Temporary public policy to facilitate the sponsorship of specific refugees previously sponsored by a Sponsorship Agreement Holder

Background

Following the decision to cancel a Sponsorship Agreement Holder’s (SAH) Sponsorship Agreement, refugee applicants sponsored by that SAH who have an application pending overseas may no longer have a valid sponsorship.

These applicants will receive a Procedural Fairness Letter (PFL), informing them that they no longer have a valid sponsorship and providing them with 90 days to find a new sponsor. If a new sponsor is not secured, their resettlement application will be refused.

This public policy will complement other administrative measures implemented by the Department to help applicants find a new sponsor by enabling Groups of Five (G5) and Community Sponsor (CS) groups to participate in the sponsorship of impacted refugees who may not have a Refugee Status Determination (RSD) document.

Public policy considerations

Under Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program, G5 and CS groups are required to submit an RSD, issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or a foreign state, with their sponsorship application.

This temporary public policy will help clients, who have an application pending overseas but no longer have a valid sponsorship as a result of a Sponsorship Agreement cancellation, find a new sponsor. This is required in order for IRCC to continue processing their resettlement application. It recognizes that many of the impacted refugee applicants will have family and community ties to Canada, and will have already been waiting many months or years for their application to be processed.

This public policy aims to increase applicants’ chances of finding a replacement sponsor by waiving the requirement to include an RSD document as part of their sponsorship application, thus facilitating the sponsorship of these applicants by G5 and CS groups.

I hereby establish that, in light of the foregoing, there are sufficient public policy considerations to justify granting exemptions, pursuant to section 25.2 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (the Act) and to the requirements of the provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (the Regulations) listed below, for foreign nationals and their accompanying family members who apply for the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program and meet the conditions (eligibility requirements) set out below.

Conditions (eligibility requirements) applicable to the principal applicant:

Delegated officers may grant an exemption from the requirements of the Regulations identified below, where a foreign national (principal applicant) meets the following conditions:

• the applicant was sponsored by an organization whose Sponsorship Agreement has been cancelled,
• the principal applicant has received a Procedural Fairness Letter requesting that the applicant find a new sponsor, and
• the period provided in the Procedural Fairness Letter to find a new sponsor has not elapsed.

The Procedural Fairness Letter must have been issued after the date the public policy comes into effect and before the date the public policy expires.

Provision of the Regulations for which an exemption may be granted:

Paragraph 153(1)(b) – the requirement that, if the sponsor has not entered into a sponsorship agreement with the Minister, the sponsorship application includes a document issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or a foreign state certifying the status of the foreign national as a refugee under the rules applicable to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or the applicable laws of the foreign state, as the case may be.

Other eligibility and admissibility criteria

Foreign nationals eligible under this public policy and all family members included in the application for protection are subject to all other applicable regulatory and legislative eligibility and admissibility requirements not otherwise exempted by this temporary public policy, including the requirement not to be inadmissible on criminal, security and health grounds.

Coming into effect and expiration

This temporary public policy takes effect two weeks after my signature and may be revoked at any time.

This temporary public policy expires twenty-four (24) months after coming into effect.