Temporary pause on intake of refugee sponsorship applications from groups of five and community sponsors

Ottawa, November 29, 2024—For over 40 years, the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) Program, a model for other countries around the world, has brought hope and opportunity to hundreds of thousands of refugees. This success has also led to a large application inventory and growing processing times.

The Government of Canada’s immigration levels plan establishes the number of privately sponsored refugees who can arrive in Canada each year. Due to ongoing high demand, applications from private sponsors continue to exceed the private sponsorship spaces available under the immigration levels plan, resulting in a large and growing application inventory and lengthy processing times.

To provide more certainty to refugees abroad and sponsors in Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has temporarily stopped accepting new applications from groups of five and community sponsors under the PSR Program as of November 29, 2024.

In making this decision, IRCC considered a number of factors, including stakeholder feedback on potential application intake controls, the current size of the application inventory, and the number of spaces available under the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan.

This measure, which will remain in effect until December 31, 2025, will help prevent further growth in the application inventory, with the goal of achieving shorter and more predictable processing times for applicants and for sponsors.

IRCC will continue to process PSR applications already received and to resettle sponsored refugees to Canada, in line with the PSR Program targets established in the immigration levels plan. For 2025, Canada is aiming to welcome 23,000 privately sponsored refugees.

IRCC recognizes that this measure will have an impact on the refugee sponsorship community, delivery partners and others. We will work closely with partners and stakeholders as they adjust to these changes, while also continuing to engage with them on longer-term improvements to the program, including future intake measures.