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There are several types of Refugee Streams in Canada, assisting people from around the world who seek to come to Canada, while in need of protection or asylum. These include Private Sponsorship Groups (G5), Sponsorship Agreement Holders, (SAH) and by obtaining a UNHCR Referral. Several criteria must be met, including being 18 years of age, or older, and already having been awarded Permanent Resident Status in Canada.

Sponsorship agreement holders (SAH), is one of the Refugee Streams in Canada, where members of humanitarian or religious organizations, or ethnic groups, who form a community to sponsor, and may or may not know the person they are sponsoring. Co-sponsorship may be arranged between sponsorship agreement holders who wish to share responsibility in establishing and carrying through with a settlement plan for the sponsored person, usually for the first year they are in Canada.

Another one of the Refugee Streams in Canada, is a Group of Five Sponsorship – This type of Sponsorship is for people outside of Canada, and can involve family members, friends or five people belonging to a group that wishes to help a person known to them, or someone unknown to them, who has been awarded refugee status. Again, the immigrating person has their living costs guaranteed by the Group of Five for the first year, or until the person can establish independence. A settlement plan must be submitted, including a budget covering all travelling and living costs, proof of a bank account set up in the sponsored person’s name, and an outline for assimilation, such as language skills development and employment training.

Federal Sponsorship is used to sponsor refugees who have no one to assist them to immigrate to Canada. The person to be sponsored must have already claimed Refugee Status and obtained a UNHCR Referral. War, and violence, or persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group are reasons a person may claim Convention refugee status. Applicants are subject to security and health checks.

Visit the CIC website for more information on Sponsoring a Refugee.

The 123Visa Immigration Services team provides expertise when it comes to Immigration Sponsorship packages, ensuring all parties involved meet the requirements stipulated by the agreement. There are a lot of details to cover, and we do recommend getting professional advice if you are going to sponsor someone or be sponsored.

Having a third party to present your application is especially helpful when English is not your first language, whatever Refugee Streams in Canada or abroad, your application involves. Our interpreters translate when required, and our team does the required research, to compile exhibits for reports, edit the narrative answers to questions, to present your request in a way that best complies with what the immigration officers and judges require. By the time our team members accompany applicants to hearings, to assess our clients’ claim and sponsorship, they are well versed in the laws, and exactly what they must prove, to be awarded any kind of status in Canada.