Family Sponsorship

What financial criteria must be satisfied to qualify as a sponsor?

In order for you to be eligible to qualify as a sponsor, you must be able to prove that you meet the financial requirements. This means that as the sponsor you must meet the minimum necessary income or the low-income cut off known as LICO, for the appropriate size of your family. You must meet these requirements in order for you to be able to provide for the essential needs that the person you are wanting to sponsor has.

Are there any exceptions?

There are actually! The financial requirements are exempt if:

• The person you are sponsoring is your spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, and you are a Canadian Sponsor, or;
• The person in which you are sponsoring is a dependent child that is yours

How can you determine whether or not your income is sufficient?

The one way in which it is recommended to determine if your income is sufficient is to deduct the following from the total family income:

• Workmen’s compensation board payments, this does not include permanent disabilities
• Any payments from provincial or municipal sources for welfare assistance
• Any payments from federal, provincial or municipal sources for employment training, or for any social or welfare benefits which is not of a fixed and continuing nature; as well as
• All debts

What are the minimum income levels for families?

The income level is of course based on how many people there are within your family. The minimums are:

1 person (you as the sponsor) $22,229

2 people $27,674

3 people $34,022

4 people $41,307

5 people $46,850

6 people $52,838

7 people $58,827

***For any additional person above 7 and additional $5,989 on top of the $58,827 is required.

What happens if you don’t meet the financial requirements?

Don’t panic, there is a way around the financial requirements as a sponsor. One of the ways in which you can go around this obstacle would be for you to acquire a co-signer. This co-signer can be: your spouse, common-law partner or a conjugal partner. They can co-sign if:

• Your combined income now meets the minimum necessary income, and;
• The co-signer meets all of the requirements of a valid sponsor

Why do you need meet the financial requirements?

It is important when you are wanting to sponsor someone that you make a certain amount of money in order for them to stay off of any government assistance but also so that their essential needs are met.

What are essential needs?

Essential needs are known as:

• Food
• Shelter
• Clothing
• Any Dental, eye or other health needs that are not covered by public health services available to all Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents.

It will only be required that you provide the essential needs to the person you are sponsoring if they are unable to provide them for themselves on their own.

What if you are unsure about the financial requirements?

We are only a phone call away! We deal with a ton of immigration issues a week, and we are more than willing to help you solve yours. Please contact us and let us know how we can be of assistance to you.