Some applications for sponsorship of family members to immigrate to Canada request to submit an “Option C”. Clients frequently ask whether they can submit a Notice of Assessment instead. Depending on the case sometimes is better to submit the Option C even if it takes a little bit longer to obtain than the Notice of Assessment from the previous year.
There are some differences between the Option C and the Notice of Assessment, particularly:
· The Option C shows whether there are further sources of income, it specifically separates whether there are investments apart from regular income
· The Option C shows whether the sponsor has any pending debts with the government or whether total or part of the income comes from social assistance.
The latter is the most important reason why it is important to provide the Option C instead of a Notice of Assessment. One of the main requirements to be a sponsor is not to be a recipient of social assistance and the notice of assessment does not clearly show where the income is coming from.
In practice, if someone does not submit the Option C the risk of having the application returned is not high, however, it could be a very good excuse for an officer to return the entire file arguing that there is a document missing especially when the officer is suspicious that the sponsor does not qualify.
The total income of the sponsor is not always determinative. This means in some streams, there is not a minimum income requirement, this is applicable for the sponsorship of spouses or children; but we still recommend to provide the Option C, whenever possible, in order to avoid delays or to show that some of the requirements to be a sponsor are being met.
By: Maria Campos
LL.M. CL Candidate, UBC Faculty of Law
Regulated Immigration Consultant
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