Sponsoring a refugee has become a lot more difficult, starting in November 2024. That’s when Canada put a pause on the Group of 5 and Community Sponsor programs. 

Right now, SAHs are now the only ones who submit refugee applications. Here’s a guide on what’s happening and how to get a precious SAH ‘spot.’

The background

On November 29, 2024, Canadian immigration announced that it was ‘pausing’ the Group of 5 and Community Sponsor streams of private sponsorship. That pause is to remain in place until December 31, 2025. We expect a new announcement in January.

Will G5 and CS return? Maybe, maybe not. The official excuse for the pause was to clear the backlog of existing applications. However, the announcement came at the same time that every other immigration program – for students, temporary foreign workers, you name it – was cut as well.

And Prime Minister Carney has repeatedly stated that Canada’s immigration system needs to be brought under control, since the high level of newcomers is putting a strain on the country, especially when it comes to housing. Also, anti-immigration sentiments are on the rise, and the Liberals are looking to stay in power.

Officially, the pause ends on December 31, but the G5 and CS programs might be quite different in the future – more difficult to access, since Immigration also wants to cap how many applications it receives each year.

The solution: the SAH

With G5 and CS off the table, the only way to get sponsored now is through a sponsorship agreement holder, or SAH. This is an organization that has signed a formal agreement with Immigration to sponsor refugees through the private sponsorship program.

What SAHs do:

·      Sponsor refugees directly or work with Constituent Groups (local teams they authorize) to do so.

·      Provide financial, emotional, and settlement support to refugees for their first year in Canada.

·      Submit applications

SAHs also have the power to sponsor people who don't have official refugee status. They do have to be outside their home country, however.

Some well-known SAHs include:

·      Mennonite Central Committee

·      Catholic Crosscultural Services

·      Islamic Relief Canada

·      Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS)

As you can see, many SAHs are connected to religious organizations. That doesn’t mean they only sponsor people of their own faith. It’s just a result of the fact that churches, mosques and synagogues etc have been on the front lines of helping refugees for decades, or even centuries. Here's a list of all the SAHs in Canada.

"Finding a SAH spot is all about networking."

The challenge: limited spots

Each year, Immigration gives each SAH a limited number of ‘spots’ – meaning applications it is allowed to submit. They can range from 25 for a new SAH, to 200 for a big, established one.

The problem is that means 25 or 200 spots for the entire country! Meanwhile the Catholic church – for example – has 3,680 congregations in Canada. You can see how, if they all asked for spots, there would be not enough to go around.

Making it worse, Immigration gave the SAHs fewer spots in 2025 than in previous years, cutting the numbers by a quarter to half. And demand on those limited spots was higher than ever, given the G5 and CS pause.

By the middle of the year, most SAHs had already given their spots away, which means there is nothing to do but wait until 2026.

How to reach a SAH

Most SAHs have a wait list that covers this year, the next year, and sometimes even the year after that. Since getting a SAH spot can take so long, you might want to start looking for one now. But how to do it?

For refugees: the answer is your sponsors need to find a spot for you. That’s because most SAHs do not respond to anyone outside the country. 

Also there are 2 or 3 layers to a SAH sponsorship:

1)    The SAH itself, usually an office somewhere with just a few staff working at it

2)    The ‘constituent group’, which is typically an individual church or local chapter of volunteers

3)    The individual co-sponsors, who basically do everything a Group of 5 would do

Most SAHs prefer to hear from the constituent group rather than the co-sponsors, to cut down on the number of conversations they have to handle. If they do talk directly to the co-sponsors, it’s probably because they know them already.

How to get a SAH spot

Finding a SAH spot is all about networking. The best way is to find someone who already has a relationship with a SAH, either because they were a former sponsor – or were sponsored by one.

If you don’t have access to such a person, the next thing to do is to find a constituent group (the church or local chapter, for example) that is under a SAH. If you can convince that group to take part in the sponsorship, they can then pass on the request to the SAH office they are part of.

Is that easy? Not at all. One contact of mine went to every Anglican church in Scarborough before getting a “yes” on sponsoring his family. Another did the same with every church he could find in a different part of the city.

As you can see, finding a SAH spot involves a lot of relationship-building. It’s tough but it’s the only way – at least until the G5 and CS programs return.