Co-signing for in-law sponsorship

[john.bc]

Hello all,

I was hoping to get some insight on people on a similar situation. My wife wants to sponsor her mother to Canada and needs me to co-sign in order to meet eligibility criteria.

I am honestly very uneasy about the 20 year period and would imagine I am not the only one. Is there anyone here that felt the same way and ended up co-signing? Anything in particular made you change your mind?

I have a great relationship with my in-law and have been with my wife for 4 years now. My MIL doesn't have a husband or dependents so she would be the only person I would sponsor. She lives with us and is actually a big part of our lives, helping around the house and taking care of with our child.

Thoughts?

 

[21Goose]

I have a great relationship with my in-law and have been with my wife for 4 years now. My MIL doesn't have a husband or dependents so she would be the only person I would sponsor. She lives with us and is actually a big part of our lives, helping around the house and taking care of with our child.

I think that answers your question. I imagine it would be hard for you to refuse to be a sponsor without impacting your relationships with your wife and your MIL.

Besides, a parental sponsorship is not guaranteed. There's a lottery, and there's every chance that you won't be selected for years.

 

[john.bc]

My wife was picked this year. She is just waiting for the invitation at this point, hoping she is within the first 20K.

I have been losing sleep over this because I know it is a big deal for my wife as her mother doesn't have any other family back home but I am also very uncomfortable with this 20 years period. A lot could happen and I don't like things out of my control, if that makes sense?

 

[canuck78]

My wife was picked this year. She is just waiting for the invitation at this point, hoping she is within the first 20K.

I have been losing sleep over this because I know it is a big deal for my wife as her mother doesn't have any other family back home but I am also very uncomfortable with this 20 years period. A lot could happen and I don't like things out of my control, if that makes sense?

Surprisingly most people don’t actually think about the longterm financial implications. Many are newer immigrants and may not have researched the huge financial implications. I wish they explained the potential costs better in the application. Think you need to have a discussion with your wife and MIL about the potential costs as she gets older. Does she have her own savings? There are many sad situations where parents are sponsored and then have a serious medical event like a stroke and need one of the sponsors to stay at home with them to be their primary caregiver when they were the ones that were supposed to alleviate some stress of caring for children. Would it be financially feasible for your family? As your MIL grows older would you have the money to pay for the bed fee for a public nursing home which is around $1200 a month but could be more. What happens as the kids get older and she gets older? She won’t even have CPP to rely on. You also need to talk to your parents if they are alive and discuss what kind of support they may need. I’m sure these are uncomfortable conversations but you also have to consider your retirement savings and any support your children may need.

 

[john.bc]

Surprisingly most people don’t actually think about the longterm financial implications. Many are newer immigrants and may not have researched the huge financial implications. I wish they explained the potential costs better in the application. Think you need to have a discussion with your wife and MIL about the potential costs as she gets older. Does she have her own savings? There are many sad situations where parents are sponsored and then have a serious medical event like a stroke and need one of the sponsors to stay at home with them to be their primary caregiver when they were the ones that were supposed to alleviate some stress of caring for children. Would it be financially feasible for your family? As your MIL grows older would you have the money to pay for the bed fee for a public nursing home which is around $1200 a month but could be more. What happens as the kids get older and she gets older? She won’t even have CPP to rely on. You also need to talk to your parents if they are alive and discuss what kind of support they may need. I’m sure these are uncomfortable conversations but you also have to consider your retirement savings and any support your children may need.

Thanks! These are definitely pointers that have crossed mine and my wife's minds but fortunately not the ones that bothers me the most.
My MIL used to work for the government back home and has a healthy pension which helped greatly in putting us in a very favorable position, financially. She gave us the down payment of our house (and she has lived with us for the past 2 years now) and thanks to her pension we are able to live very comfortably considering we live in BC. These are actually my wife's words, now embedded on my mind thanks to my wife bring in it up all the time.
That, added to the fact that she does contribute a fair bit in our lives (in a daily basis) gets me torn in between signing it and potentially putting my relationship in jeopardy.
My biggest concern is the unknown, things between us going wrong between now and 20 years from now and this financial burden being dumped on me.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thanks! These are definitely pointers that have crossed mine and my wife's minds but fortunately not the ones that bothers me the most.
My MIL used to work for the government back home and has a healthy pension which helped greatly in putting us in a very favorable position, financially. She gave us the down payment of our house and thanks to her pension we are able to live very comfortably considering we live in BC. These are actually my wife's words, now embedded on my mind thanks to my wife bring in it up all the time.
That, added to the fact that she does contribute a fair bit in our lives (in a daily basis) gets me torn in between signing it and potentially putting my relationship in jeopardy.
My biggest concern is the unknown, things between us going wrong between now and 20 years from now and this financially burden being dumped on me.

Quantify "healthy pension". The undertaking means that you will be required to pay back any welfare that she claims in the 20 years. If her pension is that healthy that she paid the down payment and helps support you, there is pretty much no chance that she would ever qualify for welfare anyways.

 

[21Goose]

Thanks! These are definitely pointers that have crossed mine and my wife's minds but fortunately not the ones that bothers me the most.
My MIL used to work for the government back home and has a healthy pension which helped greatly in putting us in a very favorable position, financially. She gave us the down payment of our house and thanks to her pension we are able to live very comfortably considering we live in BC. These are actually my wife's words, now embedded on my mind thanks to my wife bring in it up all the time.
That, added to the fact that she does contribute a fair bit in our lives (in a daily basis) gets me torn in between signing it and potentially putting my relationship in jeopardy.
My biggest concern is the unknown, things between us going wrong between now and 20 years from now and this financially burden being dumped on me.

Honestly, it sounds like you have bigger issues here that have nothing to do with the sponsorship. Based on what you're saying, there's nothing in your MIL's financial situation that raises any red flags.

If everything is going well, and your MIL has already made such a positive contribution to your life, I don't see why you're so worried about the unknown. I mean, there's always a chance things can go wrong, but there's no point getting so worried about distant possibilities.

The only thing you can do is talk to your wife about your fears and work it out together.

 

[john.bc]

Quantify "healthy pension". The undertaking means that you will be required to pay back any welfare that she claims in the 20 years. If her pension is that healthy that she paid the down payment and helps support you, there is pretty much no chance that she would ever qualify for welfare anyways.

Exactly, hence me not worrying too much about this while we are all one big happy family. My concern is more if things go wrong. Maybe I am not looking at an immigration matter per se. That's why I was hoping to hear from people that were in a similar situation, though I appreciate your input.
To answer your question, I believe she makes roughly CAD$4K a month - I can see the transfers on our account every month.

 

[john.bc]

Honestly, it sounds like you have bigger issues here that have nothing to do with the sponsorship. Based on what you're saying, there's nothing in your MIL's financial situation that raises any red flags.

If everything is going well, and your MIL has already made such a positive contribution to your life, I don't see why you're so worried about the unknown. I mean, there's always a chance things can go wrong, but there's no point getting so worried about distant possibilities.

The only thing you can do is talk to your wife about your fears and work it out together.

Thank you! Yeah, this is more of a relationship issue than an immigration one... I am starting to realize.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Exactly, hence me not worrying too much about this while we are all one big happy family. My concern is more if things go wrong. Maybe I am not looking at an immigration matter per se. That's why I was hoping to hear from people that were in a similar situation, though I appreciate your input.
To answer your question, I believe she makes roughly CAD$4K a month - I can see the transfers on our account every month.

Again, your commitment in this would be to pay back any welfare she takes in the 20 year undertaking. If things go wrong (assuming you mean you split up with your spouse), your commitment is still to pay back any welfare. You will not be legally obligated to anything beyond that. With a $4k monthly income, there is little chance that she will ever qualify for welfare.

 

[john.bc]

Again, your commitment in this would be to pay back any welfare she takes in the 20 year undertaking. If things go wrong (assuming you mean you split up with your spouse), your commitment is still to pay back any welfare. You will not be legally obligated to anything beyond that. With a $4k monthly income, there is little chance that she will ever qualify for welfare.

What about medical bills, or even the assistance living costs you mentioned? The guide lists:

"Basic requirements are:

• food
• clothing
• utilities
• personal requirements
• shelter
• fuel
• household supplies

This also includes other health care not provided by public health, such as eye and dental care."

I was surprised to see you mentioning a public nursing home. Though one of my co-workers also mentioned sponsors would be responsible for those as well...

 

[zardoz]

What about medical bills, or even the assistance living costs you mentioned? The guide lists:

"Basic requirements are:

• food
• clothing
• utilities
• personal requirements
• shelter
• fuel
• household supplies

This also includes other health care not provided by public health, such as eye and dental care."

I was surprised to see you mentioning a public nursing home. Though one of my co-workers also mentioned sponsors would be responsible for those as well...

This is the other side of the coin, when things don't work out as expected.
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...-away-and-i-cannot-afford-sponsorship.621962/

 

[john.bc]

This is the other side of the coin, when things don't work out as expected.
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...-away-and-i-cannot-afford-sponsorship.621962/

Thanks for pointing me towards that thread!! Yes, this sounds more like the scenario that keeps me up at night.
Granted, that lady's situation looks a lot different than mine - only one parent, my wife works and our incomes are fairly similar, we both have life insurance, and my MIL has the ability to work if she needed to, she currently volunteers in the community church in our neighborhood. Good read though, thank you!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

What about medical bills, or even the assistance living costs you mentioned? The guide lists:

"Basic requirements are:

• food
• clothing
• utilities
• personal requirements
• shelter
• fuel
• household supplies

This also includes other health care not provided by public health, such as eye and dental care."

I was surprised to see you mentioning a public nursing home. Though one of my co-workers also mentioned sponsors would be responsible for those as well...

Those are all of things you are expected to provide a sponsored person so that they don't go on welfare. If you don't provide those things, they go on welfare and you then need to pay that back. The majority of sponsored parents have no income/assets and therefore end up on welfare in this situation. However, in her case, there is little chance she would qualify for welfare based on her own income.

I did not mention nursing homes or medical care. Different poster. You will not be legally obligated to pay for anything that is not welfare.

 

[john.bc]

I did not mention nursing homes or medical care. Different poster. You will not be legally obligated to pay for anything that is not welfare.

Oh my bad, I though it was you.. but it is good to know that it is only for welfare. Not that we are counting on the government to help with nursing home costs and such, it is just good to know all that is on the table.

The scenario right now looks perfect, everybody is helping everybody, no real need to assistance is in play, but things could change. That is what is weighting on me, I think.. I just have to sit and think hard on this.

Thanks to everybody, for your input!