Will I be forced to leave Canada if I leave my partner?
Your partner might threaten to have you deported from Canada if you report their abuse or if you leave them. Deported from Canada means being forced to leave the country.
Important: Your partner does not have the right to have you deported. Only federal immigration authorities can decide to deport someone.
Your risk of being forced to leave Canada depends on your immigration status.
Important: A woman without immigration status experiencing family violence may be able to get a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The TRP allows a woman to live in Canada for at least 6 months while she decides what to do next. The TRP also allows a woman to get trauma counselling and health care benefits during that time. A woman can apply for a work permit at the same time as she applies for the TRP. There is no fee for either permit.
Canadian citizen
If you are a Canadian citizen, you cannot be forced to leave Canada only because you leave your partner.
Permanent resident with no conditions
If you are a permanent resident with no conditions, you cannot lose that status or be forced to leave Canada only because you leave an abusive relationship. This is true even
if your abusive partner is your sponsor.
But immigration authorities might investigate if your sponsor tells them that:
- your relationship was not genuine, or
- you left out required information, or you included information that was not true in your application.
This could lead to the loss of your permanent resident status. If you are concerned about this happening, you should talk to an immigration lawyer. See General legal services.
Sponsorship application in process
Your spouse may have sponsored you under the “Spouse or common-law partner in Canada” class. This is also called “inland spousal sponsorship”.
If your partner withdraws this sponsorship while your application is being processed, you cannot get permanent resident status under this class. You can be forced to leave Canada if that is the only immigration status you have to stay in Canada.
But if you have another status, for example, a valid work, study, or visitor permit, you will not have to leave.
Other types of immigration status or no status
You might have temporary status. For example, you might have a work, study, or visitor permit. Or you might be a refugee claimant.
Or maybe you stayed in Canada after your temporary status ended, and you have no status.
If you have temporary status or no status, you should talk to an immigration lawyer about your options. See General legal services. Immigration authorities might not do anything if you leave
your partner. But you might be at risk of being forced to leave Canada.
The steps you can take to try to stay in Canada depend on your immigration status.
You might be able to apply to stay in Canada by applying for permanent resident status on “humanitarian and compassionate” (often called H&C) grounds. But an H&C application does not automatically stop a deportation order.
For more information on how family violence affects immigration status, see these CLEO resources:
- Family violence when a woman is sponsored by a spouse or partner
- Humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) applications and refugee claims: how are they different?
- Making a humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) application