Why can’t you fly Syrian refugees to Canada faster?

When we resettled the first 25,000 Syrian refugees, we chartered flights to bring them here quickly.

That effort taught us that refugees need time to get their affairs in order after their interview and health/security screening. This helps them be ready to leave.

We also learned that refugees benefit from orientation information before they leave. We give this standard information to most refugees to prepare them for life in Canada.

The new timeframe lets us do both of these things. We no longer need government-organized charter flights.

We expect Syrian refugees with private sponsorship applications received before March 31, 2016 to arrive about 3-6 months after the interview.

This is a reasonable amount of time to complete all steps set out above. We must also factor in time to get exit permissions and for travel documents to be in order.

This plan addresses refugees’ needs and gives sponsors a predictable pace of arrivals.