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Financial Support Obligations For Common-Law Partner Sponsor?

Oi

Full Member
Jan 25, 2011
25
1
Category........
Visa Office......
Ottawa
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
18/07/2013
AOR Received.
21/08/2013
Med's Done....
02/11/2013 + Renewed after 1 year by CIC
Interview........
06/08/2014
Hey everyone,

My (under technicalities, soon-to-be-)common-law partner and I will be applying in November for his permanent residency (as I am a dual citizen of Canada and the States) to Canada. Call me stupid for not knowing this particular detail, but I recall reading or hearing somewhere that there was a specific amount of cash in hand that the sponsor (IE: myself) needed to have in order to prove that they could support their partner.

Now, I've researched extensively everything else we need and have that all covered, but when it comes to the financial aspect... all I can find is that I need to sign a contract saying I promise to and will carry out supporting him for the time I am obligated to (3 years at least, in this case).

I saw that there was a specific table that Quebec supplied that details what your gross income needs to have been over the past 12 months based upon how many people you are sponsoring. Problem is, I can't seem to find anything else that's as specific for the other provinces. I was also able to find a small blurb mentioning that we were obligated to show our financial records for the past 12 months, however, it also stated in very bold letters afterwards that this was "ONLY NECESSARY IF THE DEPENDENT HAS DEPENDENT CHILDREN THEMSELVES". Neither of us have any children or other family members that would be tagging along, so to speak. It would just be us.

We would be moving to Vancouver, BC, Canada (I'd lived there my entire life up until last year in early July, at which point I moved to the USA to be with him). It almost seems as though I just need to prove that we would not be on government support in the States at the time of application, can support ourselves now, and that I can/we can continue to work hard and support ourselves when we immigrate. Is this the case, or do we need to save up $10 000 that will be used specifically to show the government he has something to support himself if he turns out to be a completely lazy bum (which isn't the case... just exaggerating)?

Thank you in advance for all your help.
 

Leon

VIP Member
Jun 13, 2008
21,950
1,324
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
You don't have to show any specific income or savings to sponsor a spouse but they will be happy if at least one of you is working because that shows that you can support yourselves.
 

Oi

Full Member
Jan 25, 2011
25
1
Category........
Visa Office......
Ottawa
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
18/07/2013
AOR Received.
21/08/2013
Med's Done....
02/11/2013 + Renewed after 1 year by CIC
Interview........
06/08/2014
Leon said:
You don't have to show any specific income or savings to sponsor a spouse but they will be happy if at least one of you is working because that shows that you can support yourselves.
Ahh! This makes everything so much easier! I thought we'd have to stay an extra half year here just accumulating cash to create a buffer to show the officials. We both work currently (both of us almost full time, him soon-to-be full time once he's done with this semester's classes), so that should be no problem. We had to go on EBT/food stamps about two months ago, as he had a lot of difficulty attaining a job at one point (it's a very small, country-culture island with a lot of competition), but now that he's back into the swing of things we're doing fine and we'll soon be able to go off them.

Thank you very much for the info!
 

Leon

VIP Member
Jun 13, 2008
21,950
1,324
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
Right, you can not apply to sponsor if you are on social benefits. Wait until you are off them.