dependant's section when I created my application, his name also appears here. I just added in "He is already living in Canada as a PR" in the reason why he is not accompanying me. Details such as educational attainment and other personal information are also necessary.

1.2: IMM 5406 - Additional Family Information

This form is filled out right in the Permanent Residence portal (see Part 4 of this series for the process) and requires basic information such as personal information, spouse's information, parents, siblings and/or children. Information of all family members are required even if they are not dependents or not accompanying to Canada. This includes their birth information, marital status and email address.

The family information of your spouse is also needed even if he is the sponsor.

1.3: IMM 5669 - Schedule A: Background/Declaration 

According to the website, this form is for personal background or history and requires information such as     Education, membership in associations, government positions, criminal history, military service     and addresses.

• Section A: Parents' information
• Section B: Personal history relating to crimes, criminal proceedings, government positions, refused visa applications, etc.
• Section C: Education history

Part 2: "Physical" Forms

These forms have to be downloaded and except for IMM 5532 (needs to be printed and signed), the forms can also be completed via Adobe Acrobat.

Do note that these forms when downloaded can only be opened using Adobe Acrobat. You may download the software here for free: https://get.adobe.com/reader/

2.1: IMM 344 - Application to Sponsor, Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking 

This contains all necessary information about the sponsor as well as the commitment for sponsorship. If you use Adobe Acrobat to complete this form, make sure to click the word Validate on top of the form and always save your changes. See the icons I pointed out below:

Additionally, your form should have updated QR codes on the last page after validation.

For the signature fields, it stated that typing name means digitally signing the form but we wanted to make sure so we printed the form out and signed it.

2.2: IMM 5532 - Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation Form 

This form required to provide more personal information and some information about family and your relationship with sponsor. 

This cannot be signed digitally and does require my (principal applicant) and my husband's (sponsor) signatures so these have to print these out, sign the necessary fields - we had to figure out the best way logistically to get this done.

2.3: IMM 5533 - Document Checklist: Spousal Sponsorship (Including Dependent Children) 

This is a very helpful form and could be useful for you in preparing your documents and also to double check if all forms are completed and uploaded before submitting.

The checklist also highlights the important signature fields in other forms so make sure to get through this thouroughly as well.

More tips:

• I realised it was way faster to go slower - what I mean is that it is more efficient to make sure you go slow and review your form section by section as you go along. It is a lot less stressful than having to go through all of it after you're done.
• This does require some technical skill, but the forms are generally pretty intuitive.
• I used Mozilla Firefox because it was the browser that worked best especially with the digital forms.
• If you are having technical problems with the portal, you may submit a form here: https://secure.cic.gc.ca/enquiries-renseignements/canada-case-cas-eng.aspx . From experience, they do reply within 24 hours as long as it's a business day in Canada.
• Don't get too frustrated if you feel like you're too slow on this. Take a breather, have a cup of coffee before diving into the forms again. It took us a good couple of weeks to complete them.

Part 2: Forms written on July 2023