Pause on New Group Refugee Sponsorships

Summary#

These are ministerial instructions from the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, The Hon. Marc Miller, P.C., M.P., that pause new group private refugee sponsorships. They set the number of new group sponsorship applications accepted for processing at zero from November 29, 2024 until December 31, 2025.

What it does#

• Sets the number of new sponsorship applications from groups under the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program to zero for the period starting November 29, 2024 and ending December 31, 2025.
• Makes the 2024 “year” for this rule start on November 29, 2024 and end on December 31, 2024; the same limit applies for 2025.
• Excludes applications made under a temporary public policy (those under section 25.2 of the law).
• Says that a humanitarian and compassionate request made from outside Canada that accompanies an application which is not accepted under these instructions will not be processed.
• Aims to let Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) keep working through existing applications and meet admission targets without growing its inventory of new group applications.

Who's affected#

• Groups that want to sponsor refugees under the group route defined in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (often community groups or similar sponsors).
• People abroad who would be named in new group sponsorship applications.
• Settlement organizations and community sponsors who help submit or manage group sponsorships.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada staff dealing with sponsorship intake and processing.
• People using temporary public policies (those are excluded), so they are not affected by this pause.
• People filing humanitarian and compassionate requests from outside Canada that are tied to blocked applications — those requests will not be processed.

Why it matters#

• It temporarily stops new group sponsorships from being added to the system. That can delay people who planned to bring relatives or others to Canada through group sponsorship.
• The government says this gives IRCC space to finish existing files and meet admission goals without adding more backlog.
• Some individual routes (temporary public policies) remain open, but humanitarian and compassionate requests tied to blocked group applications will not get considered, which could close off one route for some people seeking to come to Canada.