Hi everyone.
My name is Jade Calver.
I own and operate Calver and Associates Canadian Immigration Services.
Today, we’re going to talk about family sponsorship, in particular, money.
How much money do you need to sponsor your family members to Canada?
One of the first questions that I often get when someone calls me regarding family sponsorship
is: how much money do I need to show?
So, my answer to them is: it really depends who you’re sponsoring, under what class
of application.
So when it comes to sponsoring your spouse or dependent children, there’s actually
an exemption in the immigration act that exempts you from having a minimum income to show when
you’re sponsoring them.
So if you’re sponsoring your spouse and their dependent children (including step-children),
you don’t actually have to show a minimum amount of income.
With this being said, I do always like to show that the sponsor is employed, and if
they have any savings, I show those as well just to show that your sponsored spouse and
their children aren’t going to access public funds once they come to Canada.
That is part of the regulations is that your sponsored spouse, once they come to Canada,
they can’t access any public funds.
So, Ontario Works, if you’re in Ontario, for example.
So, it is important to show that you do have access to some sort of income when you’re
applying to sponsor your spouse.
When it comes to sponsoring you parents, grandparents, and other family members, there is a Minimum
Necessary Income Requirement, or MNI for short.
You as a sponsor, you’re actually only eligible if you can meet the MNI requirements for the
last three taxation years.
So, this is very important.
Lots of people will call me and say “Jade, you know I’ve only been here for three years
and I more than exceed the MNI for the last two years, but in the first year, it was my
first year here and I can’t show enough money for that year.”
Well, that’s just not going to cut it.
You need to be able to show that for each of those three years, the MNI, you met that.
The second important part of that requirement – the MNI requirement – is that you include
all of your family members for whom you are financially responsible.
So, in your family - so if you say are sponsoring - so, there’s yourself and you’re sponsoring
one grandparent, but you have two children (even if they don’t live with you) that
means that you’re – the MNI requirement is going to be for four people (not just yourself
and the person you’re sponsoring).
So, you need to include everyone for whom you are financially responsible in the MNI
and that’s very important to do.
If you submit a sponsorship application and you declare that there are only two people
and then they see that you have dependent children, they’re going to say – and then
you don’t meet the income requirement, then you’re not going to be eligible as a sponsor
because you don’t meet the MNI requirement.
Lastly, so for the MNI requirement, so when you’re sponsoring a parent, grandparent,
or other relative, you can include a co-signer on the application, which means your spouse
or common-law partner can actually combine their income with yours as a co-signer on
the application in order for you to meet the MNI.
So, that’s really helpful, especially in the case where, you know one spouse is working
more than the other because of children, or for whatever reason.
It really helps to be able to include that co-signers income.
So what immigration Canada uses to prove the MNI.
So, you need the notices of assessment.
So, that means you need to be doing your taxes and have notices of assessment from the CRA
for each year.
Because they’ll look at that line 150, so for that income, and they’ll want to see
that amount exceeds that minimum MNI requirement for the last consecutive, three consecutive
tax years.
That’s everything for today for financial requirements to sponsor your family members.
For more information, visit our website at calverimmigrtionservices.com.
Thanks very much.