Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) for the relative sponsorship programme

To sponsor family members, applicants must demonstrate that they meet the minimum income requirement, meaning they earn enough to support everyone for whom they will be financially responsible.

The income requirement varies according to the number of family members being cared for in Canada, the number of family members being sponsored and whether the sponsor lives in Canada or in Quebec.

What is the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI)?

Minimum Necessary Income is known by the abbreviation MNI. It is the level of income a sponsor must be able to demonstrate in order to sponsor a relative to live and work in Canada.

To qualify for certain family sponsorship programmes, sponsors are required to have a minimum level of income to support themselves, the members of their family unit, and the people they wish to sponsor.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)uses the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) threshold to assess a sponsor’s financial capacity to support their family members. Family sponsorship applicants are only considered eligible to sponsor family members if they meet the MNI requirement for their family size.

What is family size?

Family unit size is established on the basis of the people the sponsor currently supports in Canada and those they intend to sponsor. To calculate the sponsored family size, the sponsor must count:

• Themselves (the principal sponsor)
• Their common-law partner or spouse
• Their dependent children
• The dependent children of their common-law partner or spouse
• Any other person they have previously sponsored and for whom they remain financially responsible
• The parents and grandparents they wish to sponsor
• The common-law partners, spouses and dependent children of their parents and grandparents.
• They must also include dependent children, common-law partners, spouses and separated spouses who are not coming to Canada with their parents or grandparents.

Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) for the parents and grandparents sponsorship programme

For parents and grandparents sponsorship, a sponsor in Canada is only eligible if they exceed the MNI for 3 consecutive tax years (except in the province of Quebec). This requirement ensures that a sponsor bringing parents and grandparents to Canada is ready for the financial responsibility that usually comes with caring for older family members.

Sponsors under theparents and grandparents sponsorship programmein 2024 must meet the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) requirement set by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

The figures below show the MNI for individuals in 2024 who live in Canada outside the province of Quebec (in CAD):

Family unit size	MNI 2023	MNI 2022	MNI 2021
2 people	$44,530	$43,082	$32,898
3 people	$54,743	$52,965	$40,444
4 people	$66,466	$64,036	$49,106
5 people	$75,384	$72,935	$55,694
6 people	$85,020	$82,259	$62,814
7 people	$94,568	$91,582	$69,934
Each additional person	$9,636	$9,234	$7,120

How is Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) proven?

To prove that they meet the income requirement, applicants must provide a notice of assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for each of the 3 tax years preceding the date of application. There are 2 ways to do this:

1. Allow the Government to obtain tax information directly from the CRA
   • On the Financial Evaluation for Parents and Grandparents Sponsorship form (IMM 5768e), at question 8, “Sponsor’s statement of consent”:
     • Tick “Yes.”
     • Provide the Social Insurance Number (SIN), signature and date.
2. Send us paper copies of the notices of assessment
   • Complete the Income Sources for the Sponsorship of Parents and Grandparents form [IMM 5748e].
   • Include the notices of assessment in their application package. If they do not have paper copies, sign in to theCRA accountto find them online.

MNI for family sponsorship in Quebec

Sponsors living in the province of Quebec must meet different income requirements. They are considered able to meet the requirement if, over the past 12 months and throughout the period of the undertaking, they have had total income from Canadian sources equal to the combined income shown in Table 1 and Table 2 below. The income figures in both tables are adjusted each year.

The amounts are in effect from 1 January to 31 December 2024.

Family unit size	Basic annual income required
1 person	$28,242
2 people	$38,124
3 people	$47,068
4 people	$54,135
5 people	$60,250
More than 5 people, for each additional person add	$6,115

Table 2 below refers only to the persons being sponsored. The principal applicant must add the relevant amount from Table 1 above to the corresponding amount in the right-hand column of Table 2 to calculate the total minimum income required.

Additional income required of the sponsor to meet the basic needs of the sponsored persons and their family members.

Number of people aged 18 and over	Number of people under 18	Annual income required of the sponsor
0	1	$9,776
0	2	$15,493

The annual income required increases by $5,166 CAD for each additional person under 18.

Number of people aged 18 and over	Number of people under 18	Annual income required of the sponsor
1	0	$20,657
1	1	$27,755
1	2	$31,341

The annual income required increases by $3,582 CAD for each additional person under 18.

Number of people aged 18 and over	Number of people under 18	Annual income required of the sponsor
2	0	30.294 CAD
2	1	33.935 CAD
2	2	36.634 CAD

The annual income required increases by $2,689 CAD for each additional person under 18 and by $9,630 CAD for each additional person aged 18 and over.

Find out more about the Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) requirements for sponsoring a relative to Canada on the Government website athere.