So, you have loved ones who have been forced to flee from their home and you'd like to help them get to Canada. May God bless you and guide you in your efforts!
Unfortunately, the 40,000 spaces our government pledged to Afghan nationals have all been used. Now, Afghans can be sponsored in the same way as all other refugees through the PSR program.
As of today, there is no mechanism in place to help Afghan nationals who are still inside Afghanistan or Iran. Canada does not have an embassy in either of those countries. I know that is a big problem. Routes out are few and dangerous, and once out, there is still no assurance of a solution.
For those already outside Afghanistan, the route to sponsorship is the same as it is for every other refugee. To either:
- be identified by UNHCR or the Canadian government for direct resettlement to Canada, or
- to connect with a group of Canadians who will submit an application to privately sponsor your family.
For your family to make themselves known to the government of Canada, the first place to begin is with the questionnaire here.
As someone already in Canada, our best advice is to contact churches and mosques in your own community. Many have never sponsored anyone before, so along with information about your family members, it may be helpful to include some information about the sponsorship program. The 2 links we find to be most useful for new sponsors are:
https://www.rstp.ca/en/refugee-sponsorship/the-private-sponsorship-of-refugees-program/
Some SAHs are like ours, and are powerless to help anyone without the partnership of a local church. We are in contact with our churches regularly to tell them about the needs and to resource them to help. There is no advantage to contacting the few churches specifically associated with us. But there are churches and mosques in your community. Perhaps by adding your voice to ours, more will find a way to help.
We are a very small association of churches and it is unlikely we will be able to help you, but if you can
- what city you live in (and what area of the city if you live in Toronto)
- if you are able to contribute financially to your family's settlement support, and
- if you have a team of people prepared to help you
then we will contact any AGC churches in your area that may be able to work with you.
If your loved ones have employable skills and can speak English or French, a better option for you may be Canada's Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot program. This new program combines refugee resettlement and economic immigration. It's a pathway that helps skilled refugees immigrate to Canada through existing economic programs, and gives employers access to a new pool of qualified candidates to fill job openings.
We hope you find this information helpful.