Iraqi Group of 5 Sponsorship

[IraqiDude]

Hello,
I am an Iraqi who is currently staying in Malaysia as a refugee. I have a bunch of close childhood friends that made it to Canada, and are willing to sponsor our family through the Group of Five sponsorship program.
We have already applied on July 2018 and I received an email with a G-Number saying that our file is being processed.
Now this is my problem. The UNHCR in Malaysia simply doesn't give out the "Refugee Status" to Arabs anymore. We have already applied to UNHCR and have received our UN Cards, but our refugee status interview keeps being delayed and now the UNHCR announced that they can't do anything to assist Arabs anymore.
I have heard that in the Last 2 years Canada allows Iraqi and Syrian refugees to apply without Proof of being a refugee.
So my question is, is that still the case? Or do we also need the Refugee status now, because if you check the Canadian government Site you will see that they removed the "Iraqi and Syrian" exception.
Is there still a chance that our Form will be accepted? Or should I lose hope?
I would like to hear your stories and suggestions.
Thank you

 

[scylla]

Hello,
I am an Iraqi who is currently staying in Malaysia as a refugee. I have a bunch of close childhood friends that made it to Canada, and are willing to sponsor our family through the Group of Five sponsorship program.
We have already applied on July 2018 and I received an email with a G-Number saying that our file is being processed.
Now this is my problem. The UNHCR in Malaysia simply doesn't give out the "Refugee Status" to Arabs anymore. We have already applied to UNHCR and have received our UN Cards, but our refugee status interview keeps being delayed and now the UNHCR announced that they can't do anything to assist Arabs anymore.
I have heard that in the Last 2 years Canada allows Iraqi and Syrian refugees to apply without Proof of being a refugee.
So my question is, is that still the case? Or do we also need the Refugee status now, because if you check the Canadian government Site you will see that they removed the "Iraqi and Syrian" exception.
Is there still a chance that our Form will be accepted? Or should I lose hope?
I would like to hear your stories and suggestions.
Thank you

The exception for Iraqis and Syrians is no longer in place. I don't think there's any chance your forms will be accepted without official refugee status. What exactly has UNHCR said with regards to Arabs? Is this published online somewhere?

 

[IraqiDude]

The exception for Iraqis and Syrians is no longer in place. I don't think there's any chance your forms will be accepted without official refugee status. What exactly has UNHCR said with regards to Arabs? Is this published online somewhere?

Here the UNHCR has two steps. Once you apply, they take your information, fingerprints and Iris and give you UNHCR cards. They call us "Asylum seekers".
After that we get interviewed and that's when we get our Status.
What happened to us is they call us, we go to the UNHCR office, wait for several hours, and then are told that it will be postponed and they will call us at a later date. This happened for about 3 times.
Then we received a call saying that there will be no appointments and that they can't do anything, until further notice.
That was in 2016, it's been almost 2 years.
Also, do you think that if we are registered with UNHCR and have UN Cards that it could work out? Because I think that having the UN Cards is enough proof that we are refugees.
Thanks for replying, and you further help is really appreciated.

 

[scylla]

Here the UNHCR has two steps. Once you apply, they take your information, fingerprints and Iris and give you UNHCR cards. They call us "Asylum seekers".
After that we get interviewed and that's when we get our Status.
What happened to us is they call us, we go to the UNHCR office, wait for several hours, and then are told that it will be postponed and they will call us at a later date. This happened for about 3 times.
Then we received a call saying that there will be no appointments and that they can't do anything, until further notice.
That was in 2016, it's been almost 2 years.
Thanks for replying, and you further help is really appreciated.

You need to have official refugee status to qualify to apply through the Group of 5 Sponsorship program. Without that, your application is going to be refused. Sorry - I don't know what else to suggest.

I assume that you've looked at Canada's economic immigration programs and they aren't an option for you?

 

[IraqiDude]

You need to have official refugee status to qualify to apply through the Group of 5 Sponsorship program. Without that, your application is going to be refused. Sorry - I don't know what else to suggest.

I assume that you've looked at Canada's economic immigration programs and they aren't an option for you?

I see.
I will look into that.
Just one last thing, do you think that the UN Cards could be ebouen proof that we are actual refugees? In the form where it asks for proof I put pictures of our cards.
I am asking this because I am in a Chat group with Other refugees in the same country and the same situation, and I am hearing stories of exceptions being made, or that the UN Cards are just enough

 

[scylla]

I see.
I will look into that.
Just one last thing, do you think that the UN Cards could be ebouen proof that we are actual refugees? In the form where it asks for proof I put pictures of our cards.
I am asking this because I am in a Chat group with Other refugees in the same country and the same situation, and I am hearing stories of exceptions being made, or that the UN Cards are just enough

I don't know. It depends what the card is. If it's just an ID card - then that's not enough. If it's an ID card that indicates you are a refugee - that would be different. You have already submitted the application - so you might as well wait and see what happens.

 

[IraqiDude]

I don't know. It depends what the card is. If it's just an ID card - then that's not enough. If it's an ID card that indicates you are a refugee - that would be different. You have already submitted the application - so you might as well wait and see what happens.

Yea I will definitely do that, no point in withdrawing it.
Thanks alot for your help. I really appreciate it.
I also would love it if anyone else would contribute to this thread.
I will try to keep this as updated as I can.

 

[live&love]

My brother is Iraqi but he is seeking refugee protection in Croatia right now. His claim is straight forward and VERY STRONG with proofs & evidences, but the Croatian government rejected him twice because they are not experienced in cases like this & they admitted this publicly.

So anyways, I (here in Canada) tried to sponsor him under G5 sponsorship, but the refugee status thing stopped me because all he has to proof that he’s a refugee there is a card that was issued by the Crotian government that clearly states that he is an asylum seeker besides that he is not allowed to freely move in the country (just a specific area). No right to work as well, and lives in a refugee camp.

I still don’t know if the Canadian government recognizes that refugee card that he has as a proof or not unfortunately and there is nothing mentioned about that in the IRCC website.

 

[Buletruck]

Might be a bit of a long shot, but if you can provide the Malaysian government sufficient proof that you are sponsoring his family (and they will ultimately leave Malaysia), IRCC will recognize them as refugees if the government of the country they are in designates them as refugees. Might be a ton of work, but if your options are limited, it might work.

This authorized body can either be the UNHCR or the government of the country (i.e., foreign state) where the refugee is now living.

 

[IraqiDude]

Might be a bit of a long shot, but if you can provide the Malaysian government sufficient proof that you are sponsoring his family (and they will ultimately leave Malaysia), IRCC will recognize them as refugees if the government of the country they are in designates them as refugees. Might be a ton of work, but if your options are limited, it might work.

That might actually work. Thanks for your suggestion.
I have a question though.
You see the thing is, the reason Malaysia isn't giving the Status to Arabs is because right now they are Prioritising refugees from Pakistan and Myanmar. Because after you get the Status you will most likely get resettlement in a 2 or 3 years. They told us if we want to get prioritied we will have to move to Turkey, or Jordan.
Now this is my question.
Do you think that instead of talking to the Country, we could maybe talk to the UNHCR Malaysia and tell them that we would only like the Status to leave the country? A friend of mine also told me that maybe I could get my sponsors to talk to the UNHCR branch in Canada and tell them what's happening and maybe we can sort something out.

 

[Buletruck]

I doubt UNHCR in Canada has the authority to designate them as refugees. I do believe that some of the refugee organizations in Canada have been designated as authorities to identify and assist refugee claimants in other countries. You might want to try that route as well.

 

[IraqiDude]

I doubt UNHCR in Canada has the authority to designate them as refugees. I do believe that some of the refugee organizations in Canada have been designated as authorities to identify and assist refugee claimants in other countries. You might want to try that route as well.

Would you mind if you give me some of the names of these organisations? Thanks