Welfare, unemployment and sponsorship

[Alex7737]

Hello. Would you be kind enough to advise me.
I live in Montreal, Quebec.
I was on welfare for a few years and i recently got a job, 1 month ago, and i intend to keep working indefinitely from now on.
Would my past history of unemployment and social assistance prevent me from sponsoring my soon to be Filipino wife?
Somebody told me that i need to work for 3 years non stop and show my tax returns to qualify, is that true?
Thank you for your time.

 

[Graihn]

Hello. Would you be kind enough to advise me.
I live in Montreal, Quebec.
I was on welfare for a few years and i recently got a job, 1 month ago, and i intend to keep working indefinitely from now on.
Would my past history of unemployment and social assistance prevent me from sponsoring my soon to be Filipino wife?
Somebody told me that i need to work for 3 years non stop and show my tax returns to qualify, is that true?
Thank you for your time.

You need to have been off welfare for 1 year and also show proof of it. This would be reflected in your Option C printout (more detailed Notice of Assessment).

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Would my past history of unemployment and social assistance prevent me from sponsoring my soon to be Filipino wife?
Somebody told me that i need to work for 3 years non stop and show my tax returns to qualify, is that true?

CIC must be sure that you can support yourselves without welfare. It's possible that given your recent history, they may have doubts you won't need welfare and it may affect your application. No one can tell you for sure. There is no requirement to have worked for 3 years.

You need to have been off welfare for 1 year and also show proof of it. This would be reflected in your Option C printout (more detailed Notice of Assessment).

There isn't actually a requirement to have been off welfare for a year. There have been sponsors who have been off for less time that have received approval.

 

[Rob_TO]

The only requirement in CIC documentation, is that you must be officially off welfare at the time you submit the PR app.

However if you've been on welfare anytime in the past 1 year or so, you can expect CIC to do a full investigation into your welfare use to ensure you qualify as sponsor. So you can expect a longer than usual processing time for sponsor approval.

Also keep in mind that even if you stop your welfare completely, sometimes the government office responsible for this doesn't properly record the information. So other people have been rejected as sponsor in the past even though they were off welfare, as they were still showing up on active recipients list when CIC checked. So make sure you get a letter from necessary office confirming the date you officially stopped receiving welfare, that you can include with the app.