Family Class: Assessing the Sponsor

A permanent resident residing abroad is not eligible to submit a family class sponsorship.

Multiple applications

A sponsor who has filed a sponsorship application on behalf of a foreign national cannot submit another sponsorship application on behalf of the same person if a final decision has not been made on the application for permanent residence submitted with the first sponsorship [R10(5)]. This also applies where a final decision on an appeal has not been made by the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) on an application for permanent residence that had been refused.

A sponsor is allowed to submit more than one sponsorship application at the same time for different family class relatives, provided that, where applicable, minimum necessary income (MNI) requirements are met for the total number of persons involved. See Financial requirements [add link later!!]for more information.

Sponsorship bars

The sponsor and co-signer, if applicable, are required to answer questions in the Sponsor Eligibility Assessment and Co-signer Eligibility Assessment sections of the IMM 1344 designed to assist an officer in determining whether they are subject to a sponsorship bar which would render them ineligible [R133(1)].

If information provided by the sponsor or co-signer on the IMM 1344 – or information that comes to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) attention during processing – suggests that they may be subject to a sponsorship bar, an officer needs to make an informed assessment of the circumstances.

The officer is advised to:

• verify information received with reliable sources
• where necessary, request that the sponsor provide additional information

Where an interview is deemed necessary, the Case Processing Centre (CPC) liaises with an appropriate local IRCC office to arrange one.

Sponsors are not eligible to sponsor if they are subject to any of the bars shown below. Similarly, co-signers who are subject to any of these bars are not eligible to co-sign and their income cannot be used in assessing whether the sponsor meets the MNI requirement. Quebec sponsors are exempt from certain bars.

Learn more:

• Details of sponsorship bars

About five-year sponsorship bar [R130(3)]

A person who became a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen after being sponsored as spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner is barred from sponsoring a spouse or partner within five years of becoming a permanent resident, even if they acquired citizenship during that period. The five years is counted back from the day on which the sponsorship application – as part of a complete application package – is received by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

A sponsor who became a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen after being sponsored as a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner under subsection 13(1) of the Act may not sponsor a foreign national referred to in subsection (1) as a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner unless the sponsor has been a permanent resident or a Canadian citizen, or a combination of the two, for a period of at least five years immediately preceding the day on which a sponsorship application referred to in paragraph (1)(c) is filed by the sponsor in respect of the foreign national.

Financial requirements

• Assessing minimum necessary income
• Exception to minimum necessary income requirement
• Financial requirements for sponsors living in Quebec
• Reassessment of financial circumstances
• Income requirements for sponsoring parents and grandparents
• Income requirements for sponsoring “other relatives”
• Application of the temporary public policy on minimum income requirements in 2020
• Duration of sponsorship undertakings
• Duration of undertakings – Quebec

Assessing minimum necessary income

By signing an undertaking, all sponsors promise to give financial support for the basic needs of the people being sponsored.

IRCC assesses whether or not the sponsor has a total income that is equal to or greater than the MNI that sponsors and a co-signer (where applicable) must meet to satisfy IRCC that they are able to provide the basic requirements, e.g. food, clothing, and shelter for themselves, the person(s) being sponsored and any other persons for whom they are responsible (R2).

MNI is based on Statistics Canada’s low income cut-off levels (LICO), which establish the income level at which a family may have to spend a greater portion of its income on the basics (food, clothing and shelter) than the average family of similar size.

Where MNI requirements are applicable, sponsors must prove that they have the financial means to support their relatives for the duration of the undertaking specified in R132(1), from the date a signed form IMM 1344 – as a part of a complete application – is received from the sponsor.

The sponsor does all of the following:

• completes Financial Evaluation [IMM 1283] (PDF, 1.24 MB), listing all income
• may include a spouse’s or common-law partner’s income to meet MNI, where applicable
• provides evidence of financial resources
• provides evidence of any social assistance payments received

If a sponsor is unable to meet financial requirements on their own, they may include information on the financial resources of their spouse or common-law partner provided that person co-signs the sponsorship application, where applicable. A sponsor cannot pool financial resources with other relatives in order to meet MNI. Any income claimed by a sponsor or co-signer should be income they declared on their Canadian tax return.