Thank you for the question, MP Findlay, and to Wendy for all that you've interjected. It's been great to hear from you.
I think first and foremost I want to say that Afghans are in need, and our association has also raised concerns about the limits on the eligibility criteria. Currently, to be eligible to be privately sponsored as an Afghan, you must fit one of five categories. Our association has had concerns about that and has been interested in seeing that removed so all Afghans have access.
One thing that I think is important to consider here with this decision is our existing inventory and capacity. We have a historic high inventory, as I shared. Over half of the current inventory is made up of a group-of-five community sponsorship cases. One of the realities with the efficiency of processing cases is that groups of five and community sponsorship cases take longer to process at the ROC-O level, at the department within Ottawa, before they're sent overseas. I also think there is a dynamic that many groups of five and community sponsors would submit their cases via a sponsorship agreement holder if they could, but SAHs ultimately are limited by our spaces and our capacity.
I think groups of five and community sponsors play an important role, but I think it's important for us to learn from the Syrian response and the impact of that rapid response. I think there is something to say here about how SAHs are risk-managed partners. We support program integrity. It would be great for us to be able to work with and support more groups who, as a result of not being able to be sponsored through a sponsorship agreement holder are often left going the route of a group of five or community sponsorship application.
These are some of the considerations I would share.