Someone is asking you for money to sponsor you into Canada. That is a scam, and it could cost you everything.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) posted a direct scam alert on its official X account @CitImmCanada on March 25, 2025. The message is blunt: a sponsor cannot request or receive money from a sponsored refugee. Not ever. If you are being asked to pay fees for a chance to be sponsored for resettlement in Canada, that is fraud.
Read that line twice. The person asking you to pay is not a sponsor. They are a scammer targeting your desperation to reach Canada safely.
What Does IRCC Actually Say About Sponsorship Fees?
The official post leaves zero room for interpretation. Here is the core warning:
“A sponsor cannot request or receive money from a sponsored refugee. If you’re being asked to pay fees for a chance to be sponsored for resettlement in Canada, that’s a scam.”
This applies to any type of refugee sponsorship in Canada, including the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program, the Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) program, and community sponsorship initiatives. Sponsorship is a humanitarian commitment. It is not a business transaction.
The rule in one line
Money flows from sponsor to refugee, never from refugee to sponsor. If the cash is going the wrong way, it is not sponsorship.
IRCC also warns against anyone promising guaranteed sponsorship. No one can guarantee your resettlement. That is a red flag on its own, even before money enters the conversation.
How the Scam Works, and Why It Works
Imagine you fled your home country and are now living in a refugee camp or an urban centre in a country of asylum. You have been waiting years. Then someone approaches you, in person, on WhatsApp, on Facebook, and says they have a connection to a Canadian sponsor.
They say a church in Toronto or a community group in Winnipeg is ready to sponsor you. But first, you need to pay a processing fee. Or a documentation fee. Or a deposit to hold your spot. Maybe it is $500 USD. Maybe it is $3,000. The amount does not matter.
The moment you pay, the scammer has your money. And often, they now also have your personal information, your passport details, your refugee registration documents, your family members' names. That is the next wave of the fraud.
Concrete scenario:
Amara is a 34-year-old mother of two living in Kampala as a refugee from South Sudan. A man contacts her on Facebook claiming to work with a Canadian sponsor group in Calgary. He says he can place her family in the next PSR cohort, for a “file preparation fee” of $1,800 USD, payable via Western Union within 48 hours or the spot goes to another family. Amara borrows the money from relatives abroad and sends it. The man disappears. There was no sponsor group in Calgary. There was no cohort. She is now broke and her family is still in Uganda.
That is the scam. It preys on hope.
What IRCC Tells You To Do Right Now
The official guidance from the IRCC post is clear. Three direct instructions:
- Do not share your personal or banking information. Not your passport number, not your bank account, not your refugee ID, not your family list. Nothing.
- Be cautious of anyone promising guaranteed sponsorship. Real sponsorship involves a formal application to IRCC, interviews, security checks, and a decision by Canadian immigration officers. No individual can promise the outcome.
- Protect yourself from immigration fraud. IRCC links directly to its fraud protection page at https://bit.ly/4freOSJ for more detail.
Red Flags That Mean You Are Being Scammed
You do not need to be an immigration expert to spot this fraud. Watch for these signs:
| Red flag | What it means |
|---|---|
| You are asked to pay any fee for sponsorship | Sponsors cannot request or receive money from a sponsored refugee. This is the core IRCC rule. |
| Someone promises guaranteed sponsorship | No one can guarantee a resettlement decision. IRCC flags this explicitly. |
| You are asked for personal or banking details early | Legitimate sponsorship processes do not start with a request for your bank account or full personal file. |
| Urgency, pay now or lose the spot | Pressure tactics are a universal scam marker. Real sponsorship processes take months, not minutes. |
If you see even one of these, stop communicating. Do not send money. Do not send documents.
Is There Ever a Legitimate Fee in Refugee Sponsorship?
No. Under Canadian law, the sponsor, whether a private group, a community organization, or a joint arrangement with the government, covers the costs of sponsorship. Sponsors are required to provide financial support for the refugee's basic needs during the sponsorship period.
The refugee does not pay the sponsor for the privilege of being sponsored. Not a registration fee. Not a processing fee. Not a security deposit. Nothing.
There are government processing fees for some immigration streams, but those are paid directly to IRCC through official channels, never to a sponsor or an intermediary promising sponsorship.
What Should You Do If You Already Paid?
It is a horrible feeling. But you are not the first person this has happened to, and you will not be the last. Here is what IRCC and fraud experts generally advise:
- Stop all contact with the scammer immediately. Do not respond to messages, do not send more money, do not share anything else.
- Report the fraud to local police in the country where you are currently living. Get a copy of the report if possible.
- Report the scam to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. They track these patterns and share information with IRCC and law enforcement.
- Visit the IRCC fraud protection page linked in the official post: https://bit.ly/4freOSJ. It explains how to recognize and report immigration fraud.
And remember: paying a scammer does not disqualify you from a legitimate future sponsorship or resettlement application. You were the victim. The fraudster is the criminal.
Why This Sc
How To Check If a Sponsor or Group Is Real
You can verify whether a Canadian organization is actually a registered sponsorship agreement holder. The Government of Canada publishes a list of approved groups. That list is available through IRCC's official website, not through a WhatsApp message or a Facebook page.
If the person contacting you cannot name the registered sponsor group. If their communication is vague about which organization they represent. If they ask you to communicate only through personal email or private chat. These are signs the offer is not real.
A legitimate private sponsor works through a formal application submitted to IRCC. That application includes your name, your refugee registration details, and your consent, but it does not include any payment from you. The first time a real sponsor asks you for money is the last time you should speak to them.
The verification shortcut
Ask one question: “What is the name of your registered sponsorship agreement holder and what is your IRCC client ID?” A real sponsor has both. A scammer has excuses.
Who These Scammers Target Most
The fraud is concentrated where hope is highest. That means refugee camps in East Africa, Syrian and Afghan refugee communities in the Middle East, Venezuelans in South America, and Rohingya in Southeast Asia. Scammers target people who have been waiting years for resettlement and who have family members abroad willing to send money.
They also target people who are not yet refugees but who want to reach Canada. The promise is the same: pay a fee, get sponsorship. Sometimes the scammer fabricates a sponsor group entirely. Sometimes they use the name of a real Canadian church or community group without the group's knowledge.
IRCC has issued this alert because the pattern is growing. The agency does not post scam warnings casually.
What Sponsors Are Actually Allowed To Do
A private sponsor's legal obligations are set out in Canadian immigration law. They must provide financial support for the refugee's basic needs, housing, food, clothing, for the length of the sponsorship period, typically one year for most privately sponsored refugees. They also help with settlement: finding a doctor, enrolling children in school, navigating public transit.
They cannot ask you to reimburse those costs later. They cannot ask for a "donation" as a condition of sponsorship. They cannot charge you to be on a waiting list. Any of those requests is a violation of the sponsorship agreement with IRCC.
If a real sponsor does any of this, report them to IRCC. The sponsorship program depends on trust, and IRCC takes abuse of that trust seriously.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Canadian sponsor legally ask me for money?+Sources: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) official X account @CitImmCanada, scam alert posted August 21, 2026. IRCC fraud protection resource: https://bit.ly/4freOSJ
Sources: Government of Canada (canada.ca), IRCC Help Centre. Last verified: August 21, 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice. Consult IRCC or a qualified legal aid service for guidance on your specific situation.