I have questions regarding financial information

[PaperLantern]

I am a Canadian citizen currently working in Canada but living with my American spouse in the USA. We live on a border town which allows me to cross to Canada daily.

I am hoping to sponsor my wife so that we can both live in Canada. However, I ran into a bit of an issue with the financial declaration form. The issue is that the form asks for tax information. I had my taxes done in 2015 and 2016 in Canada. However, in both 2015 and 2016 my income was less than the accepted amount for sponsoring a spouse. I was hired as an adjunct lecturer at the time and was paid per-class and not salaried. Then, in June of 2017 I received a full-time tenure track position. I now make more than enough to sponsor my spouse and it is a salaried position.

What do I do about the form? I haven't had my 2017 taxes done yet. Do I input the 2016 information and attach a letter from my employer stating that my current salary is $58,000? Do I attach pay stubs? Will immigration even look at this extra information or will they just disregard my application because my 2016 tax information says I do not meet the minimum salary to sponsor? I'm very worried!


Also, I know I need to provide copies of our passports, birth certificates, etc. Do these need to be notarized if they are already in English? Or can I just make my own photocopies on my scanner and send them with my application?


Thank you ahead of time!

 

[Hurlabrick]

Also, I know I need to provide copies of our passports, birth certificates, etc. Do these need to be notarized if they are already in English? Or can I just make my own photocopies on my scanner and send them with my application?

What does it ask for in your country specific checklist? If it asks for 'copies' then simple in-notarised photocopies (do them yourself) is what they are after. They will specify if the want either originals or notarised copies.

 

[JulianaAndrew]

Hi. There are no income requirements to sponsor a spouse, so you are fine. You have to provide a letter from your employer where it states how much you are paid, so you are more than okay, do not worry about it. All they want is to know that the spouse will not be needing to go on social assistance, with your income this would not be an issue. For your passport, you would not need a notarized photocopy. For the other documents, as long as they're originally in English, they do not need to be notarized either, although you could play it extra safe and do it just in case.
Remember, there is no minimum requirement to meet for sponsoring a spouse, so you are safe.

 

[PaperLantern]

Thank you so much! As for my spouse co-signing the financial evaluation, does she have to do that? If she doesn't, do I still have to input her financial information? I ask because it tells me to give calculations of her income based on the CRA Notice of Assessment, but she has never filed taxes in Canada.

 

[JulianaAndrew]

No, the principal applicant doesn't need to put financial information. You are probably thinking about it the wrong way. Only the sponsor needs to file the Notice of Assessment and provide financial details. Your spouse wouldn't need to be a co-signer, since there are no income requirements to meet and like I said, you are safe regarding that.

 

[PaperLantern]

Ok, last question. I may seem a little bit dense here. So I DO need to fill out that financial evaluation form even though it's just my wife and I (no dependents), right? I already filled out the application to sponsor as well as the relationship information form.

 

[JulianaAndrew]

What financial evaluation form is it, exactly? I think you keep getting it wrong. I'll give you the link with the forms you'd need to fill out. It looks like you're trying to fill out a form you don't even need to fill out. I believe that form is only if you are sponsoring dependents with dependents on their own. Anyway, here's the link, but still, tell me exactly what form it is.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp#country
I recommend you to do your homework, read the guides and follow the instructions. The application is very straight forward if you do the research, read the guides, etc. It even says on their website not to fill out any forms or anything before you read the guides. This is why, so you don't get so confused over little things.

 

[sp121212]

Ok, last question. I may seem a little bit dense here. So I DO need to fill out that financial evaluation form even though it's just my wife and I (no dependents), right? I already filled out the application to sponsor as well as the relationship information form.

you do not need to fill in the financial evaluation if if it just your wife and no dependents