Refugee sponsorship pilot ends, with its future unclear

By CathNews New Zealand

July 11th, 2025

A refugee family with members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and Bishop Steve Lowe in 2021 (NZ Catholic)

A pilot scheme that involved community organisations, including Catholic ones, helping refugees arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand is over and its future is uncertain. Source: Radio New Zealand.

In 2017, the New Zealand Government committed to a pilot of a community refugee sponsorship and settlement programme, which was launched in 2018 and extended in 2020. The Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship (CORS) scheme saw a total of 193 sponsored refugees welcomed by 28 sponsor groups across 12 locations.

The programme helped newcomers secure rental properties, enrol at schools and doctors, find jobs and make connections locally.

Among Catholic organisations that have worked with the scheme were Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Hamilton and Auckland dioceses, the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Nelson and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Associate Immigration Minister Casey Costello is awaiting a report analysing the scheme’s outcomes, and said approved CORS refugees were still arriving, Radio New Zealand reported.

“I have a lot of faith in that process. I think it is a very good programme, but we still need to await that review and determine what that will look like into the future,” she told MPs at a recent scrutiny committee meeting.

But MPs were concerned that there could be a hiatus after the trial, putting its progress at risk, because there was no specific Budget allocation. Ms Costello said Cabinet would have to decide whether it continued at all, and also if it could be funded from existing funds or needed to wait for a Budget application next year.

Immigration New Zealand contracted HOST International to oversee the pilot, which finished on July 7. Community sponsorship is designed to complement and be in addition to Government-led resettlement programmes, such as the New Zealand Government’s Refugee Quota Programme.

FULL STORY

Refugee support programme ends with no clear future (By Gill Bonnett/Radio New Zealand)

CST: Subsidiarity (Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand)

Community Sponsorship of Refugees (Amnesty International NZ)

Diocese leads plan to sponsor refugees (NZ Catholic)

Celebrating Iraqi refugee family resettlement (NZ Catholic)

New refugee programme (Archdiocese of Wellington)