Parents/Grandparents Class
On May 10th, 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada made an announcement for a new parents and grandparent sponsorship class, which would be re-opened today (January 2nd, 2014), with an invitation for consultation. However, without any consultation or further discussion, rules surrounding parent and grandparent sponsorships, especially with a new definition of a depending child, are the same as announced in May of 2013.
Here are the significant changes:
- Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) by a Canadian sponsor
- Instead of a traditional Low Income Cut Off (LICO), in order to sponsor your parents or grandparents, you must show your income is at least 30% higher than LICO. If you are inviting your parents and you are a single person, then your MNI is $34,646 + 30%, becomes $45,039.00.
- MNI must be for a consecutive period of 3 years, not a single year.
- Sponsorship obligation by a Canadian sponsor changes from 10 years to 20 years.
- Evidence for MNI is only through Canadian Revenue Agency documentation – no T4, payslips or employment letters, instead: Notice of Assessment or Option C-printouts only.
- There is a cap of 5,000 completed applications under this new parents and grandparents sponsorship.
- There may be some more changes such as:
- Will there a minimum age for parents? or
- Will there be a “balance of the family” test? In other words, sponsorship can only occur if the greater balance of the family reside in Canada.
As of November 28th, 2013, there was no instruction, no application form or no manual or guideline for new parental application, which suppose to re-open for filing in January 2nd, 2014. It appears that is now open here.
Accompanying dependents must be 18 years of age or younger.
As of January 1st, 2014, a dependent child means 18 years of age or younger, with one exception whereby a child is dependent physically or mentally. However, in such case, there would be medical inadmissibility issue for the whole family instead.
This definition of “dependent” is applicable to ALL APPLICATIONS, not just parents and grandparents sponsorship. In other words, this definition will apply to study permits, work permits, temporary resident visas, any classification of permanent resident applications including provincial nominee program.
There are some transitional clauses, but essentially, age for a dependent child will be LOCKED when a permanent resident application is received by CIC, not when sponsorship is file, or not when Provincial Nominee certificate is issued.
Marriage Fraud Prevention Measures
- Five years bar on sponsorship
- If you are sponsored by your first spouse, then you cannot sponsor your next spouse until you have been a permanent resident in Canada more than five years.
- Two years conditional permanent resident status
- If your marriage or common law spousal relationship is less than 2 years without a biological child between you, then this condition applies to all new spousal sponsored persons, with two exceptions of (1) sponsor’s death; or (2) sponsor’s abuse.
If you have any individual questions or concerns, please contact our office for more customized consultation for your unique situation. Please note that this posting is for general information only and is not to be considered binding or official legal counsel since situations will vary and can be complicated. The content in this post is current as of the day of entry. Due to the changing nature of Immigration law, the information in this entry may or may not still be applicable.