Canada Settlement Plan | What Should the Settlement Plan Include?

What is a settlement plan? 

A settlement plan can be defined as a plan that describes how an immigrant community or a primary refugee will settle in Canada with the help of their relatives or group members during the sponsorship. In other words, the settlement plan is the basic framework of all the steps that need to be considered to assist and guide the sponsored immigrant community to settle in Canada. The settlement plan covers the entire process and duration of the sponsorship after the immigrants arrive in Canada.

The settlement plan proposes details such as who will do what, when, and how to prepare their move and settlement in Canada. Hence, it can be elucidated that a settlement plan is a guide for the designated sponsor group to summarize how the immigrants and refugees intend to accept and understand the settlement assistance and support offered by them.

One of the essential responsibilities of the private sponsors is to prepare a completed settlement agreement or a plan, which clearly outlines how the sponsors will support the immigrant and refugee newcomers to establish themselves successfully in the new country.

Who has to submit the settlement plan? (And) To whom should it be submitted? 

As a part of the private sponsorship application program, all the private sponsor groups have to submit a settlement agreement/ plan to the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which will assess the settlement plan to understand which task will be done by the sponsor group to assist the sponsored immigrants and refugees to establish in Canada. The IRCC will also evaluate if the sponsors are entirely capable of supporting and fulfilling the financial obligations of the immigrant community and refugees.

It should be noted that the IRCC reserves the right to return or dismiss the refugee/ immigrant’s application if any of the details are missing or not included in the settlement plan. Thus, the immigrant /refugee needs to be precise and provide genuine information about their intention and reasons to settle in Canada in the settlement plan.

In Family Class Sponsorship, a relative can be sponsored by an individual sponsor who is already a permanent resident in Canada. The PR individual is granted a PR card as proof of their status, which makes family sponsorship easy. An individual residing in Canada can sponsor their spouse or common-law partner or conjugal partners using form IMM 1344. Moreover, they should have enough funds to support their spouse or partner upon their arrival.

However, there are certain groups that sponsor principal refugees and immigrants. If an individual is a part of the following groups in Canada, then they’re eligible to sponsor their respective relatives.

• Sponsorship agreement holders (SAH). They have a mutual agreement with the Canadian government to guide immigrants and refugees when they visit Canada.
  • Constituent groups (who work with SAH to sponsor the immigrants and refugees under SAH’s agreement)
• Group of Five (five or more Canadians who sponsor immigrant and refugees to establish in their communities)
• Organizations, Corporations, or Associations that sponsor immigrants and refugees will fall under the Community sponsors.

What should the Settlement Plan include?

Before settling down in Canada, it is good to create a settlement plan, and most importantly, all the details mentioned in the settlement plan form should be truthful. So, let’s see how Group of five sponsors a citizen in Canada. Go through the information to understand what the immigrant /refugee and sponsor members should include in the settlement plans.

Section A – General Information 

It is mandatory for each sponsor of the Group of five – Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to enter their details correctly. In addition, each sponsor should own an active email address as IRCC will contact the sponsor group via the given email address.

Section B – Settlement Needs Checklist 

The sponsor group members should consider how they will budget the money during the sponsorship process. In order to show Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), how the sponsor group plans to budget its money, the settlement plan for Group of Five sponsorships requires the immigrant to fill out a budget chart, which covers the total Start-up Costs, Ongoing & Monthly Expenditure, and Settlement Assistance.

Sponsorship groups are mainly responsible for offering financial aid/ assistance and start-up costs to the principal immigrant/refugee they sponsor. In that case, it should be noted that Start-up costs include but are not limited to one-time payment for household items, food staples, furniture, school supplies, registration fees, etc. The monthly costs include daily necessities such as food and incidental expenses, housing and utility costs, monthly transportation costs, and a communication allowance (phone/ internet connection). Therefore, the sponsor group members should assist the immigrant /refugee towards becoming a self-sufficient individual in the country.

Section C – Settlement Checklist

The sponsor should carefully go through the given questions and confirm which settlement needs the sponsor group will provide to the principal immigrant/refugee. If the listed needs are not applicable, they can suggest their needs in an explanation box at the bottom of Section C.

Section D – Settlement Plan 

The sponsor should give a detailed explanation of the settlement plan that they have decided to help the immigrant community/refugees to overcome the challenges and settle in Canada. In this section, the sponsor should provide information about housing, available support from the settlement agencies and sponsorship group members, plans for special needs, and financial support plans for a family member who may accompany the immigrant within a year of the window of opportunity.

Section E – Financial Assessment 

In this section, the sponsor group members are required to predetermine if the Group has sufficient funds for the sponsorship. They can check the sponsorship cost table and in-kind deduction table to assess the financial costs. However, it is their responsibility to provide financial, non-financial, and emotional support to the principal immigrant throughout the sponsorship period.

Section F – Declaration 

The sponsor should sign the form agreeing that the information and any documents attached in the settlement plan is accurate, complete, and true to the best of their knowledge.

Before submitting the settlement plan application, the sponsor group members and the principal immigrant/refugee should thoroughly check and verify all the details for a better settlement experience in Canada.