In recent years, because of the additional constraints and regulations that U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (U.S. INS) has imposed on refugee applicants, it has become nearly impossible for a refugee such as an Iranian Christian to immigrate to the U.S.

For most Iranian Christian refugees, the only realistic option at this time is to apply for immigration to Canada. However, Canada Immigration requires that these refugees have a sponsor before they would be given an interview. Consequently, the line of Iranian Christian refugees awaiting a Canadian church sponsorship is continually getting longer. Since the sponsorship involves payment of the refugee’s expenses for a whole year after his arrival in Canada, most Canadian churches do not have the resources for sponsorship. However, a small number of Canadian churches are willing to do the sponsorship if the expenses of sponsorship can be shared.

It is in conjunction with this opportunity that ICI seeks to set up a "Refugee Sponsorship Fund." In other words, ICI would attempt to raise at least $20,000 to supplement the funds that Canadian churches can allocate for refugee sponsorship during 2004. We believe that this sum will enable Canadian churches to sponsor up to 10 more Iranian Christian refugees.

Please write your donation check in the order of ICI and on a separate piece of paper designate it for "Refugee Sponsorship Fund."

In future issues of the ICI Partner Prayer Letter we will report to you about how this fund-raising effort is coming along.