parent and grandparent sponsorship in 2015

[delpan]

Hello everyone!

I am working to sponsor my parent when CIC begins accepting application again this January,2015. I have some important questions and I will appreciate forum members can help me make a good decision.

My income for the past three years-2011,2012,and 2013 meet or exceed the minimum income threshold set for me to become eligible to sponsor my parents. Unfortunately, sometime in July,2014, I was laid off and even if the employment insurance I am receiving is added to my salaries, my total is turning short of the minimum.

The questions therefore are:
1. Must I continue submitting an application?

2. CIC says that they will assess the applicant and that his income must always meet or exceed the threshold while the application is being processed. I have the feeling processing for 2015 submissions may only likely start in 2016 by which time my income for the 2015 may have met or exceeded again the threshold. Will they give me any consideration or deny outright my application if I get to be assessed?

3. CIC guideline also says "Your Minimum Necessary Income must meet or exceed the Federal Income Table for Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship above on the date on which the sponsorship application is signed until the day your family members are permanent residents." I am taking this to mean that CIC will look only at my income for the years following the date I submitted my application which shall be in 2015 and until my parents are issued the visa. My having a lower income in 2014 is not material or irrelevant to my not meeting the threshold. How do you interpret this statement from CIC.

Thank you so much for any valuable opinion you may give.

 

[scylla]

The short answer to your question is that you must continue to meet LICO until your parents are issued the PR visa. So - yes, your 2014 income certainly matters. If CIC decides to verify your 2014 income level while the application is being processed, you should expect that your application will be refused. Whether they will actually check or not is impossible to say. We've certainly seen them ask for updated income information while applications are being processed plenty of times. If I had to guess, I would put it at 50/50.

 

[delpan]

The short answer to your question is that you must continue to meet LICO until your parents are issued the PR visa. So - yes, your 2014 income certainly matters. If CIC decides to verify your 2014 income level while the application is being processed, you should expect that your application will be refused. Whether they will actually check or not is impossible to say. We've certainly seen them ask for updated income information while applications are being processed plenty of times. If I had to guess, I would put it at 50/50.

Thanks so much, Scylla, for your prompt reply and valuable opinion.

It seems that you have reservations also to this extremely restrictive requirement of CIC.

But your interpretation means that sponsor immigrant must not only have huge income that is growing substantially and consistently every year for a period of at least to six and eight years for him to feel confident of approval. And this requirement becomes more severe if the sponsor gets married and start having children while the petition is still under processed.

Do you believe CIC will apply this standard strictly to the letter without any consideration?

 

[scylla]

Yes - the sponsor's income is expected to grow consistently every year (consistently, not substantially). It doesn't need to grow substantially unless the sponsor adds dependents to their family (i.e. gets married or has children).

No - CIC won't give any consideration if someone fails to meet LICO. If they check, and if LICO isn't met, the application is refused. Meeting LICO is a condition of sponsoring a parent. So you either meet it when CIC checks or you don't.

 

[Rob_TO]

Just to reinforce what Scylla said, CIC will follow the rules down to the dollar. So if your income is even $1.00 short of the LICO amount in any given year from the 3 years before submitting application all the way up to the year of visa approval, you can expect a rejection.

The reason for the new rules and stricter income requirements, is to prevent any guess work and interpretation from CIC so they can process apps quicker without having to ask additional questions. Meeting income will be a simple yes/no question, and if you don't meet it instead of asking for more evidence/explanations they will simply reject and move on to the next application. I think the aim is to eventually get PGP processing times down to less than 3 years total.

 

[delpan]

Just to reinforce what Scylla said, CIC will follow the rules down to the dollar. So if your income is even $1.00 short of the LICO amount in any given year from the 3 years before submitting application all the way up to the year of visa approval, you can expect a rejection.

The reason for the new rules and stricter income requirements, is to prevent any guess work and interpretation from CIC so they can process apps quicker without having to ask additional questions. Meeting income will be a simple yes/no question, and if you don't meet it instead of asking for more evidence/explanations they will simply reject and move on to the next application. I think the aim is to eventually get PGP processing times down to less than 3 years total.

Thanks so much Rob To and Scylla. I understand very well what you said though I can't avoid thinking Canada has now a policy limiting reunion of immigrants with parents so that they can bring down the number of people who avail of benefits to which they did not contribute.

Anyway, if I only sponsor one of my parents, my income can very well meet the threshold in 2014 and possibly through the years while the application is under processed. Other than problems personal to us, do you see any issue I will face with CIC if I only petition either my mother or father?

Again thanks for your precious opinion.

 

[Rob_TO]

. Other than problems personal to us, do you see any issue I will face with CIC if I only petition either my mother or father?

Yes that is a big problem, as it's not allowed. While you can list 1 parent as accompanying and 1 as non-accompanying, they BOTH MUST be included in the app, so your income needs to qualify to sponsor them BOTH no matter who actually intends to come to Canada.

The only way you could possibly sponsor/qualify just for 1 parent, is if they were divorced.

 

[scylla]

Rob-TO is right. You must include both of your parents when calculating LICO regardless whether you are just sponsoring one of them or both.

 

[delpan]

Rob-TO is right. You must include both of your parents when calculating LICO regardless whether you are just sponsoring one of them or both.

Thanks to the two of you. This parent sponsorship program is so disappointing. It really sucks. I may have to re-calibrate my future plans including perhaps giving up Canada for I am the only child.