Minimum Necessary Income for Sponsoring Parents in 2019

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Sonia immigrated to Canada six years ago. She is a Canadian citizen now. Sonia is married and has a child. Both Sonia and her husband are professionals. Sonia is an IT manager at a well-known financial institution and her husband is a Professional Engineer who works full-time for a construction company. Sonia wonders, if she could sponsor her parents and help them immigrate to Canada. She wonders if there is a minimum necessary income to be an eligible sponsor.

Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada who sponsor their parents or grandparents to Canada need to meet certain financial requirements.

• The filing date of the application is extremely important. The filing date is the day your initial sponsorship application package reaches the immigration office (e.g. January 9, 2019).
• The sponsor (i.e. the Canadian citizen or the permanent resident of Canada) needs to meet the minimum necessary income for the last three consecutive years immediately before the filing date (e.g. 2018, 2017, 2016).
• The sponsor’s spouse or common-law partner may also co-sign the application. In this case, you may add both incomes together. No other family members may be a co-signer. The income of the parents are not important and won’t be taken into account.
• The only acceptable source of verifying the income is the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) – Notice of Assessment (NOA) or its equivalent the Option C Printout. Look at line 150 of the NOA to calculate your income.
• If you are applying in January 2019, it is unlikely you have the NOA for 2018 so you need to rely on your income in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The law does not mandate you to go as far as 2015 but an operational bulletin (#561) recommends the officers to calculate the income this way.
• The minimum necessary income depends on the family size of the sponsor and includes the sponsored persons. For example, if the sponsor is single and she is sponsoring her mother then the number is 2. If the sponsor has a spouse and two dependent children and they are sponsoring her mother and father then the number is 6 (i.e. the sponsor, the spouse, two children, and two parents).
• The following table shows the minimum necessary income based on the number of family members.

Click here for more information about the sponsorship process. 

Canada Immigration 2019 – Other Options

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Al Parsai, MA, DTM, RCIC
Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant
Ashton College Instructor – Immigration Consulting

Disclaimer:
This article provides information of a general nature only. It may no longer be current. It does not give legal advice nor should you rely on it as legal advice. If you have specific legal questions, you should consult a lawyer. If you are looking for immigration advice, book an appointment. All the characters in the articles are fictional, unless otherwise clearly stated. Any resemblance in names, dates, and places (whether individuals, organizations, regions, or countries) is coincidental.