CIMM – Supplementary Information – February 8, 2023

Costs for the Afghanistan Commitment Compared to the Syria Commitment

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will receive $2,204.7M over 11 years for the Afghanistan resettlement commitments. This funding includes the initial commitment in August 2021 as well as the increase to at least 40,000 admissions announced in Budget 2022.

Standards Costs

Costs for refugee resettlement typically include the following items: processing and program support, refugee referral and identification, settlement and resettlement services and access to the Interim Federal Health Program.

  • $50K per Government Assisted Refugees and;
  • $13K per Privately Sponsored Refugees.

Exceptional Costs

Due to the exceptional nature of the Afghanistan commitment, exceptional costs were included:

  • overseas staging and accommodation/meal costs in third countries and contingency;
  • increased duration of lodging stays in temporary accommodations in Canada due to the COVID pandemic as well as housing availability;
  • additional processing costs due to complexity. 

These costs amount to approximately $800M over the duration of the initiative.

IRCC received $748.4M to support the Government’s response to the Syrian crisis for the first commitment to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees and the second commitment to resettle an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees.

From this funding IRCC spent approximately $600M. Unused funds of approximately $150M were mainly related to transportation, logistics, as well as corporate support.

Standards Costs

Costs for refugee resettlement typically include the following items: processing and program support, refugee referral and identification, settlement and resettlement services and access to the Interim Federal Health Program.

  • $25K per Government Assisted Refugees and;
  • $10K per Privately Sponsored Refugees.

Exceptional Costs

Transportation, welcome centers and contingency.

These costs amount to approximately $200M over the duration of the initiative.

Standard costs between the two initiatives have increased as a result of inflation and the impact of collective agreements as well as a refinement in costing methodology.

Breakdown of Who Came Through Private Sponsorship - Syria and Afghanistan

Total Numbers of Afghan Nationals Crossing Roxham Road

Page details

Date modified: