Dependant Visa Financial Requirements: Ireland, UK and Canada Compared

Why money is where family applications are won and lost

Relationship evidence gets the attention, but in our experience the financial section is where dependant applications actually fail. The reason is structural: relationships are assessed on the balance of plausibility, whereas finances are assessed against rules. A caseworker who is unsure about a marriage may ask for more documents. A caseworker who cannot trace where €15,000 came from will refuse.

All three countries test two things at once: capacity — is there enough money to house, feed and insure this family? — and credibility — is the money genuinely yours, lawfully obtained, and likely to still be there in six months? Applicants routinely satisfy the first and fail the second.

Ireland: the sponsor's earnings history

Ireland approaches family reunification through a policy document rather than a rigid points test, and the assessment is centred on the sponsor. Caseworkers look at what the sponsor has earned over recent full years, whether that income was stable, and whether the sponsor has relied on State support. The underlying question is whether this household will need the social protection system.

Two features distinguish the Irish approach:

• The threshold varies by sponsor category. A Critical Skills Employment Permit holder, an Irish citizen and a person on a different permission are not all held to the same level, and some categories are effectively exempt from parts of the test.
• History matters more than a snapshot. Because the assessment looks back over completed years rather than a 28-day window, arriving with a large one-off balance does not help you. A documented earnings record does.

Private medical insurance for each family member is a separate, non-negotiable cost — dependants generally have no automatic entitlement to public health services on arrival. Accommodation evidence is also expected. The mechanics of the route, and why a Critical Skills permit changes everything, are covered in our Ireland dependant visa guide. For a sense of what a family realistically spends once in the country, see our breakdown of the cost of living in Ireland.

The UK: fixed maintenance funds and the 28-day rule

The UK is the most mechanical of the three. Where a maintenance requirement applies, it is a specified sum for the main applicant plus a further specified sum for each dependant, and the rules on how that money is evidenced are unusually strict:

• Funds must be held for a continuous 28-day period ending shortly before the application date, and the balance must not fall below the required level on any single day in that period. One dip disqualifies the whole statement.
• The account must generally be in the name of the applicant, their partner or a parent. Company accounts, employers' accounts and friends' accounts do not count.
• On work routes, a licensed sponsor can often certify maintenance instead, which removes the savings requirement entirely — a significant advantage that many applicants do not realise is available to them.
• Student route amounts differ for London and outside London and are capped at a set number of months per dependant.

On top of maintenance sit the visa fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge, the latter charged per person per year of permission and usually paid upfront. For a family, the surcharge is often the largest single line in the budget. Almost all dependants also hold a no recourse to public funds condition. Which routes still permit dependants at all is a separate question, covered in UK dependant visa rules explained.

Canada: proof of funds and the sponsorship undertaking

Canada splits the question by status, and the difference is important.

Temporary residents

A study permit applicant must show settlement funds covering tuition plus living costs, with an additional amount for each accompanying family member. IRCC raised the cost-of-living requirement substantially in 2024 and moved to updating it periodically, so any figure you find in an older article is likely to be wrong. Canada has also tightened who may accompany a student: spousal open work permits have been narrowed towards spouses of students in longer master's, doctoral and certain professional programmes. Verify both the amount and the eligibility rule before you plan. The Canada study permit guide covers the route in detail.

Permanent residence sponsorship

Canada's spousal and partner sponsorship route works differently from the temporary side and differently from Europe. There is generally no minimum income requirement to sponsor a spouse, common-law partner or dependent child. Instead the sponsor signs a binding undertaking to provide for the sponsored person's basic needs for a defined period, and agrees to repay any social assistance the sponsored person receives during it. Sponsors in default of a previous undertaking, or receiving social assistance other than for disability, are typically barred.

That is a genuinely different philosophy: the UK and Ireland front-load the test with a threshold, while Canada back-loads it with liability. Parent and grandparent sponsorship is the exception — it does apply a minimum necessary income test over several years.

Side by side

The table compares approaches, not amounts. Each cell is a policy position that can change; check the official source for your route before relying on any of it.

What counts as acceptable evidence

Across all three systems, the documents that carry weight are the ones a third party issued and can verify. A strong financial file usually contains:

1. Bank statements covering a continuous period, issued by the bank — stamped or certified where the country requires it — showing full transaction detail rather than a summary.
2. Payslips for the same period, with net pay that reconciles line-by-line against credits on the statements.
3. An employment contract or letter confirming role, start date, salary and whether the position is permanent.
4. Tax documents — an Irish Employment Detail Summary, a UK P60 or SA302, a Canadian Notice of Assessment — which independently corroborate the income you have claimed.
5. Evidence for any non-salary income: rental agreements, dividend statements, audited accounts for self-employment.
6. Proof of accommodation and insurance where the route requires it.

Screenshots of banking apps, unstamped printouts, statements missing pages, and letters without contact details for verification all invite scrutiny. So does a translation that is not certified where certification is required.

The evidence problems that sink applications

Almost every refusal we review on financial grounds involves one of the following. None of them requires dishonesty — most are simply undocumented.

• The unexplained lump sum. A large deposit shortly before the application with no documented source is the single most damaging item in a financial file. If someone gifted or lent you money, evidence the source: a gift deed or letter, the giver's own statements showing the outgoing transfer, and their proof of the funds' origin.
• Cash deposits. Frequent or large cash credits are difficult to trace and are treated with suspicion in every system. Pay income into an account through traceable channels for months before you apply.
• Funds in someone else's name. Money in a sibling's, uncle's or employer's account is usually not yours for immigration purposes, regardless of family understanding.
• Balance dips. On the UK's 28-day rule especially, a single day below the threshold invalidates the entire period. Ring-fence the money and do not touch the account.
• Mismatched documents. A salary on the contract that does not match the payslips, a name spelled differently across documents, an employer address that differs from the letterhead — small inconsistencies read as fabrication.
• Loans presented as savings. Borrowed funds intended to be repaid immediately after a decision are treated as the thing they are, and discovery damages credibility across every future application.

How to prepare, and where to check

The practical advice is unglamorous and it works: start six to twelve months before you intend to apply. Consolidate savings into one account in the right name, stop moving money between accounts, deposit income through traceable channels, and keep a short written note of the source of every unusual credit with the supporting paperwork attached. By the time you apply, the file should tell a story a stranger can follow without asking you a question.

Then verify the numbers at source: Irish Immigration Service Delivery for sponsor income levels, the GOV.UK route page and Immigration Rules for UK maintenance amounts and surcharge rates, and IRCC for Canadian settlement funds and undertaking periods. Check them on the day you apply, not the day you start planning.

This article is general information published in August 2026. It is not legal advice and does not reflect policy changes made after publication.