All about Transportation Loans

Through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program, the Blended Visa Office Referred (BVOR) program, the Joint Assistance Sponsorship (JAS) program, and the Government Assisted Refugee (GAR) program, refugees who are sponsored and resettled to Canada may receive a Transportation Loan. This loan is designed to assist them in covering the expenses associated with their travel to Canada. Issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Transportation Loan is available through their Immigration Loans Program (ILP).

We have attached a file which shares details of the following:

• How is the Transportation Loan issued to the sponsored refugee?
• What does the Transportation Loan cover?
• Are Immigration Medical Examinations (IMEs) still covered by the Immigration Loans Program (ILP)?
• Is interest charged on the Transportation Loan?
• When are sponsored refugees expected to repay the Transportation Loan?
• What is the repayment schedule for the Transportation Loan?
• Can sponsored refugees to defer repayment of the Transportation Loan?
• Are sponsors expected or required to assist the sponsored refugees with repaying their Transportation Loan?

Click Here to access the document.

Persecution Based on Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity

COVID-19 Resources for Sponsors & Newcomers

Accompanying vs Non-Accompanying Family Members

Private Sponsorship of Refugees

The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSR) is a partnership program administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the people of Canada to extend Canada’s capacity to resettle refugees from abroad.

A refugee is someone who has a well founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and due to that fear is unable or unwilling to return.

Canada’s Response to Refugees

Canada is one of the few countries in the world that annually offers resettlement places to thousands of refugees. It is the only country that enables the resettlement of refugees through civic engagement. In private refugee sponsorship, Canadian citizens and permanent residents, organizations and associations can sponsor refugees through Groups of Five, Community Sponsors and Sponsorship Agreement Holders. Private refugee sponsorship does not rely on public resources, but rather taps the energy and funds of faith communities, ethnic groups, families and other benevolent associations. Private sponsors offer personalized local support that the government is not able to provide.

History of the PSR Program

The 1976 Immigration Act established refugees as a class separate from immigrants. Soon after, Canadians responded to the ‘Boat People’ crisis of the late 70s and early 80s which allowed ordinary people from across the country to assist these refugees through private sponsorship.

Who Can Sponsor a Refugee?

There are three ways through which refugees can be privately sponsored:

1. Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAHs) and their Constituent Groups (CGs)
2. Groups of Five
3. Community Sponsor

How to Become a Sponsor

Private sponsorship of refugees to Canada is considered a group activity. Private sponsors make a humanitarian commitment of their personal time, energy, and often their money to assist an individual or a family in need of resettlement. Volunteering to assist refugees is a humanitarian commitment and a way of responding to the injustices in the world. Within the private sponsorship of refugees program in Canada, there are three different ways to form a sponsoring group: Sponsorship Agreement Holders, Community Sponsors and Groups of Five.

What is a Sponsorship Agreement Holder?

Sponsorship Agreement Holder’s (SAH) are established organizations that have signed an agreement with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Groups who sponsor under a SAH are referred to as Constituent Groups (CGs). In many cases, individuals can also partner with a SAH or CG as a Co-Sponsor

What is a Community Sponsor?

A Community Sponsor (CS) can be any Canadian organization, association or corporation, which is based in the community where the refugees are expected to live.

What is a Group of Five?

A Group of Five (G5) is a group of five or more Canadian citizens or permanent residents over 18 years of age. Group of Five are usually one-time groups formed in response to special situations that arise, and whose members all reside in the community where the refugees are expected to live.

Group Considerations

Remember that group members need to work closely with each other for up to three years or more (taking into account the application, processing and sponsorship period). The group must prove that they have sufficient financial resources and the expertise and commitment to support the sponsored refugees for 12 months from the date of arrival in Canada. In exceptional circumstances, and with the option of withdrawing the sponsorship, the group may be asked to commit to a sponsorship period of up to 36 months.

Forming Groups

When you begin to form your group you need to consider what the likely costs or responsibilities of the sponsorship will be. Especially when there are individual financial assessments involved, such as in a Group of Five sponsorship, be upfront about the commitments required when approaching other potential group members.

Consider carefully who you need as part of your group. How much money can you contribute and how much still needs to be contributed by others? Do you know others in your community that have been involved in previous sponsorships or other refugee related work who may be able to help with the processing, provide donations, or assist in the settlement of the newcomers? Do you have work colleagues who might get involved? As you consider the requirements of the sponsorship, you will begin to find others who will be able to join you in the partnership of sponsoring.

What Responsibilities Do Sponsors Have?

During the Sponsorship Period the sponsoring group promises to provide:

• Reception
• Lodging
• Basic care and financial support
• Settlement assistance and support
• Ongoing friendship and emotional support

Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAHs)

What is a Sponsorship Agreement Holder?

A Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH) is an organization that has signed a Sponsorship Agreement with the Government of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and  Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This agreement allows the SAH to resettle refugees through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program.

The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program

This is a partnership program administered by IRCC and the people of Canada to increase Canada’s capacity to resettle refugees from abroad. SAHs and their Constituent Groups, Community Sponsors and Groups of Five can all sponsor refugees.

How Does a Group Qualify?

To become a SAH, an organization MUST:

1. Be incorporated / registered
2. Have the necessary financial capacity
3. Understand and uphold the objectives of the PSR program
4. Have a good volunteer base
5. Pass a security review
6. Complete training with RSTP

How to Apply

In order to become a SAH, a corporation must:

• submit an application with supporting documents to IRCC
• give a detailed explanation about why they want to become a SAH
• outline why they would qualify as a SAH

IRCC assesses the application and makes the final decision.

What is a Constituent Group?

A Constituent Group (CG) is a group authorized in writing by a SAH to act on its behalf in sponsoring refugees. Under its agreement, a SAH can authorize any number of CGs to sponsor  and support the sponsored refugees. Each SAH sets its own criteria for recognizing CGs. They have the following characteristics:

• CGs are in the community where the refugee(s) will reside
• they are authorized, in writing, by the SAH to act on its behalf as sponsors of refugees
• they are managed under the SAH

The SAH bears the legal responsibility for all sponsorships submitted under their agreement. CGs carry out the duties of the sponsorships. Some SAHs have CGs and some don’t.

What are the responsibilities of a SAH?

When an organization signs a sponsorship agreement, it undertakes the legal responsibilities outlined in that agreement. These include to:

• provide basic financial support (such as housing and food) and care for the sponsored refugee. This is expected for the entire sponsorship period or until the sponsored refugee no longer requires assistance, whichever comes first
• pre-screen to determine whether a sponsorship application meets sponsorship eligibility and admissibility criteria
• be responsible for choosing and authorizing CGs
• ensure the SAH has sufficient resources and expertise to carry out its responsibilities
• be jointly or solely liable when the SAH and CG have signed a Sponsorship Undertaking
• provide organizational assistance, advice, information and support to its CGs
• be responsible for monitoring its CGs
• advise IRCC of any changes in its signing authority
• submit an annual report to IRCC

Who Can Be Sponsored Under the PSR Program?

Refugees who would qualify under the Convention Refugees Abroad or Country of Asylum Class may be sponsored. Refugees already in Canada are not eligible to be sponsored.

How Do I Find a Refugee to Sponsor?

A group may submit an undertaking to sponsor a particular refugee(s) from abroad (sponsor-referred refugee).

A SAH may also sponsor a refugee that has been identified abroad through the Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR), Visa Office-Referred (VOR) or the Joint Assistance Sponsorship (JAS) programs. The BVOR and JAS programs provide profiles of refugees, available on the RSTP website. Contact RSTP for more information. Once a Sponsorship Undertaking has been submitted to the BVOR, JAS or VOR program, the refugee(s) will probably arrive quickly in Canada. This is because they have already been determined eligible and in most cases admissible to Canada.

More Information…

The RSTP website has ample information on becoming a SAH and sponsoring as a SAH. The Sponsoring Group Handbook has further information and is available online at www.rstp.ca.

All refugee sponsorship application forms can be found on the IRCC website at: www.cic.gc.ca.

Group of Five (G5)

What is the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program?

The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSR) is a partnership program administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the people of Canada to extend Canada’s capacity to resettle refugees from abroad. In Private Sponsorship, Sponsorship Agreement Holders and their Constituent Groups, Community Sponsors and Groups of Five can sponsor refugees.

What is a Group of Five?

In the PSR program, a Group of Five (G5) is any group of five or more Canadian citizens or permanent residents that comes together for the purpose of sponsoring refugees.

What is the group responsible for, and for how long?

As a sponsoring group, you must:

• Provide basic financial support andsettlement assistance including butnot limited to:
• Housing, including findingpermanent housing; interpreters;settlement services; transportation;health care; education; schooling;and dealing with crisis or trauma.
• Complete a detailed settlement planoutlining settlement arrangementsput in place and the individuals whowill be involved
• At the time of submitting thesponsorship undertaking, the groupwill have to provide information ontheir financial resources as well astheir ability and commitment tosupport the sponsored refugee(s)for the sponsorship period, which isusually 12 months.

Who can be a member of a Group of Five?

To be eligible to sponsor, each member of the Group of Five must:

• be 18 years of age or older
• be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• live in the community where the refugee will live
• and make a commitment to support the refugeefinancially and with settlement support for theduration of the sponsorship period, usually forone year.

For more information please consult the Sponsor Assessment Form available at: www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/kits/forms/imm5492e.pdf

Can I be a member of more than one Group of Five?

This depends on your financial capacity and your availability. IRCC will deduct any prior commitments from the sponsorship undertaking and assess whether you have the necessary funds and time to support the additional undertaking based on your previous and present commitments.

Who can be sponsored under the PSR Program?

Refugees who would qualify under the Convention Refugees Abroad or Members of the Country of Asylum Class may be sponsored. They must also be recognized by a foreign state or the UNHCR as a refugee and submit supporting documents such as the UNHCR’s Refugee Certificate – Mandate Letter of Protection or a foreign state recognition document.

Refugees already in Canada are not eligible to for refugee sponsorship.

How do I find a refugee to sponsor?

A group may submit an undertaking to sponsor a particular refugee or refugees from abroad (sponsor-referred refugee). It is also possible for a Group of Five to sponsor a refugee that had been identified by a visa officer abroad (Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) refugee). If your group is interested in being matched with a BVOR refugee, please contact bvor@rstp.ca.

What is the Sponsorship Process?

After the application has been received at the Centralized Processing Office in Winnipeg, it will be reviewed for completeness and accuracy. If it is accepted, it is forwarded to the visa office abroad for further processing. A visa officer will interview the applicant, and, if accepted, the refugee(s) will undergo medical, criminality and security checks.

Generally the processing times of PSR cases vary; this depends on whether the person is a sponsor-referred or visa office-referred refugee, which country the person is coming from and the complexity of his or her immigration application. As well it should be noted that many visa posts have long processing times due to a large number of unprocessed cases.

For more information on the processing times of individual visa posts, visit: www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/

Please note: Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) refugees arrive more quickly because they have already been interviewed by a visa officer and are usually travel-ready. Sponsoring groups can usually expect to receive a BVOR case within 1-4 months of submitting their undertaking to sponsor.

More information….

The Sponsoring Group Handbook provides further information on the PSR program and sponsoring as a Group of Five. The handbook is available online at www.rstp.ca.

The Refugee Sponsorship Application package can be found on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website at: www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship.html

All About Refugees

Who is a Refugee?

No one is a refugee by choice and anyone could become a refugee. At the end of 2018 there were 70.8 million forcibly displaced people including 25.9 million refugees.¹

A refugee is someone who has a well founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and due to that fear is unable or unwilling to return.

The World’s Response to Refugees

The international community helps refugees to find lasting, or durable, solutions to refugee situations. The three durable solutions are:

1. Voluntary repatriation
2. Local integration in the asylum country
3. Resettlement in a third country

Canada’s Response to Refugees

The 1976 Immigration Act was a milestone in Canada’s response to refugees, establishing refugees as a class separate from immigrants; soon after Canadians responded to The Boat People crisis of the late 70s and early 80s which allowed ordinary people from across the country to assist these refugees through private sponsorship.

History of the PSR Program

Through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) Program over 327,000 refugees, who would not have otherwise been able to come to Canada, were resettled between 1979 and 2018. Canada will welcome 59,000 privately sponsored refugees between 2019 and 2021.²   Canada is one of the few countries in the world that annually offers resettlement places to thousands of government-sponsored refugees.

Additionally, Canada’s private sponsorship program is unique as it allows private groups across Canada to sponsor qualifying refugees above the government numbers.

What is the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program?

The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSR) is a partnership program administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the people of Canada to extend Canada’s capacity to resettle refugees from abroad.

Who Can Be Sponsored?

Refugees who would qualify under the Convention Refugees Abroad and/or members of the Country of Asylum Class (also known as the Humanitarian Protected Persons Abroad classes) may be sponsored.

A group may submit an undertaking to sponsor a particular refugee(s) from abroad (sponsor-referred refugee), a Blended Visa Office-referred (BVOR) refugee or, if a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH), can refer to IRCC’s website for a Joint Assistance Sponsorship (JAS).

Who Can Sponsor a Refugee?

There are three ways in which refugees can be sponsored through PSR:

1. Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAHs) and their Constituent Groups (CGs)
2. Groups of Five
3. Community Sponsor

What Responsibilities Do Sponsors Have?

The sponsoring group is responsible for creating a settlement plan which outlines their plan for reception, care, lodging and settlement assistance for the sponsored refugees within the community of resettlement.

It is expected that at the time of application the sponsor will be able to prove, if required, financial resources for the 12 month sponsorship period.

What Is The Sponsorship Process?

After a PSR application is accepted by ROC-O, a visa officer will interview the applicant overseas. If accepted, the refugee will undergo a medical check while criminality and security checks are completed. BVOR refugees are referred by the UNHCR and are already approved by the Canadian government. BVOR refugees will arrive within 6 to 12 weeks of the receipt of the group’s application.

Generally the processing times of PSR cases vary; this is dependent on whether the person is a sponsor-referred or visa office-referred refugee, which country the person is coming from and the complexity of his or her immigration application. As well it should be noted that many visa posts have long processing times due to a large number of unprocessed cases.

For more information on the processing times of individual visa posts visit the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/refprivate.asp

¹ UNHCR Global Trends 2010 

² IRCC

Who Can Be Sponsored

What Requirements Have to be Met by a Person Overseas to Qualify For Resettlement to Canada?

When identifying an individual overseas for resettlement through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program, it is important to consider whether they will meet the eligibility and admissibility requirements according to Canadian law, and whether they will be sponsored through a Group of Five or Community Sponsor, or a Sponsorship Agreement Holder.

Eligibility

1. Does the refugee(s) meet the definition and requirements of one of the two refugee classes: Convention Refugee Abroad or Country of Asylum Class?
2. Is resettlement the only durable solution available to the refugee(s)?
3. Does the refugee(s) have the ability to resettle successfully in Canada?
4. If sponsored through a Group of Five or Community Sponsor, does the refugee(s) have refugee status as recognized by a foreign state or the UNHCR?

Admissibility

1. Medical Check
2. Security Check
3. Criminality Check

Deciding whom to sponsor

When deciding whom to sponsor, SAHs and their CGs need to consider three different types of refugee sponsorship:

1. Visa Office-Referred (VOR): Refugees are already identified overseas by the UNHCR and have been referred to the Canadian government. These cases are often travel-ready as they their Permanent Residence application has already been approved; they will arrive relatively quickly.
2. Sponsor-Referred: A group submits a case of a refugee or refugee family whom they already know and believe would qualify for sponsorship to the Canadian government. To qualify, the refugee(s) must be eligible and admissible to Canada.
3. Joint Assistance Sponsorship (JAS): enables SAHs and their CGs to work with the Canadian government to resettle refugees with special needs.