In order to sponsor a family member for permanent residence in Canada, sponsors must exceed the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) for the program.

The MNI varies depending on the number of family members being supported in Canada, the location of the sponsor in Canada, and the number of family members being sponsored.

For parent and grandparent sponsorship, the sponsor in Canada will only be eligible if they exceed the MNI for three consecutive years (except in the province of Quebec, see below). This requirement was added to ensure that sponsors who bring their parents and grandparents to Canada are ready for the financial responsibility that often comes with caring for elderly family members.

The following chart lays out Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) figures, plus 30 per cent. These figures represent the MNI for the program for individuals living in Canada outside the Province of Quebec:

Quebec

Sponsors living in the province of Quebec must meet different MNI figures. Sponsors are presumed capable of fulfilling an undertaking if, over the past 12 months, they have had gross income from Canadian sources equal to the total of the income appearing in Table 1 and Table 2 below. The income in both tables is indexed each year.

Table 2 below refers solely to the persons being sponsored. Principal applicants should add the relevant figure from Table 1 above to the relevant figure in the right-side column of Table 2 to arrive at the total minimum income required.