Operating Context

Canada remains a top choice for people looking for a new place to work, study and build their lives with their families. Newcomers and visitors fuel the Canadian economy and add vibrancy to Canada’s communities.

In 2022–23, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) continued to strengthen Canada’s immigration system by focusing on people, families and communities. Canada capitalizes its advantage in the global race for talent, supports our industries, and enables us to be flexible in responding to global humanitarian crises and help people when they need it most.

The Department responded to a global environment marked by mounting humanitarian crises, namely in Afghanistan starting in 2021, and Ukraine starting in 2022. More specifically, as part of the Government of Canada’s response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, IRCC introduced special programs to help Ukrainian nationals and their family members find safety in Canada. In response to the fall of Kabul in August 2021, IRCC committed to resettling at least 40,000 Afghans by the end of 2023.

The Department balances competing pressures, which include responding to domestic labour market demands and an increasingly mobile work force; contributing to overall economic growth; and addressing efforts to streamline service delivery and enhance the client experience, while responding to complex safety and security challenges.

IRCC interacts annually with millions of individuals. These individuals include those seeking temporary or permanent resident entry into Canada and subsequently settling into Canadian society, those pursuing Canadian citizenship, Canadians seeking a Canadian passport, and other individuals seeking travel documents, such as a certificate of identity or a refugee travel document.

To ensure the successful integration of newcomers into the Canadian economy and society, IRCC engages regularly and extensively with federal partners, provinces and territories, and other stakeholders on a variety of key immigration-related topics. These include immigration levels planning, economic immigration, and settlement and integration of newcomers, including refugees and protected persons.

IRCC also strives for the best possible client experience through an array of online and advanced analytical tools designed to maintain a positive client experience and an ongoing trend of lower processing times and reduced application inventories.

In recent years, with the exception of 2020, the Department has been experiencing significant year-over-year increases in some of its most important lines of business as many around the world seek to enter Canada temporarily or permanently.

IRCC plans to welcome historic numbers of newcomers in 2023–24. In recent years, the Department has added resources, embraced new technology, streamlined processing, and brought more processes online. These changes are all important improvements to Canada’s immigration system and will support IRCC’s operations in 2023–24.

IRCC’s challenge is to effectively manage increases in application volumes across all of its lines of business as international travel returns to pre-pandemic levels and Canada’s economic recovery takes hold. This will occur with the context of working with stakeholders to ensure that newcomers have the best opportunities to succeed in Canada’s economic recovery following the negative economic impacts due to COVID–19.