SPONSERING MY SPOUSE FROM OUTSIDE CANADA..DO I NEED TO PROVIDE AN OPTION C

[MAV0]

I am a born Canadian been living and working outside Canada for the past 3 years with my wife on a Colombian permanent resident visa, We have a two year old daughter together and I want to bring my family to Canada to live. I have no ties to Canada, real estate. dependents etc. so I am a Canadian non-resident for tax purposes so I have not filed a tax return for the last three years while living and working in Colombia. The application checklist to sponsor a spouse from outside Canada requests and Option C printout for the last taxation year or provide a reason why you have not provided one. Do I need to provide the option C printout since I can prove I have been out of the Country residing and working for the past 3 years?

Can somebody help with my question please

Thanks in advance!

 

[CANzanillo]

I am a born Canadian been living and working outside Canada for the past 3 years with my wife on a Colombian permanent resident visa, We have a two year old daughter together and I want to bring my family to Canada to live. I have no ties to Canada, real estate. dependents etc. so I am a Canadian non-resident for tax purposes so I have not filed a tax return for the last three years while living and working in Colombia. The application checklist to sponsor a spouse from outside Canada requests and Option C printout for the last taxation year or provide a reason why you have not provided one. Do I need to provide the option C printout since I can prove I have been out of the Country residing and working for the past 3 years?

Can somebody help with my question please

Thanks in advance!

You should if you can. It took me 7 days to receive the Option C printout by snail mail (the only way the CRA send it out). You could potentially request it, have it sent to a canadian address to someone who can scan and email it to you so that you can include in your package... or do what I did, essentially sent my completed package to a family member to where the option C print Out was mailed. They inserted the print out into the package where I had marked it to be put. Then they couriered it to Mississauga for me. But since you said you have been out of the country for 3 years I assume you have no earned income?? Did you file personal tax returns while you were out of country?? If so perhaps you could include a Notice of Assessment for the previous taxation year to prove that you have no income or some income as the case may be. Another option is to go to the CRA website and access your account (may need to register on-line with them first) to go in and print out your last account summary for your personal taxes. If you had no income and choose not to do any of the above I suggest that you include a letter explaining your situation and your plans to acquire work upon landing, and/or start applying for jobs, and/or demonstrate sufficiently that upon landing you will be supported financially by family/friends until such time as you (both?) find work. It is my understanding that there is no minimum income requirement to sponsor a spouse, though I am no where near the most knowledgeable on the subject in these forums. Wishing you every success with your application!! link to CRA log-in http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/loginservices/

 

[MAV0]

Thanks for your detailed response...much appreciated.

I have been working here full time in Colombia for the past three years. I can prove my income that I have earned while working here the past three years both with a letter of employment and with Pay stubs. I have not filed a Canadian tax return for the past three years either because I qualify as a non-resident for tax purposes because I have no ties with Canada and have been out of the country the entire year for each of the three years. I am thinking that if I provide a letter stating the same along with my letter of employment (my job here in Colombia), pay stubs etc. in lieu of the option C which I cant provide because I have no Canadian Income for three years and haven't filed returns. I can also provide a job offer letter from an employer that I have a job when I return to Canada. what are your thoughts?

Thanks in Advance

 

[shishkabobs]

I can only speak from my own experience, but for what it's worth, I was in the same situation (working for three years outside of Canada where I was living with my partner), and hadn't filed taxes since I'd left, since I would have been a non-resident.
The way I understand it, they want the option C to show that you don't owe the Government any money.
I sent in a letter and paystubs from my fulltime job as proof that I was working abroad (and thus not in Canada), I attached a letter of explanation as to why I hadn't included the Option C for the last taxation year (because I hadn't filed taxes), and then I attached the Option C for the last year that I had filed taxes (the last year that I was living and working in Canada) - to show that at the point when I left, everything was fine and I owed nothing, wasn't getting any assistance, etc. My sponsorship was approved without any problems.
So, I'm not sure if it would be necessary to include your last Option C, as I did, but it couldn't hurt, right? They only deliver it to the Canadian address they have on file for you, so I had to get my family to send it on to me when they received it. I had to wait a couple weeks but I thought better safe than sorry.