Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) for sponsorship

What is the minimum necessary income (MNI)?

The minimum necessary income is the income IRCC requires a sponsor to prove so that they can support sponsored relatives in Canada without those relatives relying on social assistance. When you sponsor parents and grandparents and most other income-tested relatives, the threshold is the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) for your family size plus 30%. The LICO itself is a Statistics Canada measure that rises with family size and is updated each year. In short, this is the sponsor income requirement that decides whether a PGP program application can proceed at all.

Crucially, you do not just need to meet it today. For parents and grandparents you must have met it in each of the three tax years immediately before you apply, evidenced by your Canada Revenue Agency Notices of Assessment. That three-year look-back is one of the most misunderstood parts of the rule, and it is the reason a sponsor with a strong salary this year can still be found ineligible.

Understanding LICO and the extra 30%

The minimum necessary income is built from two parts: the Low Income Cut-Off for your family size, plus a further 30% that IRCC adds on top because the undertaking is long. The Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) is a Statistics Canada measure of the income level below which a household is considered to be in straitened circumstances. It is not a fixed number: it rises with family size, because a larger household needs more income to reach the same standard of living, and it is updated each year to track the cost of living. The published LICO used for sponsorship is the figure for urban areas with a population of 500,000 or more, which is why the threshold does not fall because you live somewhere less expensive.

For most family-class sponsorships that are income-tested, IRCC does not stop at LICO. It adds a further 30% on top, so the threshold you actually have to meet is LICO plus 30 percent for your family size. That margin exists because sponsoring parents and grandparents is a long-term commitment: the undertaking for a parent or grandparent runs for 20 years from the day they become a permanent resident, and IRCC wants comfortable headroom rather than an income that only just clears the line. The one route where the plain LICO test applies instead, without the extra 30 percent, is the Super Visa, which we return to below.

The three-tax-year rule

To sponsor parents and grandparents you must have met the minimum necessary income in each of the three tax years before the date you apply, and IRCC verifies every year separately against your notices of assessment. Meeting the threshold today is not enough. A strong income last year does not rescue a year three years ago that fell below the line, and timing is the part sponsors most often misjudge.

This look-back period has a few practical consequences. A recent pay rise may not yet be reflected across all three years. A year of reduced income, parental leave, a career break or self-employment losses can pull a single year below the threshold and stop the whole application. And because the relevant years shift as time passes, timing your application well can be the difference between qualifying and not. We map your three qualifying years before you file so there are no surprises.

How the minimum necessary income is calculated: LICO + 30%

For the 2025 parents and grandparents intake, a sponsor with a family size of two had to show $47,549 of income for the 2024 tax year, and a sponsor with a family size of four had to show $70,972, with each additional person above seven adding $10,291 (canada.ca, July 2025). Every figure below is the income you must show for that tax year alone, and you must clear all three years. IRCC publishes the controlling table on canada.ca and revises it annually.

Which relatives trigger the income test?

The minimum necessary income applies when you sponsor parents and grandparents, and to the small number of other relatives a Canadian citizen or permanent resident may sponsor, such as an adult relative under the last-remaining-relative provision. It does not apply when you sponsor a spouse, a partner or a dependent child who has no children of their own.

• Income-tested: you must meet the minimum necessary income to sponsor parents, grandparents and the other eligible relatives that fall outside the exempt categories.
• Exempt, spouses and partners: you do not have to meet an income threshold to sponsor a spouse, a common-law partner or a conjugal partner.
• Exempt, most children: you do not have to meet an income threshold to sponsor a dependent child who has no children of their own, or a child you are adopting.
• Exempt, orphaned close relatives: you do not have to meet an income threshold to sponsor an orphaned brother, sister, nephew, niece or grandchild who is under 18.

The exemptions are technical and turn on definitions rather than intentions. Whether a young adult still counts as a dependant, for instance, depends on age at the lock-in date and on whether they are in full-time study, which is why it is worth reading who is a dependent child in Canada before you assume the income test does not apply. If your dependent child has a child of their own, the exemption falls away and the sponsor income requirement returns.

Counting your family size correctly

Your family size for the MNI is everyone you will be financially responsible for: yourself, your spouse or common-law partner, your dependent children, the parents or grandparents you want to sponsor and all of their family members, and anyone still covered by an undertaking you signed before. It is counted year by year, for each of the three tax years.

• You and your partner: count yourself as the sponsor, and count your spouse (in most cases even if you are separated) or common-law partner. A co-signing partner counts in all three years; a partner who is not co-signing counts only in the years they met the definition.
• Your children: count your dependent children, your partner's dependent children, and any dependent children those children have.
• The people you are sponsoring: count the principal applicant, their spouse or common-law partner and all of their dependent children, even the family members who are not coming to Canada and those who are already Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
• Anyone under a live undertaking: count every person you or your co-signer previously sponsored or co-signed for whose undertaking is still in effect, together with that person's own spouse, partner and dependent children.
• People who have left your family: do not count someone who is no longer part of your family when you apply, whether through death, legal divorce or an expired undertaking, in any of the three years.

Undercounting your family size makes your required income look lower than it really is, and IRCC will recalculate it during assessment. Getting the count right at the start is one of the simplest ways to avoid a refusal. Note that the people counted are not limited to those living with you: a dependent child studying abroad, or a relative you sponsored years ago whose undertaking has not yet expired, still counts.

Family-size counting: two worked examples

A couple sponsoring two parents has a family size of four, while a couple with two children sponsoring two parents, who also have one person still under a live undertaking, has a family size of seven and a much higher threshold. The two examples below work that through. They are illustrative: the principle is what matters, not the exact dollar figures, which change each year.

• Example one: a couple sponsoring two parents.A sponsor and their spouse, with no children, want to sponsor the sponsor's two parents. The family size is four: the sponsor, the spouse, and the two parents. The MNI is the LICO-plus-30% figure for a household of four.
• Example two: a larger household. A sponsor with a spouse and two dependent children wants to sponsor two parents, and the sponsor previously sponsored a relative whose undertaking is still in effect. The family size is seven: the sponsor, the spouse, the two children, the two parents, and the one person still under a live undertaking. The threshold is correspondingly higher.

The lesson from both is the same: people you might not think of, dependants of the relatives you are sponsoring, anyone under a still-active undertaking, and a co-signer's family, all add to the count and raise the income you must show. Between example one and example two the required income rises by tens of thousands of dollars, on the strength of the count alone. We build the full count with you before anything is filed.

How IRCC assesses your income

For parents and grandparents sponsorship, IRCC relies on your CRA Notices of Assessment for the three tax years before you apply. The income figure is generally line 15000 (total income), with some adjustments, and certain types of income do not count. Because the assessment is built on filed taxes, two practical things matter most: your returns should be filed for all three years, and the income on them should genuinely clear the threshold for your family size.

A co-signer, your spouse or common-law partner, can combine their income with yours to help you meet the MNI. A co-signer shares responsibility for the undertaking, so it is a real commitment, not just a paperwork formality.

Documents IRCC uses to verify your minimum necessary income

IRCC proves your income from a Canada Revenue Agency notice of assessment for each of the three tax years before the date you apply, and it gives you two ways to supply them: let CRA release your tax information to IRCC directly, or send the paper notices yourself. Everything else on this list supports those figures.

• Notices of assessment: you must provide a CRA notice of assessment for each of the three qualifying tax years, or a CRA Proof of Income Statement where the notice itself is not available.
• Consent for CRA to release your income to IRCC: you give this on form IMM 5768, the Financial Evaluation for Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship, by answering yes at question 8 and adding your social insurance number, signature and date.
• An itemised statement of income sources: if you send the paper notices instead, you complete form IMM 5748, Income Sources for the Sponsorship of Parents and Grandparents, and include the notices in the package.
• Form IMM 1344: you and any co-signer sign the Application to Sponsor, Sponsorship Agreement and Undertaking, which is the document that creates the legal obligation to support the people you sponsor.
• Supporting employment evidence: where the CRA data alone is thin, add T4 slips, an employment letter confirming your role and salary, pay statements, or self-employment and business records.

Because officers work from what CRA has assessed, income that never appeared on a Canadian return will not help you. Cash earnings, undeclared work and money held offshore do not count, and a late-filed return can leave a qualifying year looking empty at exactly the moment it is checked.

Income that does not count toward the minimum necessary income

Four kinds of income are excluded from the minimum necessary income calculation: provincial social assistance received for reasons other than disability, Employment Insurance regular benefits, federal training allowances, and the Old Age Security Guaranteed Income Supplement. Not every dollar on your notice of assessment counts, and sponsors are regularly caught out by that:

• Provincial social assistance: payments you received for any reason other than disability are excluded from the income IRCC counts.
• Employment Insurance regular benefits: EI regular benefits are excluded, while EI special benefits such as maternity and parental benefits are generally counted, which matters to families whose qualifying years include a parental leave.
• Federal training allowances: training allowances and similar government support payments are excluded.
• The Old Age Security Guaranteed Income Supplement: the GIS is excluded, although the basic OAS pension and Canada Pension Plan payments are treated differently.

The distinction between EI regular benefits and EI special benefits is the one that most often changes an outcome. A sponsor who reads their total income line and assumes they qualify can be several thousand dollars short once the excluded amounts come off. Because these exclusions are technical and can change, we work through your Notices of Assessment line by line against the rule in force for your assessment years.

Using a co-signer to meet the threshold

If you do not meet the income requirement on your own, your spouse or common-law partner can co-sign the application so that IRCC combines the two incomes. No one else can: a sibling, a parent or a friend cannot co-sign a parents and grandparents sponsorship, however willing they are.

• Who can co-sign: only your spouse or common-law partner can co-sign a parents and grandparents sponsorship, so you cannot bring in a sibling or a friend to top up the income.
• Which years count: the co-signer's income is added across the same three tax years, so their notices of assessment must show qualifying income for each of those years too.
• What the co-signer takes on: a co-signer shares the undertaking, a binding long-term commitment to support the sponsored relatives and repay any social assistance they receive.
• The catch in the counting: a co-signer's own family members are added to your family size, which can lift the threshold even as their income helps you meet it, so both effects have to be modelled together.

One point deserves emphasis, because it comes up in almost every enquiry: the income tested is the sponsor's, not the sponsored relative's. Savings held by your parents, a pension they receive abroad, an offer of support from a sibling, or funds in an overseas account do nothing for the MNI. Only a co-signing spouse or partner can add income to yours.

What if you do not meet the MNI?

If your income falls short even with a co-signer, the parents and grandparents route may not be open to you in that intake. That is where the Super Visa comes in: it lets parents and grandparents visit Canada for stays of up to five years at a time on a multiple-entry visa valid for up to ten years. The Super Visa has its own income test for the host based on LICO (not LICO + 30%) and requires qualifying medical insurance from an approved provider, so it is often achievable when full MNI sponsorship is not. Before you choose that route, it is worth understanding the super visa fees in Canada, since the insurance premium is usually the largest line in the budget.

MNI for parents and grandparents vs the LICO test for the Super Visa

Parents and grandparents sponsorship tests the sponsor against LICO plus 30% in each of the three tax years before applying, while the Super Visa tests the host against plain LICO, generally on the most recent year alone, and adds a medical-insurance requirement. That gap is exactly why the Super Visa can work when full parents and grandparents sponsorship cannot:

The trade-off is real: the Super Visa reunites families through long, renewable visits rather than permanent residence, but it asks for a lower income and adds a medical-insurance requirement. For many families it is the practical way to stay together while income builds toward a future PGP application. Our full guide to family sponsorship in Canada sets the two routes in their wider context.

Timing your application around the three qualifying years

Because the assessed window moves forward each year as a new tax year is filed, a weak year eventually drops out of it. A sponsor who was short in one year, perhaps because of a parental leave or a business loss, is often eligible a year or two later without changing anything else. Mapping that window is one of the most useful things you can do early.

Two features of the parents and grandparents programme make timing matter even more. First, intake is not continuous: IRCC opens an interest-to-sponsor process and invites a limited number of people to apply, so you need your three qualifying years lined up when an invitation arrives rather than months afterwards. IRCC paused the programme on 15 July 2026 and is accepting no new interest to sponsor forms and issuing no invitations until further notice, while continuing to process applications already filed, which makes a prepared three-year window more valuable rather than less. Second, the tax years assessed are tied to when you actually submit, so a few weeks either side of a year end can change which years are examined. One further note on scope: sponsors who intend to settle in Quebec are assessed against Quebec's own undertaking and income rules by the province rather than the federal table, and we do not advise on Quebec files.

Common mistakes that cost sponsors the income test

After years of parents and grandparents files, the same handful of errors account for most avoidable problems:

• Undercounting family size: sponsors most often forget the dependants of the parents being sponsored, or a co-signer's children, and a family size that is one person short understates the threshold by thousands of dollars.
• Forgetting a live undertaking: someone you sponsored years ago still counts in your family size while their undertaking remains in effect, and so do that person's own partner and children.
• Assuming a strong current year rescues a weak one: it does not, because IRCC assesses each of the three tax years separately against the threshold for that year.
• Unfiled or late-filed returns: a return filed late leaves IRCC without an assessed figure for a qualifying year, and an empty year fails the test as surely as a low one.
• Counting excluded income: adding EI regular benefits or social assistance to your total produces a figure IRCC will not accept, and sponsors regularly discover the shortfall only at assessment.
• Trusting an online MNI calculator: many calculators run on last year's LICO table or the wrong three tax years, so check the figure against IRCC's own published table instead.
• Confusing the two income tests: preparing to the Super Visa's LICO figure when the full LICO-plus-30% threshold applies leaves you short by 30% at the moment it counts.

How Wild Mountain Immigration helps with the MNI

Wild Mountain Immigration is a CICC-regulated practice led by a licensed RCIC, based in Canmore, Alberta, and we represent clients across Canada entirely online. On a parents and grandparents file, the income test is where applications most often come unstuck, so our work starts with confirming this sponsor income requirement against the current IRCC table before you commit a penny in government fees. You can see exactly what working with us costs on our page of immigration consultant fees, with no surprises before you decide.

1. 01

   Confirm the threshold and your three years

   We identify your correct family size and the LICO-plus-30% threshold, then check your Notices of Assessment for each of the three qualifying tax years.

2. 02

   Plan income and co-signer strategy

   If you fall short, we model a co-signer's income and family-size effect, and time your application to your strongest three-year window.

3. 03

   Apply or pivot to the Super Visa

   We build a complete sponsorship application, or, if the MNI is out of reach, prepare a Super Visa application under its lower LICO test instead.

Whether the minimum necessary income is within reach usually comes down to three numbers: your family size, the LICO-plus-30% threshold for that size, and the income CRA assessed in each of your three qualifying tax years. Get those right and the rest of a parents and grandparents application is process; get them wrong and you can lose a year. If you would like a licensed RCIC to check your minimum necessary income against the current IRCC table before you file, tell us about your household and we will give you a straight answer.