RRSP is not counted. Simply because it is investment fund. As such those money are blocked (except of certain exceptions) until retirement. Additional currently the value of your retirement money is not known and can be only estimated (and can be technically anywhere from 0 to X).Yeah "you needed your or his bank statement for the funds available", this is exactly what I did. I submitted:
1. my bank statements (checking+savings)
2. our joint bank statements (checking+savings)
3. his RRSP bank statements
All the checking + savings accounts showed $13,582, not enough for a family of two but if we count his RRSP in, that's more than enough.
The officer thought his RRSP as "not readily available" but....as my husband says, his RRSP is not locked-in account, he can withdraw the money any time just by calling the bank and paying some tax.
Can I argue that his RRSP is actually "readily available"?
From point of immigration it is the same as buying some apple shares and then trying to use that investment as your finances.