IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2025-05

Refugee Resettlement and Complementary Pathways

Context

In accordance with the Immigration Levels Plan, and in support of Canada’s international commitment to refugee resettlement, Canada accepts a targeted number of refugees from overseas as permanent residents under its Refugee Resettlement Program each year. Complementary pathways create other safe and legal pathways for refugees and other displaced people to find protection solutions outside of traditional refugee resettlement programs.

Background

• The Canadian refugee system has two main parts:
  • the Refugee Resettlement Program for people overseas who need protection; and
  • the In-Canada Asylum Program for people making refugee claims from within Canada.
• Under the Refugee Resettlement Program, Canada resettles people from abroad who have been found by an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) officer to meet the refugee definition under Canada’s legislation, including:
  • to have a well-founded fear of persecution; or, to be seriously and personally affected by civil war, armed conflict or massive violation of human rights;
  • be outside their country of nationality or habitual residence; and,
  • be admissible to Canada including on security, criminality, and health grounds.
• In addition to the Refugee Resettlement Program, Canada also welcomes refugees and other displaced persons through the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), which is a labour-based complementary pathway (helps skilled refugees and other displaced persons immigrate to Canada through economic programs, and gives employers access to a new pool of qualified candidates to fill job openings). As of January 31, 2025, Canada welcomed 815^{Footnote 1} refugees and displaced persons since the pilot’s launch in 2018.

Current Program

• Canada’s Resettlement Program has three program streams:
  • The Government-Assisted Refugees program resettles the most vulnerable refugee populations identified by United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other designated referral partners. Under this program, the Government of Canada provides services, as well as income support typically for up to one year, or until clients can support themselves.
    • Financial support typically includes a one-time “start-up” payment to help refugees set up a new home, and monthly income support for shelter and basic needs in line with prevailing social assistance rates for the province in which they reside.
  • The Private Sponsorship of Refugees program allows private groups, including Canadians and permanent residents, to identify and sponsor refugees for resettlement to Canada. These refugees often have family/community connections in Canada, and receive income and non-financial supports from their sponsors typically for one year after arrival, or until clients can support themselves.
    • Sponsors are required to provide financial support at rates equivalent to what is provided to government-assisted refugees.
  • The Blended Visa Office-Referred program matches UNHCR-referred refugees with private sponsor groups in Canada. Sponsors provide non-financial settlement supports and six months of income support, with Canada providing the remaining six months of income support.
• Resettled refugees have permanent residence and protected person status upon landing in Canada and have access to all IRCC-funded settlement services available to permanent residents.
• In addition to its global leadership on resettlement, Canada is considered a leader in complementary pathways.
• In 2018, Canada launched the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), the world’s first refugee labour mobility pilot. The EMPP supports skilled refugees and displaced persons to immigrate to Canada through economic programs by offering administrative facilitation measures to offset the circumstances of their displacement while providing them with Canada’s protection.
• IRCC is reviewing the lessons learned from EMPP and exploring new complementary pathways to ensure they are scalable, and take into consideration the skills, qualifications, and other attributes of applicants, which can provide a net benefit to Canada.
• Some of Canada’s humanitarian pathways, such as the family-based permanent residence pathway for people affected by the conflict in Sudan, are also considered complementary pathways (see fundamental brief on humanitarian programs for more information).

Impacts

Overseas Partners

• The UNHCR is Canada’s primary partner for referring and identifying government-assisted refugees for resettlement to Canada.
• Civil society organizations also identify and refer refugees, including in support of specific priorities (e.g., LGBTQI+ refugees, human rights defenders, and EMPP candidates) and from populations or areas that the UNHCR is not in a position to reach (e.g., urban settings in Kenya).
• The International Organization for Migration provides logistical support for refugee processing overseas & pre-departure medical services under the Interim Federal Health Program.
• Through the Global Task Force on Refugee Labour Mobility and the Global Task Force on Third Country Education Pathways, Canada engages with international communities of practice to support the development of new complementary pathways around the world.
• Canada also participates in many international refugee partnerships, tables and networks, including the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative (a partnership between the Government of Canada, civil society and private sector that works to encourage and support the adoption and expansion of community refugee sponsorship programs around the world) and the Resettlement Diplomacy Network (a multilateral initiative launched by the United States to drive high-level strategic and diplomatic engagement among resettlement states).

In-Canada Partners

• IRCC-funded resettlement service providers provide supports to meet the immediate & essential needs of government-assisted refugees on arrival, on behalf of the Government of Canada.
• Private sponsors, including organizations (e.g., faith-based and diaspora groups) and groups of individuals, identify privately-sponsored refugees for resettlement to Canada.
• Communities in provinces and territories receive government-assisted refugees based on settlement capacity, family connections, the availability of medical services, and other factors.
• The province of Quebec operates its own resettlement program. Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec is responsible for setting its own immigration levels plan and IRCC is responsible for processing and approving applications.

Recent Developments

• In 2024, Canada resettled a total of 49,280^{Footnote 2} refugees, including 19,485 government-assisted refugees, 29,715 privately sponsored refugees, and 85 blended visa office referred refugees.
• As of November 2024, over 55,000 Afghans have arrived in Canada under the various streams of the Afghanistan Resettlement Initiative. Remaining applications continue to be processed.
• IRCC has a number of existing resettlement commitments that target specific populations with unique protection needs, including Rohingya, Uyghurs, LGBTQI+, and others.

Upcoming milestones

• Canada has plans to resettle 38,350 refugees in 2025, including 15,250 government-assisted refugees, 23,000 privately sponsored refugees, and 100 blended visa office-referred refugees.

Key Service Delivery Statistics

Permanent Residents: Resettled Refugees - Data up to 2025 (Jan to Feb)

Wait times for new applicants (in months): Longer wait times for PSR due to large inventory. Application wait times by line of business are reflected on their own scale and are shown by quarter for comparative purposes.

Inventory Compared to Remaining 2025 Admissions

GAR = Government Assisted Refugee // PSR = Privately Sponsored Refugee.