For couples where both partners have post-secondary education and are weighing who should file as the principal applicant:
- File under whichever spouse scores higher on the CRS factors that matter most — age, education, and language ability are usually the deciding factors. In this case, the spouse with a master's degree (even if earned part-time) was recommended as the stronger principal applicant candidate over a bachelor's-only spouse, since education level and age both weigh into the score.
- Understand the IELTS requirement depends on your family structure, not a fixed rule. Community answers differed here for a reason: if your spouse is added as an accompanying dependent, generally only the principal applicant needs to take IELTS. But if you want your spouse's language ability to also count toward your combined CRS score (spousal factors), your spouse needs to take IELTS too, and typically should aim for a higher score than the principal applicant if that improves the overall score.
- Run both scenarios through the CRS calculator before deciding — file as either spouse, with and without a co-applicant language score — and pick the version with the higher total score.
Exact score outcomes depend on both partners' full profiles, so use the current IRCC CRS calculator to confirm before deciding who applies as principal.