Refugee Sponsorship: Financial Support
Information for AURA Sponsors

Introduction
Sponsorship is a contractual agreement between you (the sponsors), AURA (your Sponsorship Agreement Holder or SAH) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This contract comes with minimum financial obligations. Sponsored refugees are entitled to receive a certain amount of money from their sponsors. The Private Sponsorship Program has rules around minimum amounts, and AURA requires sponsors to support the real cost of living, which is usually higher than IRCC’s minimum requirements.

Financial support is a major component of your responsibilities. It gives sponsored refugees the chance to develop language and other work-related skills during their first year to help them find meaningful, well-paid work in the longer term as well as integrate into their community and Canadian society. The PSR program rules around financial support are in place to make sure and refugee newcomers have agency and financial independence during their sponsorship.

The information in the following pages will help you understand and plan for your financial responsibilities.

Section 1: Total Funds Required
Section 2: Funds Required in Advance
Section 3: Start-Up Support
Section 4: Monthly Financial Support
Section 5: Creating a Budget

Information related to finances post-arrival can be found in your AURA Handbook for Refugee Sponsorship (provided during training sessions and available online in our Sponsor Toolbox or from AURA staff).

Note: When we refer to “you” in this document, we are referring to the sponsor group as a whole.

IRCC’s rules around minimum financial support can get very complex, particularly when sponsoring multiple family units, adult children, or providing significant in-kind support.

Please feel free to contact us at any time for assistance or with questions. We’d be glad to mail you print versions of our materials if you are accessing them online.

Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 416-588-1612 x0.