If a Canadian legal resident wishes to sponsor family members to
immigrate to Canada, he/she must meet the LICO (Low-Income-Cut-Off),
which is a specific dollar amount.
Supposing the family members to be sponsored have money of their own,
that far exceeds the LICO, can that requirement be waived?

Hi real1234,

The only time your financial status would not be a factor in regards
to family sponsorship is when you would be sponsoring only a spouse or
dependent child.

Sponsorship
"You will have to provide us with documents that show your financial
resources for the past 12 months and prove you are financially able to
sponsor members of the family class. You may solicit the help of a
co-signer (must be your spouse or common-law partner). If you reside
in Quebec, see also Sponsors living in Quebec.
This condition does not apply if you are sponsoring only
 o your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner who has no dependent children, or
 o your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner whose dependent
children have no children of their own, or
 o your dependent child who has no children of his or her own."
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/guides/3900E2.html

Family Sponsorship Options Canadian Immigration
"The exception to the rule is if a Canadian is sponsoring a spouse. In
this case technically no income at all needs to be shown. Technically
all that needs to be shown is that the sponsor is not on welfare or
unemployment insurance or receiving government assistance. However, it
is generally better if the sponsor has at least a job showing some
income and some prospects for a prosperous future."
http://www.immigratingtocanada.com/immigration_sponsorship.html

Spouses, Common-Law Partners and Conjugal Partners
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/sponsor/familymembers.html

Application to Sponsor a Member of the Family Class [use for spousal application]
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/fc.html

Change in Policy: Sponsorship of Spouses and Common-law Partners from within Canada
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/sponsor/faq-spouse.html


Another possibility -

Immigrating to Canada as an Investor
"As an investor, you must make a prescribed investment of CDN
$400,000. This investment is placed with the Receiver General of
Canada."
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/business/invest-1.html

Investor - Regulatory Requirements
"investor? means a foreign national who
 1. has business experience;
 2. has a legally obtained net worth of at least $800,000; and
 3. indicates in writing to an officer that they intend to make or
have made an investment.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/business/invest-2.html

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please post a
clarification request *before* closing/rating my answer and I'll be
happy to reply. To follow up, it would be a good idea to call the CIC
and ask:

Call Centre Agents are available Monday - Friday, 8:00 - 4:00 local time.
1 888 242-2100
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/contacts/call.html

Thank you,
hummer

Search Strategy:

I searched the Citizen and Immigration Canada website and Google using
terms such as: canadian immigration family sponsorship financial
support waive investor parents spouse bank guarantee money.

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Request for Answer Clarification by real1234-ga on 21 Jun 2005 10:17 PDT

Are there any other situations, besides spouse and ivestor, where the
LICO requirement can be waived?  Such as if the family meber can prove
that they have, say, $200,000 of their own, and therefore don't need
financial support from the sponsor?
Note the said amount doesn't qualify for the investor cathegory.

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Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 21 Jun 2005 11:13 PDT

Hi real1234,

I just got off the phone with a Call Center Agent at the CIC:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/contacts/call.html

She said you should call them with all of the details of your
situation as I wasn't able to answer many of her questions. However,
sponsoring a family member, other than spouse or child, means that you
are promising to be responsible for the family member and that you
must meet the LICO. In other words, "sponsoring" means "financial
support", it doesn't matter how much money the family member has. She
said to look at the following link to see if they would fit in any
other category.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.html

The best thing to do is to call that number. They will ask if you are
completely alone in Canada, what the relation is to you, your
financial situation, etc.  It doesn't sound too hopeful but perhaps
she'll be able to come up with something.

Good luck - let me know the outcome!
hummer

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Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 21 Jun 2005 11:28 PDT

When you call the number, you will be given the option to press "O" to
talk to an agent. You can press "O" at any time while listening to the
other options.