The tragic civil war in Syria was resulted in one of the largest refugee exoduses in modern history. Millions of Syrian refugees are currently living in camps that lack consistent access to food, shelter and clothing. Those with a desire to help these refugees might be interested to know that Canadian immigration law offers a unique sponsorship program that can help bring victims of the Syrian Civil War to Canada. Canada is currently the only country in the world that permits its citizens to privately sponsor Syrian refugees for permanent immigration. In order for this private sponsorship to be successful, however, several conditions must be met.
First, the individual seeking refuge in Canada must already have refugee status. Further, the applicant must be deemed admissible to Canada based on his or her medical and criminal history. Canadian immigration authorities will also conduct inquiries into whether the applicant poses a security threat to Canada and whether the applicant possesses the ability to successfully become established in Canada. The examination of the applicant’s ability to successfully become established in Canada may be waived in cases where the applicant is seeking refuge on an emergency basis. Refugee applicants must also be sure to include all relevant dependants in their application.
Canadians seeking to sponsor a Syrian refugee must generally apply as a group of five or more. All members of the group must be prepared to provide financial and social support to the sponsored refugee for the first year of the refugee’s new life in Canada.
Generally, a family of four refugees will require $27,000 of funding for their first year in Canada. On top of this financial support, sponsors are expected to help the sponsored refugee find employment and seek out essential services such as education and healthcare.
Additionally, all members of the sponsorship group must: be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, be older than 18 years of age and live in the municipality in which the refugee intends to settle. If no members of the group live in the refugee’s intended area of residence, it will be permissible for a representative of the group to live in proximity to the refugee.
Along with this unique sponsorship program, the government of Canada has also enabled the relocation of Syrian refugees to Canada by waiving the requirement that all incoming refugees be recognized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This waiver expires on September 19th, 2016.
This waiver of the UNHCR recognition requirement, along with Canada’s unique refugee sponsorship program detailed above, make it easier than ever for Canadian citizens and permanent residents to help provide refuge to the many victims of the Syrian Civil War.
Interested employers: Kindly contact us here to receive further information.
Interested candidates: Find out whether you qualify to Canada by completing our free on-line evaluation. We will provide you with our evaluation within 1-2 business days.