Background to the Community Refugee Sponsorship programme
The Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship (CORS) visa was developed to enable New Zealand-based community organisations to sponsor refugees for resettlement. It complements the annual Refugee Quota Programme.
The CORS visa was piloted in 2018. Under that pilot, 24 sponsored refugees were resettled in New Zealand with the settlement support provided by 4 approved community organisations.
In 2020 the New Zealand Government extended the CORS pilot for a further 3 years from 1 July 2021. This decision enabled up to 150 sponsored refugees to be resettled in New Zealand from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024 with settlement support provided by approved sponsors. In 2024 a decision was made to offer a further 51 people a place under the pilot.
A broad range of community organisations and groups can support the settlement of sponsored refugees under the extended CORS pilot.
For more information or questions about the programme you can email us.