There is this myth in spousal or common-law partner sponsorship that there is no need to provide proof of financial ability.
A lot of people think that, in sponsoring a spouse or a common-law partner, inside or outside of Canada, does not require proof of financial ability. Afterall, when you look at the current IMM 5533 Document Checklist (as of the time of this writing, the version available is 09-2022), Sponsors are only required to fill out the IMM 1283 Financial Evaluation if you are sponsoring a spouse or common-law partner who has one or more dependent child(ren) who has one or more dependent child(ren).
Also, sponsors are still allowed to sponsor their spouse/common-law partner even if they are receiving disability social assistance.
However, this does not remove the burden on the Primary Applicant to convince the officer that he/she is not inadmissible under Financial Reasons. There are some cases wherein, a Spousal Sponshorship Application was denied because the Principal Applicant at that time, was living with the sponsor who was receiving disability social assistance. And this Principal Applicant, being a spouse, was also receiving the same benefits.
If We read the law under A39, it states " A foreign national is inadmissible for financial reasons if they are or will be unable or unwilling to support themself or any other person who is dependent on them, and have not satisfied an officer that adequate arrangements for care and support, other than those that involve social assistance, have been made."
If you look at the bold part of the law, if you rely solely on social assistance from the Government, that does not meet the requirements of that section of the Immigration, Refugee Protection Act.
But before you receive a refusal, you will be given an opportunity to defend yourself through Procedural Fairness Letter.
If you ever get into one of these situations, please contact us below.
