Sponsor Parents- CIC said foreign income counts??... comments?

[janeyandstuart]

Hi,
My family moved to Canada in 2014 as Permanent Residents from Australia.
We would now like to sponsor my parents to come & live in Canada.
I was under the impression that you had to show 3 years of NOAs with a certain level of income to fulfil their criteria which meant it was impossible to sponsor your parents until you'd been living & working in Canada for at least 3-4 years.
But I phoned CIC a few days ago who unequivocally told me "income was income" and that our foreign income for the years proceeding arriving in Canada would also count.
I wouldn't have thought CIC would make a habit of giving misinformation.
If anyone could give me their thoughts on this that would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

The call centre gives out wrong information constantly. CIC is very clear on the website. Income must be from Canadian sources and you must meet the LICO for 3 years prior to applying.

If you meet the LICO for 2014, 2015 and 2016, you will be able to sponsor them in 2017.

If you don't meet LICO for 2014 and you do meet it for 2015, 2016 and 2017, you will be able to sponsor your parents in 2018.

 

[scylla]

What canuck_in_uk said. The Call Centre gives out bad information all of the time to all but the most basic questions. What they told you was wrong. Foreign income is not accepted.

It's going to be several more years before you qualify to sponsor your parents.

 

[scylla]

If you meet the LICO for 2014, 2015 and 2016, you will be able to sponsor them in 2017.

If you don't meet LICO for 2014 and you do meet it for 2015, 2016 and 2017, you will be able to sponsor your parents in 2018.

Technically the above is true. However for practical purposes you need to assume it will be as follows:

If you meet the LICO for 2014, 2015 and 2016, you will be able to sponsor them in 2018.

If you don't meet LICO for 2014 and you do meet it for 2015, 2016 and 2017, you will be able to sponsor your parents in 2019.

You need to include the notice of assessment for all three years and the NOA for the last year won't be available soon enough for your to apply and meet the cap during the year immediately following. So unfortunately you have to add an extra year to account for this.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi,
My family moved to Canada in 2014 as Permanent Residents from Australia.
We would now like to sponsor my parents to come & live in Canada.
I was under the impression that you had to show 3 years of NOAs with a certain level of income to fulfil their criteria which meant it was impossible to sponsor your parents until you'd been living & working in Canada for at least 3-4 years.
But I phoned CIC a few days ago who unequivocally told me "income was income" and that our foreign income for the years proceeding arriving in Canada would also count.
I wouldn't have thought CIC would make a habit of giving misinformation.
If anyone could give me their thoughts on this that would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

There are only 2 ways foreign income would count, and that's if you live in Canada but commute to the US for work, or if you live in Canada but receive and report foreign income on your taxes. In both cases this income must be reported through the CRA while a resident of Canada and only acceptable proof is NOA or Option C documents.
Any income earned while living in a foreign country and a non-resident of Canada, will not be accepted, period.

Read more here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/ip/ip02-eng.pdf
5.30. Financial requirements
The financial test is needed to prove that sponsors can support sponsored persons
for the period of the undertaking. For more details, see Minimum Necessary Income
Requirement: Low-Income Cut-Off levels (LICO), section 5.32, Exception to Minimum
Necessary Income Requirement, section 5.33 and Low Income Cut-Off and Quebec
Income Scale, Appendix F.
Financial resources:
• may include the resources of the sponsor’s spouse or common-law partner if the
sponsor’s financial resources are inadequate and the sponsor’s spouse or
common-law partner declares their resources as income on their Canadian tax
return and they co-sign the undertaking.
• cannot include pooled resources from other relatives to meet the income test.

Financial resources must originate from Canadian sources for the following reasons:
• employment income abroad is not a reliable indicator of future or stable
employment in Canada.
• CPC staff cannot easily verify if foreign income can be transferred to Canada.
• converting foreign income into Canadian dollars is resource-intensive.
• in cases of default, collection and litigation, it is easier to recover income from
Canadian sources.

5.31. Exceptions to Canadian income rule
The exceptions to the Canadian income rule are as follows:
• sponsors who commute from Canada to work in the U.S.A. can use their U.S.
employment income provided it is declared as income on their Canadian income
tax return;
• sponsors living in Canada who declare income from foreign sources on their
Canadian tax returns, can use this foreign income to meet the financial
requirements for sponsorship.
Discretionary approval of financial requirements is not possible.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Technically the above is true. However for practical purposes you need to assume it will be as follows:

If you meet the LICO for 2014, 2015 and 2016, you will be able to sponsor them in 2018.

If you don't meet LICO for 2014 and you do meet it for 2015, 2016 and 2017, you will be able to sponsor your parents in 2019.

Good catch scylla, I forgot to add that extra year.

 

[scylla]

I think now in 2018 this doesn't stand true. For to apply in 2018 you should show 2015, 2016 and 2017 income. It still should be Canadian generated income and not foreign income. It is on the webform to apply. https://gcs-ssc.cic.gc.ca/pgp/

This thread is over two years old and applies to the old process. There are a number of active threads dealing with the 2017 and 2018 process.

Please don't resurrect old threads.