On Maternity or Parental Leave: Can I Still Sponsor My Spouse to Canada?

You have a new baby, you are on parental leave, and your regular employment income has been replaced by Employment Insurance benefits. You know you want to bring your spouse to Canada, and you are wondering whether this is the right time to apply or whether your leave status is going to cause a problem.

The good news is that being on maternity or parental leave does not disqualify you from sponsoring. The path forward just requires understanding how IRCC views your income during this period.

The eligibility rule that catches sponsors by surprise is the social assistance disqualifier: a sponsor who is receiving provincial or territorial social assistance is generally ineligible to sponsor. But Employment Insurance parental benefits are not social assistance.

EI maternity and parental benefits are a federal insurance program funded by contributions from employees and employers. Receiving EI parental benefits is treated very differently from receiving provincial welfare or social assistance. Being on parental leave and receiving EI does not trigger the social assistance disqualifier.

IRCC’s assessment of a sponsor’s financial situation is based primarily on the Notice of Assessment documents from the Canada Revenue Agency. These documents reflect your declared income from your most recent tax years.

If your parental leave overlaps with the tax years being reviewed, the NOA will show EI benefits received rather than employment income. IRCC is familiar with this situation. An officer reviewing a file where the sponsor is on parental leave will typically consider:

• The sponsor’s employment history and salary prior to the leave
• Whether the leave is temporary and there is a clear return to work expected
• The total household financial picture

If your income during the leave period appears lower than your typical employment income, it is useful to include documentation showing your pre-leave salary, your employer, your expected return-to-work date, and a letter from your employer confirming your position is being held. This context helps the officer understand that the leave income is temporary, not representative of your long-term financial situation.

If your plan is to transition to a different employment situation after parental leave, be honest about that in your application. IRCC does not require you to have a specific job lined up, but your financial documentation should reflect your realistic income situation.

If your pre-leave income was solid and your NOA reflects that in recent tax years, the current leave period is typically not a significant concern. The bigger challenge arises if your income history is inconsistent or if the leave period is the dominant picture in your NOA history.

The question of timing is worth thinking through. Spousal sponsorship does not expire. You can file when you are on leave or after you return to work. The right timing depends on:

• How far along the other parts of the application are: relationship evidence, documents, and your spouse’s situation
• Whether the income picture in your most recent NOA is strong enough to support the file
• Whether being on leave will require additional explanatory documentation that you are ready to provide

For many sponsors, filing during parental leave is entirely workable with the right documentation. For others, waiting until the next NOA reflects return-to-work income makes the file cleaner. Neither is universally correct.

No. The undertaking is the sponsor’s obligation, and IRCC assesses the sponsor’s financial capacity. The future income of the sponsored person after they arrive in Canada is not counted in the sponsorship eligibility assessment. This is a common misunderstanding worth clearing up before you build your application strategy around it.