Canada Refugee Programs

People who have to flee their country (and are not able to return) because of the fear of prosecution, a war, or natural disasters are refugees.

Many countries have programs in place to help refugees, Canada included.

The Canada refugee system is divided into two programs: one for people wanting to resettle to Canada from abroad, and one for those who are already in Canada but cannot return to their home country.

Which Are The Canada Refugee Protection Programs?

The two refugee protection programs for Canada are:

• The Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program. This program is aimed at the protection of people who are outside Canada at the time of application.
• The In-Canada Asylum Program. This program offers protection to people who are already in Canada when they make their refugee protection claims.

The Canada Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program

Through this program, refugees living abroad can be resettled into Canada.

How does the Canada Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program work?

In order for a refugee to be eligible to enter Canada as a refugee, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), another referral organizations, or a private sponsor has to identify them for resettlement. This means that the refugee cannot apply for his own resettlement directly to Canadian authorities.

United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) or other referral organizations

The (UNHCR) identifies refugees for resettlement based on priority levels: Emergency (if they have a medical or security issue that requires immediate attention), Urgent (if they have a medical risk that requires resettlement within six weeks), or Normal (if there are no medical or security risks). The speed through which their application is processed depends on the priority level.

The UNHCR selects individuals from countries where they have asked for refuge in and resettles them to a third country which has agreed to accept refugees, Canada included. Canada has accepted 7,700 refugees through UNHCR in 2018 alone.

Private Sponsors or Sponsor Groups

There are private sponsor groups within Canada who can identify refugees for resettlement. They are:

The Sponsorship Agreement Holders

These are organizations (religious, ethnic, community or service organizations) that have signed agreements of sponsorship with the Canadian Government to support refugees. They either sponsor the refugees themselves or work with other members of the community.

Groups of Five

This is a group of at least five adult Canadian citizens/permanent residents who gather in order to sponsor a refugee become resettled in their local community. This group provides the refugee with a settlement plan and sponsors them financially for up to one year.

Community Sponsors

This group includes organizations, associations, or corporations which sponsor refugees. Like the Groups of Five, they also give the refugee a settlement plan and can financially support them for up to one year.

These types of private sponsorship group can find refugees to sponsor through one of two ways.

• Through the Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) Program, which partners refugees that the UNHCR has identified with a sponsor in Canada.
• Or, they can find refugees through people in their local community, churches, community groups, or ethno-cultural groups.

What are the requirements for the Canada Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program?

In order to qualify for permanent residence in Canada as a refugee, the applicants have to meet certain conditions:

• They have to be referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or a private sponsor group.
• They have to qualify as a Convention Refugee Abroad Class or Country of Asylum Class. They qualify if:
  • They’re scared to be prosecuted due to their race, religion, nationality, political standing, or their membership in a certain social group (Convention Refugee Abroad Class); or
  • They are affected personally and seriously from a civil or armed conflict, or have had their human rights violated (Country of Asylum Class); and
  • They are not at the time of application in Canada
  • They are not in their country of nationality and cannot get their country’s protection/are afraid to do so.
  • They do not have a nationality country and cannot return to the country they formerly lived in/are afraid to do so.
• They do not have another durable solution. Durable solutions are:
  • Voluntary repatriation. If the refugee cannot voluntarily repatriate, it means the situation in their country has not improved in a way that lets the refugee return there safely.
  • Local integration. If local integration is not possible, it means the refugee cannot become locally integrated into the country they seeked asylum in.
  • Resettlement in a country other than Canada.
• They have to pass medical and criminality checks. The IRCC offices abroad have professionals who can conduct the checks for any applicant and their family members.

How to apply for the Canada Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program?

There is an application package available on IRCC’s site with the necessary forms to apply for refugee resettlement as a Convention Refugee or as a Humanitarian-Protected Person Abroad.

The forms include:

• A Generic Application Form for Canada.
• A form for Additional Dependents.
• A form about the refugee’s background.
• Refugees Outside Canada form, inquiring about the reasons behind the refugee claims.
• A form on whether the refugee used a representative.

If the refugee is referred by the UNHCR or another referral organization, the IRCC abroad lets the refugee know how to submit the application into their office.

Once the IRCC receives the application, they email the refugee a letter of confirmation along with an assigned file number. If the application is accepted, the IRCC decides which city/province they will be resettled to.

If the refugee is referred by a private sponsor group, then the group handling their referral has to submit the application in their place to the Resettlement Operations Centre in Ottawa (ROC-O) of IRCC. if the application is accepted, the refugee will resettle to the area where their sponsor is from.

There are no application fees for refugees.

In both cases, the IRCC, along with select partners, arrange for the refugee’s travel and settlement arrangements. They inform the refugees about the arrangements after they are completed.