Settlement Plan: Joint Assistance Sponsorship (IMM 5494)

The Settlement Plan and Financial Assessment is a planning tool for sponsoring groups to formulate how they intend to deliver the various aspects of settlement assistance needed to help the refugee applicant(s) establish successfully in Canada. Where practicable, the planned arrangements should be in place before the refugee arrives.

In those instances where refugee applicants intend to live together in Canada as a family unit but are named on separate Undertakings only one Settlement Plan encompassing the entire household is required. It must, however, reflect the resettlement needs of each individual being sponsored.

Sponsorship Agreement Holders must complete a Settlement Plan for each JAS undertaking they sign but are not required to submit the form to the ROC-O (note exception below).

Constituent Groups must also complete a Settlement Plan for each JAS undertaking they sign and must submit it to their Sponsorship Agreement Holder. The SAH assesses the overall application and, when satisfied, issues a letter of approval authorizing the group to sponsor under their agreement. Both the SAH and the Constituent Group are required to retain a copy of the Settlement Plan in their files.

Write the complete name of the:

• principal refugee applicant
• Sponsorship Agreement Holder
• Constituent Group (if applicable)
• Contact person

Write the details of your contact person (complete address, telephone, fax and e-mail, mailing address complete with the postal code).

Check the box to indicate that you acknowledge that your sponsoring group is aware of all refugees’ settlement needs and will be providing the necessary settlement assistance for them.

Identify who will be providing for the settlement needs of the refugee(s) by checking the relevant box.

Where more than one party is providing for a particular need, check all boxes that apply.

Answer each question in a detailed yet concise manner.

This assistance will be provided by the service providers in partnership with sponsoring groups.

Question 1

If temporarily staying with relatives, provide information on family composition of the family relatives that the sponsored refugee(s) will be staying with and what current accommodation arrangements the relatives have. Also, provide details on the time frame when you anticipate that permanent accommodation will be found and what type of accommodation you are looking for e.g. house or apartment.

Question 2

Indicate the names of the individuals that will be volunteering and what tasks they will be assisting with e.g. arrival, Social Insurance Number (S.I.N.) application, Health card application, medical appointments, etc.

Question 3a

Upon indicating the settlement agency, indicate what service(s) the refugee(s) will be obtaining from that agency e.g. Language training, translation of documents, etc.

Question 3b

If you have not contacted any agencies to provide settlement support, indicate when you plan on making this contact. If you have contacted some agencies, indicate the date, the name of the person you made contact with and in regards to what services.

Also, indicate if you have dealt with these agencies in the past and what type of services your sponsored refugees have accessed from them.

Question 4

Some contingency plans can include scenarios such as the refugee(s) was or were originally supposed to reside with a relative in Canada upon arrival; however, they choose to reside on their own for the duration of the sponsorship period. Provide some details as to how you will provide support for the additional costs that will occur. Another scenario could be that the refugee(s) choose to move to a different city. Provide some details as to how you will continue to provide the required assistance.

All group representatives (if applicable) must sign the Settlement Plan.

Note: By signing this form, the sponsoring group is indicating that it is aware of the terms of the settlement arrangements and is committed to fulfilling them.