Refugees who apply to be sponsored under the Community Refugee Sponsorship pathway must be mandated as refugees and pass security, risk, settlement and health assessments. Applicants must be residing in a country which is a UNHCR priority area and one of the regions Immigration New Zealand’s humanitarian programme resettles from.* Applicants must not be eligible to be sponsored for residence under another family category, including the Refugee Family Support category. Principal applicants must have a basic understanding of English, have a minimum of three years’ work experience (or a qualification requiring at least two years’ tertiary study), and be aged between 18 and 45. * Please note that refugees currently residing in Turkey are not eligible to be resettled to New Zealand under the Community Refugee Sponsorship programme. Turkey is included as part of the Europe region by UNHCR for the purposes of refugee resettlement.

The Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship (CORS) category is additional and complementary to the Refugee Quota programme. It is a category where approved New Zealand-based approved community organisations (Approved Sponsors) apply to partner with refugees through supporting their settlement in the community.   Sponsored refugees are resettled directly into their community with the support of Approved Sponsors and will not spend time at Te Āhuru Mōwai o Aotearoa, the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre. The Approved Sponsors provide the support needed for these refugees over a two-year period.

Refugees must be residing in a country which is a UNHCR priority area and one of the regions INZ’s refugee quota programme resettles from: Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Middle East and North Africa. Refugees currently residing in Turkey are not eligible to be resettled to Aotearoa under the Community Refugee Sponsorship programme. Turkey is included as part of the Europe region by UNHCR for the purposes of refugee resettlement. Refer to UNHCR's Projected Global Resettlement Needs for further details: UNHCR - Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2023

Approved community organisations must meet several requirements to become part of the programme. The criteria are in place to ensure organisations are prepared to support refugees with a range of core needs, from housing and accommodation to providing connections to healthcare, schooling, training and employment opportunities and community groups. ​ INZ will have a direct relationship and continue to work with Approved Sponsors as well as HOST International Aotearoa (HOST) as the umbrella organisation for the programme, to ensure these needs are met throughout the full two years of the programme.

HOST is partnering with Immigration New Zealand to deliver the Community Refugee Sponsorship programme, and will provide coaching and support to community organisations throughout their journey. ​ Further information can be found on the Get Involved page.

The timeframes for arrival will vary and will depend on how long it takes for the sponsored refugees to be verified and complete the health, English language and immigration assessments, and travel to New Zealand from wherever they currently reside. There may be travel delays in some parts of the world. For less complicated cases, it may take between nine to twelve months for the sponsored refugees to arrive in New Zealand. Once you are approved as a sponsor a few things will happen: ​​HOST will work with you to identify areas where your group might want additional training. HOST will also help connect you with the sponsored refugees so that you can begin to get to know them and understand their settlement needs and desires. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) will organise the international travel and will coordinate this with you and HOST to ensure that you are ready to welcome the refugees when they land in New Zealand.