Private Sponsorship of Syrian Refugees in Canada: The Paperwork

Hello! This post is for Canadians who are interested in identifying and sponsoring a Syrian refugee to settle in Canada, and want to know what to expect in terms of paperwork and how long you might wait. Because you know there will be paperwork. And waiting.

This post is not a full guide to sponsorship, which the federal government and Lifeline Syria offer, and it’s definitely not information about the bigger picture of Canada’s efforts. It’s just a timeline of what our one group has done so far, with some tips that I hope are helpful.

Syrian family arriving at Toronto Pearson Airport. (Photo credit: IOM/Muse Mohammed 2015)

Day 0: Our first conversation (late 2015)

My friends and I decided that we had the time, money, and desire to do this. There are different ways to sponsor a refugee: via a Sponsorship Agreement Holder (SAH), as a Community Sponsor (CS), or Group of Five (G5). While the government suggests that SAH is the simplest method, if you are willing to do your own paperwork, the G5 route is totally viable and allows you to own the process, so that’s what we’re doing.

What do you need to form a Group of Five?

1. At least 5 Canadian citizens or permanent residents living in the same place (city or area, within a reasonable travel distance) who are willing to take on this responsibility. (If you’ve had trouble with the law, check out the eligibility requirements.)
2. Time to manage the process and offer social and logistical support to your refugee(s) over a period of 12 months, as they get settled in Canada.
3. Money. You’ll be financially providing for your refugee(s) during these twelve months. The bare, legal minimum you’ll need is around $8,000 for a single refugee, if you count on the federal BVOR funds (more on this in a bit). But if you’re looking to support a family, you’ll need more. Also, it may be difficult for the refugee(s) to have an adequate standard of living on these minimum government-mandated amounts, especially in cities and other higher-cost areas. The amount of money you’ll really want to have is the amount it’ll cost for your refugee(s) to live for a year in your community (minus the BVOR funds, which the government calculates as ‘6 Months of Income Support,’ or half of the amount listed in the first column below). For example, because Calgary is fairly expensive, we decided to aim for $20-$27,000 for a family of four, making our total cash budget $30–37,000 once you count the BVOR funds.

Table from the government showing the minimum amount of money you’ll eventually need to prove that your group can provide. The BVOR funds chipped in by the government can bring the real out of pocket cost down, however a reasonable cost of living in your community may bring these costs up.

You don’t need to gather the money right now, or prove that you have it. Just make sure that it seems feasible for your group to fundraise, or provide over the course of the year out of pocket.

Day 1: Kicking things off with the first form

We filed the two-page ‘Request for a Refugee Profile’ form. This is the part that isn’t very clear in the government’s materials: this simple form is how you, as a group of Canadians who don’t personally know Syrian refugees, start the process of becoming a sponsor. More information about this form is here.

This is a snippet of the first form you need to complete. It’s pretty simple and it’s the only form you need to start receiving information about potential refugees you could be matched with.

When completing this form:

• Be sure to check the ‘Visa office-referred’ box. This is to sponsor through the Blended Visa Office-Referred Program (BVOR), which means that you’re not trying to sponsor a refugee(s) who is your friend or family, but instead that you want to get matched with a refugee(s) who have been selected by the UN. Importantly, this also means you’ll be eligible for funds from the federal government which will reduce the overall cost of your sponsorship.
• In the ‘Name of group and contact information’ field, we just listed our five group members’ names and contact information. You probably don’t need contact information for every single person, but be sure that you include at least one email address that someone checks frequently and reliably, and mark this as your primary contact info.
• We didn’t sweat the rest of the form too much — just try to convey the fact that you’ve done your homework and your community is a great place for refugees to settle. Because you have, and it is.
• Email your form to CPOW-BTCW@cic.gc.ca or mail it to the below address.

Day 23: First contact!

After waiting the better part of a month, we got an email from bvor@rstp.ca containing a link to this information and an invitation to attend a webinar a few days later, where we would learn more about the process and have a chance to ask questions. Make sure you follow the provided link to register for the webinar (or if necessary, ask for another webinar date).

While you’re waiting for this to happen, you prepare for next steps by fundraising, gathering in-kind donations, and reading up on the government’s website, on the Refugee Sponsorship Training Program’s website, and on info from nonprofits such as Lifeline Syria.

Day 26: Webinar

Attended the webinar. Got an email confirming that we attended the webinar. Easy peasy.

Day 33: List of potential refugees

We received an email from bvor@rstp.ca with an attached Excel spreadsheet listing that week’s crop of Syrian BVOR refugee cases. Each case is an individual refugee or a family of refugees. See the snippet below — it’s not much information. There’s a profile number, family size, and children’s ages. A few cases have a note that there are ‘medical needs,’ that a refugee is pregnant, or that a specific city or region is recommended, presumably because they already have family there. A few cases also have a cross-reference to another case, which probably also has to do with keeping family together.

Here’s how the BVOR case information looked for us. (I edited the details slightly to obscure private information.) In each of two weeks, we got about 100 cases — some are a single refugee, others are families of varying compositions. Many have multiple young children.

You need to pick the case(s) you’re interested in, and quickly reply to the email with a list of case number(s). If your respond with a list of several profile numbers that meet your requirements, you’ll have a better chance than if you just name one. Be fast — minutes, not hours — because it’s first come, first served. We were too slow the first time. But a new list of cases seems to come out every week, so don’t worry if you don’t hear back. Just try again when the next crop of cases is emailed to you.

Day 40: A refugee match

In our case, we were successful in our second week. We received an email reply the same day stating that one of the cases we requested was on hold for us, with a one-page Word document with some information about the family.

This word document indicates whether the refugee(s) are travel ready and how urgently they need to be resettled. It also included each family member’s age and gender, languages spoken, a rough idea of how much education each person has, and their occupation, if any. You may have notes about any special settlement needs. There’s information about country of birth, citizenship, and the country where they currently reside (most likely Lebanon or Jordan). I was hoping for a stronger sense of who these folks are as people — more like an online dating profile — but all you get is a few dry facts. Your group will have up to two days to respond by email about whether you want to proceed with this case or hold out for another.

Although we were a little nervous about our family’s low levels of education (less than elementary school for both father and mother) and English (our profile says that the father speaks “little English”), we decided to go for it. We’ve since learned that most of the Syrian refugees Canada is taking on are a bit poorer in general, since those with means are more often trying to make it to Europe.

Day 44: Starting the full application

Another email, this time from Matching-Centre@cic.gc.ca, with a CC to bvor@rstp.ca. This email contained the full names of each family member, and their full place and date of birth. A few minor medical needs were noted. Nothing actionable.

Same day, a follow-up email from bvor@rstp.ca, with instructions on filling out the full application, which you have up to a month to prepare. The forms, which are available here, include:

• 1 Document Checklist (IMM 5437)
• 1 Undertaking/Application to Sponsor (IMM 5373)
• 1 Settlement Plan (IMM 5373A)
• 3–5 Financial Profiles (IMM5373B) (i.e. not everyone has to contribute financially)
• 5 Sponsor Assessments (IMM 5492) (1 for each group member)

This is where you have to get really detailed, proving the eligibility of each member of your Group of Five, and proving that the group can afford (or have in hand) the required money. If you’re contributing things such as furniture on an in-kind basis, there’s a way to subtract some value from the required cash. There’s a written-answer component, in which you describe what you’ll be doing for your refugee(s) and what resources are available in your community.

In these forms, you’re legally committing to the truth of your answers and to your ability to follow through on the requirements of the sponsorship, so make sure everyone in your group is on the same page about this. We were asked to email the forms back to CPOW-BTCW@cic.gc.ca and bvor@rstp.ca.

Day 52: Completing the full application

Everyone in our group works full time, so it took about a week for us to get them done. There was a bit of back and forth with the office, but nothing major. I think the forms were probably harder than a passport application, but easier than doing your taxes.

Syrian children in the Ketermaya refugee camp outside of Beirut. (Photo credit: Dominic Chavez/World Bank)

Day 74: Approved

About three weeks after submitting the full application (or two and half months after our initial start on this project), we got email from CPOW-BTCW@cic.gc.ca indicating that we were approved! Celebration, then mild panic as we realize that this is really happening. We got some expert advice and are now working on getting ready for our family’s arrival.

At this point, we expect to wait for some time (in the webinar, we learned that it typically takes 1–4 months to get a Notice of Arrival, which tells you when your refugee(s) are actually landing). We’ve heard that it might be a very short time from the Notice of Arrival to the refugee(s) actual arrival.

I’ll update this post as things proceed. In the meantime, if you have questions, corrections, or any additional information, please add them in the comments!