Our sponsorship process |
Below, we have organized the sponsorship journey we are embarking on, into 11 different steps. We are highlighting our progress in pink as we proceed so that everyone knows what stage we are at.
Refugees Belong, sponsorship checklist:
('pink' tasks have been completed, while the remaining tasks are yet to be completed or are 'in progress')
1. Find out more information about the process by attending an information session hosted by Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia - ISANS (attended session Oct. 6th/15).
2. Share the information with other people who we think might be interested in sponsorship (hosted meeting Oct. 18th/15).
3. Recruit about a core team of people who are prepared to make a long-term commitment to preparing for the refugee family's arrival and supporting them for a year once they arrive (as of the end of November, we have 6 committed core team members).
4. Submit the intake agreement form and our settlement plan to ISANS (the sponsorship agreement holder we are using) indicating that our group will be responsible for raising the necessary funds and providing practical and social support to the sponsored refugee family for a year.
5. Fundraise the costs of sponsoring and supporting a refugee family for 6 months - to a year.
6. When ISANS has received 100% of the necessary funds and paperwork from our group, we will be matched with a refugee family through the Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) Program. Through the BVOR program our group will be responsible for covering 6 months of income support and start-up costs (the government pays for the other 6 months of income support)
7. Once we are matched, ISANS will work with our group to submit a sponsorship application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada's (CIC) centralized processing office in Winnipeg. Once the sponsorship application has been submitted, we wait to hear whether it has been approved and to find out the arrival date of the family we have been matched with. (we were matched with a family on January 6th! The forms have been submitted, and we are now just waiting for final confirmation and the arrival date)
8. Before the refugee family arrives, our group will need to have secured accommodations and furniture for the refugee family and have set up their apartment (including a fully stocked fridge). We will need to ensure that they have weather-appropriate clothing for when they arrive.
9. Finally, once our sponsorship application has been approved, we will meet the refugee family at the airport and drive them to their new accommodations! As soon as they arrive in Canada they are no longer refugees, but permanent residents, on route to becoming citizens.
10. For the duration of the first year of their new life in Canada, in addition to financially supporting the refugee family, our group will be responsible for assisting them with the following tasks: connecting them with essential programs and services (e.g. SIN, MSI, child tax benefits); helping them with registering their kids at school; assisting them with opening a bank account; arranging appointments; teaching them how to access transportation and driving them places when necessary; orienting them to community resources.... and of course, making them feel like they belong here in Nova Scotia!
11. The goal of the government sponsorship programs is that after a year of financial, practical, and social support, new refugees will have achieved enough independence to move forward without needing significant assistance.
('pink' tasks have been completed, while the remaining tasks are yet to be completed or are 'in progress')
1. Find out more information about the process by attending an information session hosted by Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia - ISANS (attended session Oct. 6th/15).
2. Share the information with other people who we think might be interested in sponsorship (hosted meeting Oct. 18th/15).
3. Recruit about a core team of people who are prepared to make a long-term commitment to preparing for the refugee family's arrival and supporting them for a year once they arrive (as of the end of November, we have 6 committed core team members).
4. Submit the intake agreement form and our settlement plan to ISANS (the sponsorship agreement holder we are using) indicating that our group will be responsible for raising the necessary funds and providing practical and social support to the sponsored refugee family for a year.
5. Fundraise the costs of sponsoring and supporting a refugee family for 6 months - to a year.
6. When ISANS has received 100% of the necessary funds and paperwork from our group, we will be matched with a refugee family through the Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) Program. Through the BVOR program our group will be responsible for covering 6 months of income support and start-up costs (the government pays for the other 6 months of income support)
7. Once we are matched, ISANS will work with our group to submit a sponsorship application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada's (CIC) centralized processing office in Winnipeg. Once the sponsorship application has been submitted, we wait to hear whether it has been approved and to find out the arrival date of the family we have been matched with. (we were matched with a family on January 6th! The forms have been submitted, and we are now just waiting for final confirmation and the arrival date)
8. Before the refugee family arrives, our group will need to have secured accommodations and furniture for the refugee family and have set up their apartment (including a fully stocked fridge). We will need to ensure that they have weather-appropriate clothing for when they arrive.
9. Finally, once our sponsorship application has been approved, we will meet the refugee family at the airport and drive them to their new accommodations! As soon as they arrive in Canada they are no longer refugees, but permanent residents, on route to becoming citizens.
10. For the duration of the first year of their new life in Canada, in addition to financially supporting the refugee family, our group will be responsible for assisting them with the following tasks: connecting them with essential programs and services (e.g. SIN, MSI, child tax benefits); helping them with registering their kids at school; assisting them with opening a bank account; arranging appointments; teaching them how to access transportation and driving them places when necessary; orienting them to community resources.... and of course, making them feel like they belong here in Nova Scotia!
11. The goal of the government sponsorship programs is that after a year of financial, practical, and social support, new refugees will have achieved enough independence to move forward without needing significant assistance.
**For a more detailed explanation of the sponsorship process and the refugee crisis, please check out our Resources for Sponsors page.
For more detailed information you can also check out:
For more detailed information you can also check out:
- The Refugee Sponsorship Training Program (RSTP) website (this website has all the information you need to get started with sponsorship - RSTP is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and administered by Catholic Crosscultural Services)
- Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia's (ISANS') information on private refugee sponsorship (the picture below is from ISANS). You can download their PDF information guide to private sponsorship here.
- The government's Guide to the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program
- The government's Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) Application Guide
- A great list of resources complied by the Lunenburg Friends sponsorship group.
