Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program – information for refugees

You become a privately sponsored refugee (PSR) when a group of people in Canada volunteers to help you adjust to life here. Your sponsorship group will:

• help you find a place to live
• give you financial support
• give you social and emotional support
• give you food and clothing

As a PSR, your sponsorship group must support you for 1 year after you arrive or until you can support yourself, whichever comes first.

There are no processing fees for these applications and you don’t need to pay your sponsor for the cost of helping you settle. Sponsors are not allowed to ask you for money to help you be resettled.

Quebec has its own process for sponsoring refugees.

Sponsorship Agreement Holders

Many organizations have signed sponsorship agreements with the Government of Canada to help support refugees when they resettle in Canada. These organizations are called Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAH).

We maintain a list you can use to verify if the group you are working with is in fact an active SAH. Because only SAHs have signed agreements, Groups of Five and Community Sponsors, which are also groups of volunteers that sponsor refugees, do not appear on the list.

Check our list of SAHs.