Gay Immigration to Canada

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Canada enjoys a reputation as one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world and is a top immigration destination for many LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered) people who desire to live a free and open life in a stable, prosperous, democratic, tolerant, multicultural society. Federal and provincial human rights legislation provides effective anti-discrimination protection on the basis of sexual orientation and over the years our courts have extended equality rights for LGBT Canadians. Same-sex marriage was legalised across Canada by the Civil Marriage Act enacted July 20, 2005. Despite the federal government's promise to have a vote in Parliament in the autumn of 2006 to revisit the definition of marriage, there is little likelihood there will be any change.

Apart from Canadians of Aboriginal descent, Canada is a country of immigrants and their descendents. Canada does not have a quota system like the USA that limits how many citizens of each country it will accept as immigrants. For the past seven years India has been the number 2 source country of immigrants to Canada, passed only by China. About 25,000 Indians immigrate to Canada each year. Most major cities across Canada include large, well-established Indo-Canadian communities that have enriched our culture.

Immigrants fall into one of three broad categories: family class, economic class, and refugees and protected persons.

In the Family Class, Canadians can sponsor same-sex partners for immigration in a number of ways even if they are not legally married. If they have lived together for a year or longer in a conjugal (marriage-like) relationship they are sponsored as common-law partners. If they have been unable to live together for a year but can prove a conjugal relationship of at least a year, they can be sponsored as conjugal partners.

Same-sex couples in the Economic Class who are common-law partners apply for immigration as a family regardless of whether or not they are married. If they cannot live together because of fear of penal sanctions (such as Section 377 of the Penal Code in India) or persecution in their country, then they only need to show they have known each other for a year. While there are recent reports that some people in India have been pretending that they are in same-sex relationships to immigrate to Canada, I suspect that heterosexual marriage of convenience applications are disproportionately more common.

Canada also accepts LGBT persons as refugees if they can establish a well-founded fear of persecution in their own country because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Although cases have been accepted from India, there is no list of countries from which claimants are automatically approved and each case is individually judged on its own merits. There are two ways to make a refugee claim: either in Canada or at a Canadian visa office outside your country of citizenship or permanent residence. The former way has much better chances of success than the latter and usually a shorter waiting period to get a decision.