Spousal Sponsorship - Income Test

[Kano]

I have been reading conflicting info about a sponsor having to meet a specific income level before he/she can sponsor their spouse. The CIC website is not clear whether a sponsor must meet the financial test or not.

Does a sponsor need to meet an income requirement or not to sponsor his/her spouse or not? I would think the answer is YES.

 

[CharlizeRai]

TO sponsor your spouse, NO income requirement.

 

[Kano]

TO sponsor your spouse, NO income requirement.

I find that somewhat odd. How are you supposed to support your spouse without an income?

 

[canadianwoman]

There is no income required. However, it is taken into consideration. Usually it is not an issue: the visa officer will assume that you and the spouse applying to immigrate will be able to support yourselves. That is, the immigrating spouse is expected to get a job.
It becomes an issue when the visa officer looks at the file and decides that no, this couple will not be able to support themselves. Then the PR visa can be rejected because of a lack of sufficient income, even though technically no income is required.

For example, in one case, the sponsor was a recent PR himself and had a minimum-wage job. His wife could not speak English or French, and her job in China was not one that she would be able to do here. No transferable skills, no money saved up, etc. The PR visa was rejected based on the visa officer's opinion that the couple would not be able to support themselves.

So when you submit your application, it is a good idea to show your plans for the future: what do the two of you plan to do to support yourselves. If the sponsor is a student but will be graduating soon, he/she can mention what type of job he expects. If the applicant has transferable job skills and relevant education, these should be mentioned. Any money saved or any offers of support from family should also be shown. If the sponsor has a well-paying job already, then less of this is necessary, of course.

To sum up, a sponsor with no job and no income can be found eligible to sponsor, but in this case the application should show how the couple plans to support themselves, with any evidence of this shown.

 

[CharlizeRai]

There is no income required. However, it is taken into consideration. Usually it is not an issue: the visa officer will assume that you and the spouse applying to immigrate will be able to support yourselves. That is, the immigrating spouse is expected to get a job.
It becomes an issue when the visa officer looks at the file and decides that no, this couple will not be able to support themselves. Then the PR visa can be rejected because of a lack of sufficient income, even though technically no income is required.

For example, in one case, the sponsor was a recent PR himself and had a minimum-wage job. His wife could not speak English or French, and her job in China was not one that she would be able to do here. No transferable skills, no money saved up, etc. The PR visa was rejected based on the visa officer's opinion that the couple would not be able to support themselves.

So when you submit your application, it is a good idea to show your plans for the future: what do the two of you plan to do to support yourselves. If the sponsor is a student but will be graduating soon, he/she can mention what type of job he expects. If the applicant has transferable job skills and relevant education, these should be mentioned. Any money saved or any offers of support from family should also be shown. If the sponsor has a well-paying job already, then less of this is necessary, of course.

To sum up, a sponsor with no job and no income can be found eligible to sponsor, but in this case the application should show how the couple plans to support themselves, with any evidence of this shown.

I thought I had read a clause that no sponsorship case can ever be denied solely for the reason of income?

 

[CharlieD10]

I have been reading conflicting info about a sponsor having to meet a specific income level before he/she can sponsor their spouse. The CIC website is not clear whether a sponsor must meet the financial test or not.

Does a sponsor need to meet an income requirement or not to sponsor his/her spouse or not? I would think the answer is YES.

To be clearer, a sponsor sponsoring a spouse only is NOT required to meet a MINIMUM INCOME. That means that even if you earn less than the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO, formerly Minimum Necessary Income or MNI) of about $28,000 per annum (for 2 persons), you are not barred from being eligible to sponsor your spouse.

However, as explained so ably by canadianwoman, during the evaluation of the spouse being sponsored, the Immigration Officer will assess whether the couple can be expected to survive without government assistance and the foreign national become self-sufficient, based on financial and other information presented as part of the application (Option C from sponsor, work history of spouse etc).

 

[Kano]

Thanks for the replies. Now it makes sense.