2. Check what income rules apply

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has guidelines that say what minimum necessary income a sponsor must have. These amounts usually go up each year.

But the income guidelines do not usually apply to sponsoring:

• your spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner
• your dependent child, as long as they do not have dependent children of their own
• the children of the spouse, common-law partner, or conjugal partner you're sponsoring, as long as those children do not have children of their own

You do not have to meet a minimum necessary income for the sponsorships listed above. But you must show IRCC that you can support the people you're sponsoring. And you usually need to show that you're working. You're not eligible to sponsor if you're getting social assistance. But you can still be a sponsor if you're getting disability benefits through the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). 

Figuring out minimum necessary income

When the guidelines apply, your sponsorship package includes a Financial Evaluation form that you complete and include with your application.

The minimum necessary income you need as a sponsor depends on:

• the number of people in Canada who you already have a responsibility to support financially, plus
• the number of people you want to sponsor.

Co-sign a sponsorship application

If you have a spouse or common-law partner, who also meets the requirements to be a sponsor, they can co-sign your sponsorship application. This means that they're also responsible to make sure the sponsored person's basic needs are met. This responsibility lasts as long as the sponsorship agreement is in effect. Co-signing is not possible for spousal sponsorships.

A co-signer's income can be included when calculating whether you have the minimum necessary income you need for your sponsorship application. And the number of people will include anyone the co-signer is already responsible to support financially.

Financial responsibility for others

When counting the number of people that you as a sponsor are financially responsible for, you include:

• yourself
• a spouse, partner, or dependent child who lives with you
• a spouse, partner, or dependent child, even if they do not live with you

You also include anyone who you or your co-signer sponsored or co-signed a sponsorship for in the past, if the sponsorship agreement is still in effect or not yet in effect.

For example, if you're a single parent with a dependent child in Canada and you want to sponsor both of your parents, you need to show that you have the minimum necessary income for 4 people. This is because you have to show you can support yourself, your dependent child, and both parents.

Prove your income

Use your notice of assessment that you get from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to prove income. You get this after you send in your income tax return. You can download a copy if you create an account with CRA.