Another question about extending my stay!

[AttackOLantern]

Hello again. My girlfriend and I are going forward with my extension and the financial proof that I can support myself here will be her income. That said, she actually receives fairly little income from her job but is on ODSP so that covers her needs and has covered mine for the last almost 6 months. We got an employment letter from her work proving she has a job, she will be writing a letter saying she is to support my stay financially, and we will include her bank statement. My question is: is there anything else we should include, considering she makes so little from her job? Do they have income requirements for this sort of thing?

Thanks!

 

[scylla]

Hello again. My girlfriend and I are going forward with my extension and the financial proof that I can support myself here will be her income. That said, she actually receives fairly little income from her job but is on ODSP so that covers her needs and has covered mine for the last almost 6 months. We got an employment letter from her work proving she has a job, she will be writing a letter saying she is to support my stay financially, and we will include her bank statement. My question is: is there anything else we should include, considering she makes so little from her job? Do they have income requirements for this sort of thing?

Thanks!

Can you show your own savings?

It's not really ideal for her to say she is supporting you if she is on ODSP.

 

[AttackOLantern]

Can you show your own savings?

It's not really ideal for her to say she is supporting you if she is on ODSP.

To be honest, I more or less exhausted my savings when we moved while I was here in Toronto. Will it impact her ODSP if she includes this information?

 

[scylla]

To be honest, I more or less exhausted my savings when we moved while I was here in Toronto. Will it impact her ODSP if she includes this information?

So to be fully honest, this does make your situation a bit messy. The ODSP is a form of social assistance and normally that's not very good evidence of a person's ability to support someone else. Definitely include the letter from her employer to show she has a job. I'm not sure I would place any focus on the ODSP as a means of supporting your stay.

I will also tell you that this may create complexities for your inland application. While there is technically no minimum income requirements to sponsor a spouse and while being on ODSP does not prevent someone from sponsoring, the application can still be refused for financial reasons. Specifically, what we have seen on a few occasions here, is that where the sponsor is on ODSP and the application is inland AND the individual being sponsored isn't working, IRCC can get concerned that the sponsor won't be able to support the individual they have sponsored.

It doesn't mean you're guaranteed to have issues or that you can't be approved, it just means your case is less straight-forward and it's possible there could be issues.

Ideally, if the sponsor is on ODSP, the person being sponsored should be actively working - either outside of Canada or inside of Canada. That's what IRCC ideally wants to see.

 

[AttackOLantern]

So to be fully honest, this does make your situation a bit messy. The ODSP is a form of social assistance and normally that's not very good evidence of a person's ability to support someone else. Definitely include the letter from her employer to show she has a job. I'm not sure I would place any focus on the ODSP as a means of supporting your stay.

I will also tell you that this may create complexities for your inland application. While there is technically no minimum income requirements to sponsor a spouse and while being on ODSP does not prevent someone from sponsoring, the application can still be refused for financial reasons. Specifically, what we have seen on a few occasions here, is that where the sponsor is on ODSP and the application is inland AND the individual being sponsored isn't working, IRCC can get concerned that the sponsor won't be able to support the individual they have sponsored.

It doesn't mean you're guaranteed to have issues or that you can't be approved, it just means your case is less straight-forward and it's possible there could be issues.

Ideally, if the sponsor is on ODSP, the person being sponsored should be actively working - either outside of Canada or inside of Canada. That's what IRCC ideally wants to see.

Thank you for the info about our inland application. I will work towards getting an employment offer in Canada or working remotely should my extension be granted. I will also probably seek legal counsel once it’s time to cross that bridge since our case will have complexities.
As for an extension, I have drafted a short letter, please let me know what you think:
“To whom it may concern,
I am writing to confirm that I, [partner], am financially supporting [me] during their stay and hopeful extension in Canada. Attached alongside this letter is an employment letter, and bank statements showing my income from the Toronto District School Board and ODSP.”

 

[canuck78]

Thank you for the info about our inland application. I will work towards getting an employment offer in Canada or working remotely should my extension be granted. I will also probably seek legal counsel once it’s time to cross that bridge since our case will have complexities.
As for an extension, I have drafted a short letter, please let me know what you think:
“To whom it may concern,
I am writing to confirm that I, [partner], am financially supporting [me] during their stay and hopeful extension in Canada. Attached alongside this letter is an employment letter, and bank statements showing my income from the Toronto District School Board and ODSP.”

Your partner should be aware that if an employer has offices in Canada or customers/clients in Canada they can’t work remotely from Canada as a visitor. Once you are common law you will need to advise ODSP that you are not longer single and are common law. That may impact your ODSP.