2.B Sponsors: From Mobilization to Engagement
B.3 Who is eligible to sponsor and what is their relationship to government?
(vii) What are the criteria concerning the place of residence of the group members vis-à-vis intended place of residence of the resettled refugees?
How Canada Does It
Sponsoring group members must reside in the refugees’ expected community of settlement. Depending on the case, the community of settlement may include the village, town, or surrounding areas in which the refugees may settle. If a migration officer is not satisfied that the sponsor lives close enough to the sponsored refugees to provide adequate, in-person support, sponsoring groups are encouraged to find additional members or representatives in the refugees’ expected community of settlement, or risk having the sponsorship application refused.
Sponsoring group members must reside in the refugees’ expected community of settlement. Depending on the case, the community of settlement may include the village, town, or surrounding areas in which the refugees may settle.
In determining the community of settlement, the migration officer’s paramount consideration should be the sponsor’s ability to provide adequate, in-person support to the refugee, taking into account the distance between the sponsor and the refugee. A typical metric is the travelling time by public transit between the refugees’ expected place of residence and the sponsors. For example:
- The sponsors live in Toronto, a major urban city, while the refugees will live in Etobicoke, a suburban district approximately fifteen kilometers from downtown Toronto. Given access to public transit in Toronto, both the sponsor and the refugee may be defined as residing in the community of resettlement, depending on travel time and the needs of the refugee.
- As another example, the refugees may be expected to reside in Biggar, Saskatchewan, while the sponsors reside in Rosetown. In this rural situation, Biggar may be considered as “the next town over.” The distance between these two towns, sixty kilometres, may be viewed as small. However, any final assessment must take into account whether the time required to travel sixty kilometres poses a barrier to providing adequate, in-person support.
If the migration officer is not satisfied of the residency requirements, sponsoring groups are encouraged to find additional members or representatives in the refugees’ expected community of settlement, or risk having the sponsorship application refused.