After receiving an ITA, a principal applicant had part of her settlement funds in her own Canadian account and part in her husband's individual (non-joint) account in India. The husband is a dependent on the application. IRCC allows counting money in an account under a spouse's name only —
if you prove access. How?
- Best option: convert to a joint account. Members called this the easiest, cleanest proof of access. In this case it wasn't possible — the bank required the account holder's spouse to be physically present in India — which is a common blocker for cross-border couples.
- Fallback accepted in practice: a letter of access. The husband writes and signs a letter stating that he grants the applicant access to the funds in his account (identified by account number) for immigration/settlement purposes. Asked whether that's really 'just a simple piece of paper,' the thread's answer was essentially yes — a clear, signed declaration is the standard workaround when a joint account can't be arranged.
- Strengthen the package. Pair the letter with the account's bank statements/balance certificate in the spouse's name, so the officer sees both the money and the declared access together. Since the spouse is accompanying, the access story is credible on its face.