Can I Cancel My Spouse's PR Application After Divorce?

According to canada.ca, you can withdraw a spousal sponsorship application any time before the person you're sponsoring becomes a permanent resident, though once IRCC has started processing it, the $75 sponsorship fee is not refunded.

Can I Withdraw My Spouse's Sponsorship If We Divorce?

Yes, but it takes an active step on your part, divorce alone does not close the file. Canada.ca's guidance for sponsors, in the "Sponsor your spouse, partner or child: After you apply" section on canada.ca, states plainly: "You can request to withdraw your sponsorship application any time before the people you're sponsoring become permanent residents." The same page also lists divorce among the family-status changes you're expected to report, under "keeping your information up to date," alongside marriage, birth and death. So the two obligations run side by side: tell IRCC your situation changed, and separately, decide whether you actually want to ask for the file to be withdrawn.

What Happens If They Already Became a Permanent Resident?

Once your spouse or partner has landed as a permanent resident, the window has closed. IRCC's own Help Centre answer on how to withdraw a family sponsorship application warns: "If your sponsored relative becomes a permanent resident before we get your cancellation request, we can't cancel your application. You will have to respect your sponsorship obligations." That last part matters as much as the first: canada.ca's sponsorship undertaking page, "What it means to be a sponsor," sets the undertaking period for a spouse, common-law or conjugal partner outside Quebec at 3 years, and says plainly: "Once your sponsored family members become permanent residents, there is no way to cancel or shorten the undertaking period," including if "your relationship with the people you're sponsoring changes." That undertaking is a separate promise from the PR application itself, and it survives the relationship ending. If that's the situation you're in, how long a sponsor stays financially responsible after divorce walks through what the undertaking still requires. If PR has not yet been granted, a related and common worry, whether PR itself would survive a later divorce, is covered separately in what happens to permanent residence you already hold if you divorce.

Will I Get My Fees Back If I Withdraw?

It depends entirely on how far your file has moved. Canada.ca's Help Centre answer on sponsorship application refunds breaks it down by stage:

The pattern is straightforward once you see it: the $75 sponsorship fee is the one amount that disappears the moment processing starts, while the larger $490 Right of Permanent Residence Fee stays recoverable much later in the process, all the way through to the point the PR stage has begun. One caveat worth flagging: canada.ca's sponsor page separately states that the $490 fee may still be refunded after a refusal if you decline your right of appeal, which does not line up perfectly with the "no fees" answer above for a refused application. If your file was refused rather than withdrawn, confirm your exact refund eligibility with IRCC or a licensed consultant rather than assuming either page's general answer covers your case.

How Do I Actually Submit a Withdrawal Request?

You send IRCC a written request, you cannot simply stop responding and expect the file to close. Per canada.ca's Help Centre instructions on withdrawing a family sponsorship application, use the web form and include your name, date of birth, complete address, the date the application was sent, your client ID number if you have it, the type of application (for example, sponsorship of my spouse), and the reason for the withdrawal. You then upload a copy of the electronic payment receipt, or both sides of the paper receipt, form IMM 5401. Separately, canada.ca's general application withdrawal page notes that IRCC reviews every request rather than processing it automatically, and may refuse it if your application is undergoing additional review, or if IRCC has already finished processing it and made a final decision.

What About My Sponsorship Undertaking?

Withdrawing the PR application and being released from the sponsorship undertaking are two different things. The undertaking is the promise you signed to support the person you sponsored, and per canada.ca's undertaking page, it is not shortened or cancelled just because the relationship changed. If your spouse or partner is already a permanent resident, withdrawal is not on the table at all, per the Help Centre wording above, and the undertaking simply continues. If you're still weighing whether to request a withdrawal, or trying to work out what you'll still owe if the relationship has already broken down, that's exactly the kind of file-specific question worth reviewing with a licensed RCIC before you send anything to IRCC. Every family sponsorship file is different, and the right move depends on exactly where yours sits in the process.