Success: P/GP Appeal re MNI

The Parent and Grandparent sponsorship application has a storied past. Previously, the Conservative government suspended the application causing significant distress and hardship for individuals in Canada who sought to have their parents and/ or grandparents with them in Canada. The Conservatives replaced this application with the Super Visa, thus cutting off parents and/ or grandparents from permanent resident status. The Liberal government made a campaign promise to reinstate this application and they acknowledged the importance of parents and grandparents in the lives of people in Canada. The Liberals were successfully elected based, in part, on their promises to support individuals and families in Canada, including immigration reform. The reinstatement of the P/GP application was an important plank of the Liberal’s message. At first, once they took power, they were reluctant to allow many sponsors; however, we pushed them and we reminded them of their promises. In the end, they have allowed many sponsors to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada. We continue to push the government to accept more parents and grandparents.

For many of our clients, they need their parents to be with them in Canada. There are cultures and traditions that are based on the extended family being together. We regularly fight for our clients so they can have all their loved ones with them – under one roof.

Yesterday, we got a positive result from the IAD on a sponsorship application that was refused. It was refused based on our clients not meeting the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) requirement for the application. We were able to work with the family and produce multiple packages of documents for the tribunal and for Minister’s Counsel. The key to winning this case was all the time and energy that we spent on our disclosure packages. We were able to clearly demonstrate the strong H&C factors. We had multiple negotiations with the Minister to achieve a positive result.

Congratulations to our clients! This application has been in process for many years. This family has been trying to reunite with their family members for a long time. This decision does not, unfortunately, mean that the applicant will be on a flight to Canada tomorrow. Even after this positive decision by the IAD, there are more steps before the applicant will be granted PR status.

For this appeal, we relied on the IRCC guidelines for the MNI calculation:

Income required for the 3 tax years right before the day you apply (sponsors applying in 2022)

Since many sponsors may have been affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic, the income requirement for the 2020 and 2021 tax years have been reduced to the minimum necessary income, instead of the minimum necessary income plus 30%.