Australian lawmakers are being urged to follow Canada's lead and adopt a much more community-driven approach to resettling refugees.
Save the Children is leading a delegation of visiting Canadian refugee experts talking to politicians and bureaucrats about community sponsorships.
"Canada doesn't have a monopoly on generosity in the community," says Save the Children refugee and asylum seeker policy advisor Lisa Button.
"There's a lot of similarities between Australia and Canada, both as settlement states, and as countries that have grown through migration."
Australian communities - along with individuals, families and businesses - can already nominate humanitarian visa applicants for settlement.
There are up to 1000 community-based places available each year under Australia's humanitarian intake.
Supporters must prove refugees have strong employment prospects and can be cared for during their first year in the country.
The program replaced a three-year pilot which was weighted towards newly-arrived refugees sponsoring family members.
However, humanitarian groups including Save the Children say the existing program is too heavily weighted towards refugees with immediate job prospects.
They fear this could preclude people in the most urgent need of resettlement.
The groups also believe the 1000 people resettled under the program each year should be additional to Australia's humanitarian quota.
A key issue of concern is the "prohibitively high" costs involved, which humanitarian groups believe are deterring community groups.
They estimate it costs up to $100,000 to cover visa fees and resettlement supports for a family of two adults and three dependent children for one year.
The family's visa fees alone are said to total $30,000 while sponsoring an individual refugee is estimated to cost up to $48,000.
"Many refugee families in Australia will do whatever they can to raise the funds needed to sponsor their relatives," Ms Button says.
"But if community groups are going to be fundraising they want to see bang for their humanitarian buck."
The organisations also argue the existing system is skewed towards individuals and businesses sponsoring refugees, rather than communities.
They want to see a system more similar to one that's operated in Canada for about 40 years and is being investigated by countries including the UK and New Zealand.
They say the most vulnerable refugees should be eligible, and the program not be viewed as a revenue-raising exercise for the government.
"It would be less than half the cost if government visa fees were stripped out," Ms Button said.
She envisages churches, sporting clubs, book and dog walking groups would want to get involved in the controlled migration program.
The Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative - a partnership between the Canadian government, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, academics and philanthropic groups - visited Canberra on Monday.
They met Home Affairs and Social Services officials and briefed interested MPs and senators.
Ms Button predicts a revamped community sponsorship program for refugees could grow to about 10,000 places each year within five years.
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