Family Class: Assessing the Sponsor

Note: If a dependent child sponsored as the principal applicant (or as a dependant of the principal applicant) has a dependent child, MNI for the applicable family size has to be met. A sample scenario would be where someone is sponsoring their common-law partner, who is accompanied by their 18-year old daughter and their daughter’s two-year old child (the principal applicant’s granddaughter).

Financial requirements for sponsors living in Quebec

Financial requirements are different for sponsors living in Quebec, and are assessed by the Ministry of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion (MIDI), not by IRCC. Quebec establishes its minimum income figures based on the gross annual income required based on the Consumer Price Index published by Statistics Canada. Financial requirements for sponsors in Quebec are published on the financial capacity evaluation page of the MIDI website.

Reassessment of financial circumstances

A sponsor’s income can be reassessed prior to an initial recommendation being rendered on sponsorship eligibility, where information material to a sponsor’s ability to meet financial requirements is received by IRCC.

Sponsors cannot request that IRCC reassess their financial situation subsequent to submitting the sponsorship application. Even if their income increases, sponsors who do not meet MNI cannot request reassessment – income earned after the undertaking has been given cannot be considered. The only option available to a sponsor who wants IRCC to reassess their finances to reflect improvement in their circumstances is to withdraw the existing application and then submit a new application, paying all applicable fees.

Income may be reassessed by IRCC [R134)(2)] only if either of the following applies:

• more than 12 months have passed since receipt of the application
• new information comes to IRCC’s attention that a sponsor may no longer be able to meet their financial obligations

The addition of a new family member to the application increases the family size, which will result in the need for the sponsor’s financial circumstances to be reassessed where the income identified in the original application is insufficient to meet the new MNI requirement.

If the sponsor’s income is not at least equal to the LICO, or the income is not from a Canadian source and is not included in the NOA, the sponsor does not meet the income requirement, and is deemed to be ineligible.

Income requirements for sponsoring parents and grandparents

Sponsorship requirements for parents and grandparents are designed to ensure that sponsors provide evidence of their ability to provide long-term financial support. For sponsorship applications received by IRCC on or after January 1, 2014, sponsors and co-signers must meet or exceed MNI of the LICO, plus 30% for each of the three taxation years immediately preceding the date of the application for which the CRA issues an NOA or Option C printout). Undertakings for parents and grandparents remain in effect for 20 years after the sponsored parent or grandparent (and any accompanying dependants) becomes a permanent resident.

Sponsors and co-signers have the choice to provide either of the following:

• their Social Insurance Number (SIN) and their consent to IRCC to obtain their income tax information directly from the CRA
• copies of their NOAs or Option C printouts in their application

Where a sponsor signs a statement of consent (question 8 on the Financial Evaluation for Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship) and provides their SIN, IRCC will obtain income tax information directly from the CRA. A sponsor who does not provide consent must complete the Income Sources for the Sponsorship of Parents and Grandparents form and submit an NOA issued to them by the CRA for each of the three taxation years immediately preceding the date of their application. Sponsors who do not have paper copies of NOAs can view (and print) their tax and income information using the CRA’s “My Account” online service.

The requirement to provide NOAs or Option C printouts for the 3 taxation years immediately preceding the date of their application is mandatory. Sponsors may not seek to maximize their income by providing three NOAs or Option C printouts of their choice or the two most recent NOAs or Option C printouts along with other evidence of income for the year they are applying before CRA makes these documents available. IRCC will only accept CRA issued documents for 3 tax years preceding the date of the application.

Note: Co-signers are required to meet the same requirements as sponsors, regardless of how long they have been married to or living in a common-law relationship with the sponsor. This means, for parent and grandparent applications, co-signers must also submit NOAs or Option C printouts for the three taxation years immediately preceding the date of the application in order for their income to be included in the MNI assessment.

Income requirements for sponsoring “other relatives”

Acceptable evidence of income is a copy of an NOA or Option C printout from the CRA for the most recent year available. Where an NOA or Option C printout is unavailable – for instance, if the sponsor has not recently filed an income tax return – or does not capture all income for the 12 months preceding the application, the CPC may consider letters from employers, pay statements or, if self-employed, contracts and receipts for services rendered.