sponsoring a parent - your advice please

[Leon]

I would trust their processing time that they give, of 29 months. That means that maybe they open them at 27 months or 25 months or 18 months. Who knows. Maybe they even open them right away and then put them on the shelf.

 

[Leon]

Is the LICO measured after or before tax?

In other words, if my annual salary is $60k and my employer cuts $20k income tax, so I get $40k to my pocket. and my LICO is $50K can I apply?

My income is calculate after tax or before tax?

Income calculated before tax so if you have 60k and your LICO is 50k, you can apply.

 

[easylover]

Has any one sponsored a parent within Canada? Is the visiting parent allowed to stay until there is some feed back about the sponsorship application?

 

[Leon]

The parent who is visiting needs to stay in status. If their visit visa is expiring, they can apply to extend it.

 

[kelly]

Hi PMM,

in relation to your answer below, what if in the last 12 months one has made less than the minimum required to sponsor a parent but has brought enough money with them per the requirement of immigrating to canada, so can I not use the money that I brought with me, in addition to what i have made in salary in less than the last 12 months and prove all those amounts as my ability to sponsor my parents?

Thanks for clarifying.

Kelly

Hi


You are missing a little point, it is that you (co-signer) and the sponsor (spouse) have to earn the sufficient income in the 12 months prior to the application to meet the LICO. For example if the LICO was $30K and you earned $40K in a month, you could apply after 1 month. Soon as your income reaches the LICO you can apply.

PMM

 

[Leon]

No, you can not use savings. It has to be income. If you use up your savings to support your parents in the first year, how will you support them in the next 10 years?

 

[kelly]

Hi Leon,
Thanks for the quick reply.
So if I only worked 10 months out of the last 12 months it might not satisfy the requirement or it might indeed meet the requirement (depending on my annual salary), but if we submit our tax papers those might show only part of the amount (since at tax time I would have only worked about 6 months which might disqualify me, even though on an annual basis I might qualify, so how do you advise one deal with this issue then?
Also, since it seems it takes them 29 months just to figure out if we qualify, at that time I might be well qualified or overqualified ) for a sponshorship of parents, so how does one best proceed from here?
I hope this makes sense, it's just that I'm finding the sponshorship process confusing and knowing that you have to wait so long to sponsor a parent makes this even more overwhelming.
Thanks for the advice and info.
Kelly

No, you can not use savings. It has to be income. If you use up your savings to support your parents in the first year, how will you support them in the next 10 years?

 

[Leon]

I do not know if they accept only tax returns. If you can show with copies of pay slips that at the time you apply, you have in the previous 12 months had at least the amount you need to support yourself and your parents, I would imagine you can apply. You just have to read the application guide to find out what is accepted as proof of income.

 

[kelly]

Thanks Leon.

Kelly )

I do not know if they accept only tax returns. If you can show with copies of pay slips that at the time you apply, you have in the previous 12 months had at least the amount you need to support yourself and your parents, I would imagine you can apply. You just have to read the application guide to find out what is accepted as proof of income.

 

[Rasha]

as taken from the guide 5196 : http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5196E7.asp

To calculate your available income, you will need a document called an “Option-C Printout.” It is the equivalent of the last notice of assessment you would have received in respect of the most recent taxation year and will serve as a basis for the calculation of your income. This printout is issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA, formerly CCRA) and you can obtain it free of charge from CRA by calling 1 800 959-8281. Your spouse or common-law partner will also have to obtain an “Option-C Printout” if he or she is co-signing the undertaking.

If you are unable to obtain and produce an “Option-C Printout” or if your income reported in this document is less than your minimum necessary income, you will need to provide documentation establishing the amount of income you earned over the period of 12 months preceding the date of your application, such as pay stubs, if you are employed; a statement of business of activities, if you are self-employed; bank statements, if you have received interest income; statements or certificates, if you have other sources of income (investment, rental, pension, special benefits paid under the Employment Insurance Act, etc.). Your spouse or common-law partner will need to provide similar documentation if he or she is co-signing the undertaking and does not produce an “Option-C Printout.” or if the income reported on your spouse or common-law partner's “Option-C Printout” combined with your available income is less than your minimum necessary income.

Use all ways you can to prove your income. Obviously you might not have an Option C to show all income, but just as you did [or might have done in your own sponsorship] - I would use pay stubs, a letter of attestation [from employers stating employment history, income earned, time worked etc... - more to the point, I would have the HR dept include a small subsection of income earned for the previous 12-month period prior to application date to substantiate the income [from all employers].

 

[kelly]

Hi Rasha,
It is interesting that for our own application we proved we can support ourselves by showing how much we will bring in with us, but for a sponsorship of parents that cannot be used to substantiate ability to suport them. The tax part is tricky only in the sense that Tax submissions are in april and the application will be done much later but paystubs are a good idea and a letter from the employer is something we didn't think about.

Thanks

kelly

as taken from the guide 5196 : http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5196E7.asp

To calculate your available income, you will need a document called an “Option-C Printout.” It is the equivalent of the last notice of assessment you would have received in respect of the most recent taxation year and will serve as a basis for the calculation of your income. This printout is issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA, formerly CCRA) and you can obtain it free of charge from CRA by calling 1 800 959-8281. Your spouse or common-law partner will also have to obtain an “Option-C Printout” if he or she is co-signing the undertaking.

If you are unable to obtain and produce an “Option-C Printout” or if your income reported in this document is less than your minimum necessary income, you will need to provide documentation establishing the amount of income you earned over the period of 12 months preceding the date of your application, such as pay stubs, if you are employed; a statement of business of activities, if you are self-employed; bank statements, if you have received interest income; statements or certificates, if you have other sources of income (investment, rental, pension, special benefits paid under the Employment Insurance Act, etc.). Your spouse or common-law partner will need to provide similar documentation if he or she is co-signing the undertaking and does not produce an “Option-C Printout.” or if the income reported on your spouse or common-law partner's “Option-C Printout” combined with your available income is less than your minimum necessary income.

Use all ways you can to prove your income. Obviously you might not have an Option C to show all income, but just as you did [or might have done in your own sponsorship] - I would use pay stubs, a letter of attestation [from employers stating employment history, income earned, time worked etc... - more to the point, I would have the HR dept include a small subsection of income earned for the previous 12-month period prior to application date to substantiate the income [from all employers].

 

[Rasha]

Good luck with your application .

 

[kelly]

Hi AMB,

Thanks for your reply.

How do you suggest we can find out more about those organiztions you mentioned that help with the forms for free (and do those have people that know how to correctly and legally fill those forms)? becasue I read through the guide that you included the link here and started to go through the forms, but have to admit it is all a bit overwhelming and confusing.

Thanks again for yoru quick reply

kelly

Yes, you can begin the process to sponsor your parents any time. It doesn't matter how long you have been a permanent resident. You need to meet the financial guidelines though (you have to exceed the "Low Income Cut Off" for your family size). I would recommend reading the guide, so you know what you need to do and what you are getting in to.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/5196E.PDF

You don't need the services of a lawyer- it's up to you. I would suggest finding a multicultural centre/settlement agency in your area, where people can assist you in filling the forms, and there are no charges.

Citizenship & Immigration Canada, and lots of other agencies and organizations would confirm that you DON'T need a lawyer for the majority of immigration applications. There are plenty of services that assist for no fee.

 

[DesiMike]

PMM:
From which document did you extract "5.31. Exceptions to Canadian income rule..."?

Hi

Your wife can co-sign. Call CIC and ask to make sure he US income will count. If she just changed jobs, they may want to know that her Canadian income will not be less.

LICO is the low-income-cutoff-table. It tells you how much money you have to make to sponsor relatives. You can find it at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5196E10.asp scroll down to table 4 - LICO. It will tell you that if you and your wife are only 2 and you want to sponsor 2 people, you need income for 4 people which is $40,259 per year.

Approving sponsor for parents will take approximately 29 months according to http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/process-in.asp#sponsorship and in Buffalo after that, average 10 months, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/international/08-fc-parents.asp#west However, your parents can still come visit you from the US while you wait.

The spouse's US income would only count if she commuted to the US (unlikely to Florida) while residing in Canada and declared the income on her Canadian taxes. So with only the co-signer having only 3 months of work in Canada, it is unlikely they will meet the LICO. They will have to wait for the sponsor and co-signer to have sufficient income to meet the LICO prior to submitting the sponsorship. If they don't, they risk submitting the sponsorship and 29 months later it is refused by Mississauga for insufficient funds, and they have to start over again.

"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;

PMM