Processing Times
IMPORTANT! Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has temporarily stopped accepting new applications from Groups of Five and Community Sponsors under the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program as of November 29, 2024.
While this measure will remain in effect until December 31, 2025, IRCC will continue to process PSR applications already received prior to November 29, 2024, and to resettle sponsored refugees to Canada. More information can be found here.
Once an application is received at the Resettlement Operations Centre in Ottawa (ROC-O), it is screened for completion and to ensure all required documents are submitted appropriately. If there are missing supporting documents or forms, significant errors or information gaps, the application will be mailed back to the sponsoring group for correction and re-submission. If the application package is complete, ROC-O staff will enter the information into their electronic data system. If the application has been approved by ROC-O and sent to the applicable visa office, you will then receive an approval/confirmation letter (email) containing a file number.
The processing of the permanent residence application for the refugee(s) is done at a Canadian Visa Office abroad.
Refugee sponsorship application processing times vary based on the country where the Principal Applicant resides. Processing times for sponsorship applications can be checked by visiting the following link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/index.asp.
When you visit the above link, you will be asked ‘What are you applying for?’
Select ‘Refugees’ from the drop-down menu.
Subsequently, you will be asked ‘Which refugee program?’
Select ‘Privately sponsored refugees’ from the drop-down menu.
Lastly, you will be asked ‘Where are you applying from?’
Select ‘a country/territory’ (Here, you should select the country where the Principal Applicant resides)
When selections to all three questions have been made, click on the ‘Get processing time’ button. The average processing time for refugee sponsorship applications from the selected country will appear.