Canada Refugees Program

Group of 5 Private Sponsorship:

In order to be eligible as a refugee under the group of 5 sponsorship, you need to have fear of persecution based on race, religion, sex, political opinion, or particular social group.

You must be outside of your home country and be recognized as a refugee through UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) or the foreign state.

The Group of 5 requirements:

• 5 People must sponsor a family or an individual under the group of 5 refugee private sponsorship
• The first three people must be employed and be able to contribute financially once their family size amount has been deducted from their income
• The people who are employed they can only use a portion of their income once their family size income has been deducted; in other words their income cannot be $0
• As long as the first three people meet the income requirement for the whom ever that is being sponsored, the other two individuals can be party of the 5 sponsors even if they are not employed
• People who are under ODSP- long-term disability are able to become a sponsor, however, people under welfare are not able to become a sponsor
• The five sponsors must be a permanent resident or Canadian Citizen
• The five sponsors must complete a police check
• The individuals who are contributing financially must provide their Notice of Assessment from the previous taxation year
• The group of 5 must indicate who will be responsible for what on the ‘Sponsorship Undertaking’ form
• Anyone not contributing financially do not need to provide their notice of assessment
• An individual is able to become a sponsor for more than one family or individual if they can financially contribute a portion of their income

Income Requirements:

For the Group of 5 Refugee Private Sponsorship, you have two options:

You can meet the income requirement through income or put the income requirement amount into a “trust” account or “joint” account where two out of the 5 sponsors names must be on the account.