After you apply: get next steps – Sponsor a refugee

In most cases, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will process your application within 30 working days of when we receive it. We will send you a letter informing you whether the sponsorship has been approved or refused.

If we have not processed your application within 30 days, CIC will send you a letter to tell you how much longer it should take.

Sponsor-referred cases

If you want to sponsor a person abroad who you think is a refugee, that person must fill out an application. There are a few ways for the refugee to apply. The Guide to the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program explains the options.

If you are approved as a sponsor, we will mail your group:

• a CIC file number, contact name and fax number, and
• information about how long it might take to process the refugee application.

Processing times for refugee applications vary. The visa office will notify you once the refugee application is approved or refused. If it is approved, your group will get a Notice of Arrival stating when the refugee will arrive in Canada.

Visa office-referred cases

CIC’s office in Winnipeg will send your request for a refugee profile to the Matching Centre at CIC. The Matching Centre has a list of refugees who need to be sponsored to come to Canada. Sponsoring groups may ask for profiles of refugee cases from CIC. There are more details in the Guide to the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program.

Refugees usually arrive in Canada between 4 and 12 months after a sponsorship request is approved. In some cases, refugees are ready to travel sooner. We will notify you about 10 days before the refugee is scheduled to arrive in Canada.

Change of information

It is your responsibility to keep your application up-to-date.

If your address or telephone number changes after you apply, you must notify CIC. If any information about the refugee you want to sponsor changes, you must also notify CIC.

Centralized Processing Office – Winnipeg (CPO-W)
400 – 25 Forks Market Road
Winnipeg, MB
R3C 4S9
Fax: 204-983-3176

Please include the CIC file number, a contact name and a fax number with any updated information you submit.

Refugee Sponsorship Training Program

CIC’s Refugee Sponsorship Training Program provides more information about what to expect when refugees arrive in Canada.