Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s 2025–26 Departmental Plan

On this page

• From the Minister
• Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
  • Core responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers
  • Core responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration
  • Core responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports
  • Internal services
• Planned spending and human resources
  • Spending
  • Funding
  • Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
  • Human resources
• Corporate information
• Supplementary information tables
• Federal tax expenditures
• Definitions

From the Minister

As the new Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, I am pleased to present the 2025–2026 Departmental Plan.

Many newcomers come here to build better lives and be part of building Canada. They bring new businesses, innovations, and cultures, and they contribute to a strong, educated workforce. Immigration has always been an economic advantage to Canada, and with that comes a responsibility to maintain a sustainable immigration level consistent with our country’s community and service capacity. This is also necessary to make sure that those who do come here have access to the jobs, social services and housing they need to contribute to our communities.

We are making immigration work and leveraging our existing programs to help newcomers access supports, jobs, and homes. We are supporting newcomers’ integration and giving them a fair shot in Canada, while responding to the pressures that families and communities face today.

Work is underway at IRCC so that the Department operates within an environment of fiscal restraint. We will ensure that IRCC runs within its revised budget, while continuing to work towards meeting the needs of the people we serve.

We will work to reduce the share of temporary residents to 5% of Canada’s total population, and our economic immigration streams will focus on transitioning temporary workers in Canada to permanent residence, as we continue to address labour shortages in specific areas through programs that target rural and Northern communities. The Government is also committed to stabilizing permanent resident admissions at less than 1% of Canada’s population annually beyond 2027.

While reducing overall targets, our targets for Francophone newcomers settling outside Quebec will continue to increase to help support our plan to restore the demographic weight of Francophone communities outside of Quebec. It is vital that we continue to support all newcomers as they integrate into their communities, by funding service provider organizations around the country.

We will improve and strengthen the asylum system by making it more responsive, equitable and sustainable, while supporting vulnerable and at-risk populations.

Driven by the principles of client service excellence, we will move forward with the Digital Platform Modernization programme. Once fully implemented, it will offer clients a seamless online experience with improved support, a single window to access and apply for IRCC services, and real-time updates on the status of applications. We will also forge ahead with our new Case Management Platform, which will serve as the primary system to process applications and issue IRCC documents in the years ahead.

It is a pleasure to serve as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and I look forward to seeing what we will accomplish this coming year. To find out more about our priorities, I invite you to read the 2025–26 Departmental Plan.

The Hon. Lena Metlege Diab, P.C., K.C., M.P.
Minister of Immigration, Refugees
and Citizenship

Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services

Core responsibilities and internal services

• Core responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers
• Core responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration
• Core responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports
• Internal services

Core responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

IRCC facilitates the entry of migrants who wish to come to Canada temporarily, while protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians. The Department works with partners to verify that individuals meet admissibility requirements. IRCC processes visas, electronic travel authorizations, and work and study permits for tourists, business travellers, international students and temporary workers, whose spending and presence in Canada benefit the economy.

Quality of life impacts

This core responsibility contributes to the “Prosperity” and “Good governance” as well as “Fairness and inclusion” domains of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada and, more specifically “Household incomes” and “Employment”, “Confidence in institutions” and “Discrimination and unfair treatment”.

Indicators, results and targets

This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for CR1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 1: Departmental Result 1: Entry to Canada of eligible visitors, international students and temporary workers is facilitated

Table 1 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers.

 

Table 2: Departmental Result 2: Facilitation of temporary entry helps to generate economic benefits

Table 2 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers.

 

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

The following section describes the planned results for Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers in 2025–26.

DR 1: Entry to Canada of eligible visitors, international students and temporary workers is facilitated

Foreign nationals are screened before being issued a travel document. IRCC strives to process these demands within service standards and seeks to improve client satisfaction.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

• Adopting a more sustainable approach to the management of temporary resident programs to ensure integrity in our immigration system. This population contributes to Canada’s economic, social, and cultural fabric, but pressures on housing and social services have necessitated a different approach. For the first time, the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan includes temporary resident arrival targets to help align immigration planning with community capacity. The objective, as announced in March 2024, is to reduce the share of temporary residents in Canada to 5% of the population by the end of 2026.
• Targets are for new arrivals only and include international students and temporary workers.^{Footnote 6} Short term visitors with a temporary resident visa (TRV) or electronic travel authorization (eTA) and seasonal workers are not included. These individuals only remain in the country for a brief period of time and are not included in Statistics Canada’s year-end population estimates.
• The Levels Plan sets overall temporary resident targets of 673,650 in 2025, and notionally sets targets at 516,600 in 2026 and 543,600 in 2027. Targets for new temporary resident arrivals include 305,900 students for each year in 2025, 2026 and 2027; 82,000 workers under the Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) Program for 2025, 2026 and 2027; and 285,750, 128,700 and 155,700 workers under the International Mobility Program (IMP) for 2025, 2026 and 2027, respectively.
  • The Department will continue to reduce the backlogs of applications within its inventories, with a goal of processing 80% of applications within service standards.
• Supporting travellers through measures including:
  • Allowing travellers from 67 countries to qualify for an electronic travel authorization (eTA) instead of needing a visa, as of February 2024. The majority of eTA applications will be approved within minutes.
  • Implementing visa integrity measures including training for officers about risk assessments and fraud detection. Our swift actions have led to a 61% increase in refusals for high-risk countries. These measures position Canada to welcome genuine visitors while keeping Canadians safe.
• Finalizing the implementation of an improved governance regime for consultants by developing regulations to support the functioning of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. This will help to better protect newcomers and applicants from fraudulent and unauthorized consultants.
• Contributing to Canada’s efforts to support clients and Canadians affected by crises, including those in Gaza and Sudan.

DR 2: Facilitation of temporary entry helps to generate economic benefits

Visitors, international students and temporary workers support the Canadian economy and help fill gaps in the labour market.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

• Implementing and monitoring program changes announced in 2024 to recalibrate Canada’s foreign worker programs. This will help to support Canada’s economic objectives and better manage temporary resident volumes. Measures include:
  • Prioritizing TFW applications in essential sectors such as agriculture, food processing, and healthcare, as well as working to keep our economy competitive by facilitating top talent, as announced in our Tech Talent Strategy.
  • Advancing policy development and public consultations with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to support the creation of a new foreign labour stream for agriculture and fish processing, including a corresponding sector-specific work permit, and expanded partner country agreements.
  • Negotiating reciprocal trade-related labour mobility pathways with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and with accession candidates to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership, while implementing new agreements with Indonesia and Ecuador.
• Continuing to subject employers to the International Mobility Program employer compliance regime to promote safe and fair working conditions for foreign workers and to prevent program misuse.
• Implementing an intake cap on most study permit applications.
• Amending the cost-of-living requirement for students to keep up with the cost of living and ensure that international students are financially prepared for their life in Canada. For 2024, an individual needed to show they have $20,635, representing 75% of low-income cut-off (LICO), in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs. In 2025, IRCC plans to implement an annual increase to these requirements in line with LICO updates to ensure it remains an accurate reflection of the cost of living in Canada so that international students are financially prepared.  
• Enhancing the vitality of Francophone minority communities outside of Quebec by welcoming French-speaking international students through the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot program that will welcome its first cohort of students in 2025.
• Establishing a framework to update the fields of study that will be Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP)-eligible, following the 2024 update of the PGWP program. The framework will better align the program with immigration goals, including economic objectives and volume management targets, while ensuring the list of eligible fields of study reflects current national and regional labour market conditions.
• Updating the eligibility requirements for work permits issued to the spouses of international students and foreign workers. This will help ensure that Canada remains competitive in attracting people to support economic prosperity and innovation goals while meeting the labour needs of in-demand sectors such as healthcare and construction. 

Key risks

As demand from those wanting to work and study in Canada exceeds new temporary resident levels, inventories of temporary resident applications will continue to grow. This creates potential risks related to managing processing resources, client experience and satisfaction, and IRCC’s relationship with partners. Processing delays could also lead to prolonged wait times for learning institutions and Canadian businesses seeking to access specialized skills or top talent. These risks will be mitigated using strategies and tools to reduce the potential impact of increased inventories, as the Department prioritizes reducing wait times and improving service standards, while maintaining program integrity. Tools such as advanced analytics triage and targeted quality assurance continue to support IRCC in its effort to maintain service excellence while addressing program integrity risks and increased intakes.

IRCC’s ability to detect non-genuine and inadmissible temporary residents is a key element of its mandate to manage migration, and protect the health, safety and security of Canadians. In the years following the pandemic, the migration landscape has evolved with increasing global crises. Organized human smuggling, fraud, and abuse of IRCC’s programs continue to pose challenges. This has had an impact on confidence in the immigration system, and it is important that the Department is able to balance the economic and cultural benefits of international tourism, while keeping Canadians safe and our programs free of fraud.

Reduction of the temporary resident population is expected to have economic impacts which may not be felt equally across regions and sectors of the country. For international students, reductions will have more of an impact on the communities where they attend college or university, especially where student populations represent disproportionate shares of the population. A reduction in temporary workers may have a more significant impact on sectors or economic regions facing a tight labour market. As work continues to monitor and recalibrate Canada’s foreign worker programs, the Department will continue to prioritize key sectors such as agriculture, food processing, and healthcare to minimize adverse impacts on Canada’s economy, food supply chain, and other essential services. The Department will also continue to engage with provinces, territories and other federal departments on federal immigration program and policy development to help ensure Canada’s immigration system meets the country’s economic needs.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 3: Planned resources to achieve results for CR1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers

Table 3 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

The Department considers the intersectional impacts of its programs on an ongoing basis. As part of the TFW Program and IMP, IRCC captures and uses information about temporary workers’ gender, age, and citizenship to analyze the impacts of new or revised policies or regulations. International Experience Canada assesses potential new countries for factors that could impact work and travel for diverse populations, including women, Indigenous, racialized, and 2SLGBTQI+ youth.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Canada’s temporary immigration programs contribute to promoting inclusive and sustained economic growth, productive employment and decent work for all (SDG 8) and reducing inequality within and among countries (SDG 10).

In alignment with SDG 8 and 10, IRCC will continue to collaborate with international partners, including the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to sponsor activities related to ethical labour recruitment. The Department will continue to provide strong support for ethical recruitment practices through investments in regional projects.

More information on IRCC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in IRCC’s Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Innovation

In 2025–26, IRCC will continue its business transformation to modernize its programs and services through the development and phased implementation of its Digital Platform Modernization (DPM) programme. After launching a new online account for a subset of visitors in 2024, in 2025–26 IRCC will continue to roll out this new account to all IRCC clients which will eventually result in a single-window for all IRCC services. The temporary resident visa program has been selected as one of two initial programs to be developed in this system. In 2025–26, IRCC will also begin to design the new case management platform being delivered through DPM, with an early focus on visitors and Express Entry lines of business, to enable an end-to-end digital transformation of how applications are processed. Overall including through DPM, the Department will continue to improve services and program integrity by leveraging automation, advanced data analytics and optimizing processing capacity.

Program inventory

Core Responsibility 1: ‘Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers’ is supported by the following programs:

• Visitors
• International Students
• Temporary Workers

Additional information related to the program inventory for CR 1: ‘Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers’ is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

IRCC facilitates the admission and economic and social integration of immigrants and refugees who intend to stay in Canada permanently, while protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians. The Department selects economic immigrant applicants to contribute to the Canadian economy, processes family member applicants to reunite families, and processes refugee and protected person applicants to provide a safe haven for those facing persecution. IRCC works with partners to verify that individuals meet admissibility requirements before they enter Canada. In order to support immigrants and refugees in integrating into Canadian society, IRCC offers a variety of settlement support services through a network of service providers.

Quality of life impacts

This core responsibility contributes to the “Prosperity” and “Good governance” as well as “Fairness and inclusion” domains of the Quality-of-Life Framework for Canada and, more specifically “Household incomes” and “Employment”, “Personal safety”, “Confidence in institutions” and “Discrimination and unfair treatment” through all of the activities mentioned in the core responsibility description.

Indicators, results and targets

This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 4: Departmental Result 3: Potential permanent residents are selected for immigration to Canada

Table 4 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration.

 

Table 5: Departmental Result 4: Permanent residents are welcomed and benefit from settlement supports

Table 5 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration.

Table 6: Departmental Result 5: Immigrants and refugees achieve economic independence and contribute to labour force growth

Table 6 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration.

 

Table 7: Departmental Result 6: Immigrants and refugees feel part of and participate in Canadian society

Table 7 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration.

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

The following section describes the planned results for CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection
and Integration in 2025–26.

DR 3: Potential permanent residents are selected for immigration to Canada

In accordance with Canada’s annual Immigration Levels Plan, a targeted number of permanent residents are selected under each immigration category. Applicants are screened before being granted permanent residency. IRCC strives to process these demands within service standards and seeks to improve client satisfaction.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

• Using intake controls available in the federal high skilled permanent economic immigration programs managed by Express Entry to ensure that the application intake in Federal High Skilled program aligns with lower immigration levels, allowing us to continue to meet service standards. IRCC will use the Canadian Experience Class invitation to support transitions of select temporary residents already living and working in Canada in skilled occupations, for permanent residence.
• Leveraging category-based selection in Express Entry will prioritize the selection of candidates with work experience in in-demand occupations and support the Department in meeting Francophone immigration objectives. For 2025, the focus of the Express Entry class will be to invite candidates with experience working in Canada (Canadian Experience Class) to apply for permanent residence. IRCC will conduct category-based invitation rounds in the following categories: strong French language skills, or work experience in the fields of health care and social services, trades and education. This will help to ensure that newcomers contribute to Canada’s labour force, with strong employment outcomes, and above average earnings.
• Decreasing permanent resident admissions, as outlined in the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan to reduce pressures on housing and infrastructure in the short-term and foster sustainable growth in the long-term. Overall permanent resident admissions will decrease to 395,000 in 2025, then are notionally set at 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027. By 2027, 62% of overall admissions are anticipated to be economic, while 22% are expected to support family reunification. Resettled refugees and protected persons are expected to account for 15% of overall admissions, and 1.2% of admissions will be allocated to Humanitarian and Compassionate and public policies. It is anticipated that more than 40% of the overall permanent resident admissions in 2025 will be students or workers already in Canada.
• Working to ensure that 62% of permanent resident admissions occur through economic categories by 2027, IRCC will:
  • Target entrepreneurs with the skills to generate wealth and create jobs in Canada through Canada’s two business immigration programs, the Start-Up Visa Program and the Self-Employed Program. Client demand remains strong, and the admissions targets will be met in 2025, ensuring that entrepreneurial newcomers will build businesses in Canada. In 2025, IRCC will explore additional strategies to improve client satisfaction by building on the measures introduced in 2024 that reduced application intake and prioritized applications with a high likelihood of success.
  • Fill labour shortages in specific areas through regional economic immigration programs including the Economic Mobility Pathway Pilot, Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) and the Atlantic Immigration Program. These programs help fill labour shortages in specific areas and encourage newcomers to settle outside of bigger cities that may have limited capacity to absorb new residents. As part of broader efforts to reduce Canada’s temporary resident population, the PNP will increasingly serve as a pathway for existing temporary residents in Canada to transition to permanent residence. IRCC will work with participating provinces and territories to implement the Temporary public policy to facilitate work permits for prospective Provincial Nominee Program candidates. The public policy extends work authorization for up to two years, while PNP applications are being processed, to prospective nominees who faced work permit expiration in 2024. Eligible candidates will be nominated within two years via the PNP as a clear pathway to permanent residency.
• Working to ensure that 22% of permanent resident admissions occur through the family reunification category by 2027, IRCC will:
  • Simplify online content to improve the application experience and explore strategies to improve processing times and better communicate wait times to clients.
  • Implement a series of measures to improve the processing times for overseas applications of Spouses, Partners and Children.
• Working to ensure that 15% of permanent resident admissions are resettled refugees and protected persons by 2027, IRCC will:
  • Maintain a partnership with the International Organization for Migration as a key overseas delivery partner to meet resettlement targets in the 2025-2027 Levels Plan. IRCC will also continue its collaboration with domestic and international partners to identify refugees for resettlement, including sponsorship groups in Canada, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and other referral partners for specific vulnerable populations including Front Line Defenders, ProtectDefenders.eu, and Rainbow Railroad.
  • Implement Ministerial Instructions to better manage intake in the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program. This measure, which pauses the intake of sponsorship applications from the Group of Five and Community Sponsor sponsorship streams until December 31, 2025, will help prevent further growth in the application inventory, and will help move toward shorter and more predictable processing times for applicants and for sponsors. Advance our existing 2024–26 multi-year resettlement commitments under the Government-Assisted Refugee program. This includes resettling 12,000 refugees each from Africa, the Middle East (including Türkiye), and Asia-Pacific regions, and 4,000 refugees from the Americas by 2028.
• Working to ensure that 1.2% of permanent resident admissions are derived from Humanitarian and Compassionate and Other admissions by 2027, IRCC will continue to welcome individuals through targeted special measures.
• Engaging in efforts to meet the French-speaking permanent resident admissions target of 8.5% in 2025, as outlined in the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan. As required by the recent modernized Official Languages Act, the Policy on Francophone Immigration supports the development of Francophone minority communities outside Quebec. The Department will continue to expand promotion internationally and in Canada, leverage category-based selection rounds in Express Entry to meet this target. In addition, IRCC will identify opportunities to maximize admissions of French-speaking permanent residents, including through the development of a new economic program and measures dedicated to francophone immigration.
• Stabilizing, modernizing, and enhancing the resilience of Canada’s asylum system, through recent investments in technology and strategic reforms. These efforts demonstrate Canada’s recognition of the importance of a responsive framework that meets international obligations, while ensuring faster processing.
• Delivering the Interim Federal Health Program to ensure that resettled refugees, refugee claimants and certain other eligible groups receive healthcare coverage to address their urgent and essential medical needs. IRCC will continue to work with provinces and territories on access to legal aid, employment, and other settlement services for asylum claimants.
• Allocating $1.1 billion of additional funding to Interim Housing Assistance Program over three years, beginning in 2024–25 through the Government Budget 2024, with a focus on sustainable and cost-effective approaches. This builds on the work already underway to launch models like reception centres and providing funding to non-profit organizations.
• Advancing the Crisis Response Framework (CRF) to ensure the tools are available to better anticipate, respond to, and manage emerging crises by providing a consistent and equitable approach to services and support (e.g., Interim Federal Health Program coverage, settlement services), when immigration responses are deemed appropriate. Building on lessons learned from recent responses, the Framework includes assessment criteria and tools to effectively monitor, assess and implement migration responses to crises, and enable coordination with provinces and territories, partners and stakeholders.
• Advancing Canada’s strategic goals on migration and refugee protection by engaging with international partners to inform migration management through exchange of best practices and lessons learned. Key engagements will include continued cooperation with close international partners like the Five Countries, members of the G7, EU, as well as multilateral and regional organizations such as the UNHCR, IOM, International Labour Organization, the UN Network on Migration, among others.
• Promoting the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, Regular Migration, and regular migration pathways, gender-responsive approaches, balanced migration narratives, and social cohesion practices at multilateral forums, including the upcoming 2026 International Migration Review Forum. The Department recognizes the importance of enhancing regional capacities to manage irregular migration and forced displacement, including in the context of climate change.
• Supporting the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), specifically the third objective to expand refugee access to third country solutions: resettlement and complementary pathways of admission. As part of this effort, IRCC will continue to advance its delivery and implementation of Canada’s 2023 Global Refugee Forum pledges in support of the GCR. This includes sustained levels of resettlement spaces to Canada, promoting the development and expansion of community sponsorship programs for refugees globally as a partner in the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative, and supporting meaningful refugee participation in international forums on refugee protection matters.
• Advancing Government of Canada pledges from the 2023 Global Refugee Forum to explore a potential new complementary pathway for refugee students and to make the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot a permanent program, by the end of 2025.

DR 4: Permanent residents are welcomed and benefit from settlement supports

Canada welcomes newcomers and funds service provider organisations to support the integration of permanent residents.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

• Putting in place new funding agreements to support the integration of newcomers. On November 14, 2023, IRCC’s Settlement and Resettlement Assistance Programs launched the 2024 Call for Proposals (CFP) to seek proposals from settlement and resettlement service organizations across Canada, outside of Quebec. The CFP 2024 aims to advance the Department’s priorities and commitments to Anti-Racism, Gender-based Analysis Plus, and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion through targeted improvements. As of April 2025, new three-year funding agreements have been put in place with hundreds of settlement and resettlement service organizations across Canada.
  • Delivering a strengthened suite of settlement and resettlement services in French through the Francophone Integration Pathway to ensure French-speaking newcomers are able to access high quality services to support their integration and to enhance the vitality of Francophone Minority Communities.
  • Delivering settlement services that improve opportunities for newcomers facing barriers including by offering women’s only language programming, support services such as child-care, and supports for newcomers with disabilities.

DR 5: Immigrants and refugees achieve economic independence and contribute to labour force growth

Immigration attracts individuals with skills that allow them to quickly integrate into the Canadian economy.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

• Monitoring occupations that face persistent structural shortages, including in health, trades, transport, hospitality, and natural and applied sciences. Strengthening collaboration and coordination with expanded partners such as other federal departments, provinces and territories will better ensure that immigration levels planning aligns with labour market needs.
• Scrutinizing economic program selection decisions and outcomes, and making changes to program requirements. This will help ensure that we select individuals who will succeed economically and can find jobs that match their skills and qualifications.
• Working closely with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), provincial and territorial partners, to address barriers that may delay or prevent internationally educated professionals from working in regulated occupations. IRCC’s efforts include:
  • Supporting employment-related services, including those tailored to racialized newcomer women and youth;
  • Leveraging the recently funded projects under the Settlement Program to focus intensive sector-specific programming on five key in-demand sectors of the labour market (including health, education, trades, transportation, and STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), including supporting newcomers in navigating pathways to licensure;
  • Continuing to modernize and streamline the way IRCC designates organizations to conduct educational credential assessments for the purposes of immigration to ensure fairness and accessibility for newcomers, while aiming to provide better linkages to regulatory bodies early in the immigration process;
  • Looking at ways to align the Department’s federal economic immigration requirements with licensure processes, particularly as they relate to language testing and educational credential assessment requirements;
  • Strengthening engagement with employers through a growing network of Immigration Employment Councils to help Canadian employers benefit from a diverse workforce and foster workplaces that are inclusive and supportive of newcomer employees; and
  • Supporting ESDC efforts in Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR) by funding services that aim to improve newcomers’ access to information on navigating FCR processes, particularly in the healthcare sector.

DR 6: Immigrants and refugees feel part of and participate in Canadian society

Immigrant integration is a shared effort with federal, provincial/territorial and municipal partners, service providers, and civil society which encourages immigrants to contribute to building a stronger Canada.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

• Investing in settlement services and improving opportunities for newcomers by addressing barriers to integration for specific populations through targeted programming.
• Investing in resettlement services to ensure that newly-resettled Government-Assisted Refugees (GARs) have their essential needs met on arrival in Canada, including access to temporary accommodation and help finding permanent housing. IRCC will also continue to provide income support to GARs, to help ensure their basic needs are met during their first year in Canada.
• Building partnerships with local immigration networks:
  • IRCC will continue to support Local Immigration Partnerships and Zonal Immigration Partnerships to build communities that facilitate the full participation of newcomers in Canadian society.
  • The 13 Réseaux en immigration francophone (Francophone Immigration Networks) will continue to work with Francophone and Acadian communities, to attract, recruit, welcome and integrate French-speaking newcomers.
• Completing the renewal and the expansion of the Welcoming Francophone Communities (WFCs) Initiative. IRCC has selected 10 new participating communities to be part of the expansion, with 24 WFCs expected to be operational in 2025–26.
• Delivering services under Settlement Workers in Schools which provides school-based settlement programming to support the integration of newcomer students and their families, while fostering inclusion and intercultural competence.

Key risks

In response to the pandemic and labour shortages, we brought in temporary immigration measures to attract some of the world’s best and brightest to study and work in Canada, which supported the urgent needs of businesses. The plan worked by continuing the contribution of immigrants to the economy in a challenging period. Canada experienced unprecedented population growth in recent years, surpassing 41 million in April 2024. Immigration accounted for almost 98% of this growth in 2023. This growth affected Canada’s ability to effectively integrate newcomers, while negatively impacting public support for immigration. To mitigate this risk, the 2025-2027 Levels Plan outlines decreases in overall permanent resident admissions. Including temporary resident arrivals in the Plan supports a more integrated approach to immigration planning. Improved planning will strengthen the whole-of-government approach to immigration and better align intake with community capacity.

As international crises continue to arise, Canada is increasingly called upon to address unique humanitarian situations, including through immigration measures when appropriate. IRCC’s Crisis Response Framework (CRF) provides the foundation to help better anticipate, respond to, and manage emerging crises in support of a controlled and well managed migration system. It applies a consistent principles-based assessment criteria to inform recommendations on whether and how to mount a migration response. This includes ensuring alignment with the Immigration Levels Plan and domestic welcoming capacities, including those of provinces and territories, settlement service-provider organizations, and other key partners.

High admissions, combined with Canada’s response to global humanitarian crises in recent years, have placed additional pressure on the Resettlement and Settlement Program’s service delivery. Resettlement Program costs have increased and securing permanent accommodations for GARs has become more challenging as rental costs have increased. The reduction in immigration levels over the next few years will impact Settlement Program funding, which would reduce the capacity of service provider organizations (SPOs) to meet the needs of higher numbers of clients. As a result, the risk to service delivery remains high. GARs may be spending longer periods of time in temporary accommodations while appropriate permanent accommodations can be secured, which will both drive up program costs and delay the settlement of these clients. In addition, other eligible clients will likely need to wait longer before being able to access necessary settlement services. To mitigate this risk, IRCC is prioritizing high-quality core Settlement and Resettlement services to ensure service continuity for newcomers, capitalizing on innovative approaches to service delivery while also identifying efficiencies where possible. The Department will also continue to maintain open lines of communication with service provider organizations and invest in the sector.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 8: Planned resources to achieve results for CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration

Table 8 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

Settlement programming aims to meet the needs of all newcomers, including those who experience greater barriers to integration such as persons with disabilities, women, youth, seniors, refugees and LGBTQI+ individuals and racialized newcomers. IRCC will continue integrating GBA Plus to address inequities in program design and implementation to support inclusive outcomes for newcomers and refugees. This will include the provision of targeted programming designed to meet the needs of specific newcomer population groups facing barriers to settlement and integration, including supporting access to services.

To support the development of policies and programs that reflect the lived reality of our clients, IRCC has formed a Council of Newcomers. Reporting to the Deputy Minister and founded on the principle of “nothing about us, without us,” IRCC will engage with the Council in the coming year, to support informed decision-making on policies and programs.

Migration responses to crises may implicate different populations and sub-groups. These populations are characterized by demographic diversity which shape immediate needs in the short term, as well as settlement and integration outcomes over the longer term. People forced to migrate due to crises are more likely to have experienced trauma, torture, forced displacement, sexual and gender-based violence, and have additional barriers to services compared to non-crisis populations. The Crisis Response Framework (CRF) aims to support decision-making by establishing an evidence-based assessment mechanism to inform when a migration response may be warranted for particular situations, informed by the needs of affected populations and equity considerations. Canada continues to be committed to gender-responsive migration approaches, programs, and policies to promote gender equality and empower women, girls, and LGBTQI+ individuals on the move. As a Champion Country for the Global Compact for Migration, Canada prioritizes gender-responsive migration management, including continuing to fund international capacity-building projects and research that enhance gender-responsive migration practices. Additionally, Canada will engage with key UNHCR officials and other delegations to monitor and advocate for the UNHCR’s commitments to women and girls.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

IRCC will advance its gender-responsive policies and programs, enhancing its capacity to apply intersectional GBA Plus analysis across all immigration programs, to support SDG 5 and SDG 10. By addressing barriers faced by diverse groups, IRCC aims to ensure equitable access to immigration pathways, supporting gender equality and reduced inequalities. IRCC’s leadership on Canada’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security will continue, focusing on the protection of women and girls through robust immigration processes.

To address Canada’s economic and labour market needs amid adjusted immigration levels, IRCC will maintain targeted immigration priorities to support economic growth, innovation, and demographic stability (SDG 8 and SDG 9). This includes expanding pathways for high-demand occupations, enhancing newcomer support systems for effective labour market integration, and fostering Francophone immigration to bolster Canada’s bilingual character and economic prosperity.

IRCC’s in-Canada asylum program will continue providing protection to individuals fleeing persecution, torture, or cruel treatment, aligning with SDG 10 on reducing inequalities. To further support migrants in vulnerable situations, IRCC will continue offering the Open Work Permit for those in situations of vulnerability and enhancing resources for newcomers affected by gender-based violence.

More information on IRCC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in IRCC’s Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Innovation

In collaboration with the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University, the Department will test a data-driven algorithmic solution, known as GeoMatch, to help economic immigrants choose where to settle in Canada. GeoMatch combines an income prediction model, regional characteristics, and users’ location and other preferences to generate personalized recommendations on locations in Canada where immigrants could achieve their strongest economic outcomes. This voluntary innovative Proof of Concept pilot will test GeoMatch with a cohort of Express Entry candidates and has the potential to enhance the client experience and economic outcomes of participants.

To respond to immediate pressures facing the in-Canada asylum system, IRCC is pursuing processes and technology enhancements that will contribute to streamlining the intake and processing of asylum claims.

Program inventory

Core Responsibility 2: ‘Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration’ is supported by the following programs:

• Federal Economic Immigration
• Regional Economic Immigration
• Family Reunification
• Humanitarian/Compassionate and Discretionary Immigration
• Refugee Resettlement
• Asylum
• Settlement

Additional information related to the program inventory for CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Core responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Description

IRCC promotes the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship, and issues secure and internationally recognized Canadian citizenship and travel documents so that Canadians can participate fully in civic society and so that travel is facilitated across borders while contributing to international and domestic security.

Quality of life impacts

This core responsibility contributes to the “Society” and “Good governance” as well as “Fairness and inclusion” domains of the Quality-of-Life Framework for Canada and, more specifically “Sense of belonging”, “Confidence in institutions” and “Performance of socio-economic groups” through all of the activities mentioned in the core responsibility description.

Indicators, results and targets

This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for CR3: Citizenship and Passports. Details are presented by departmental result.

Table 9: Departmental Result 7: Eligible permanent residents become Canadian citizens

Table 9 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR3: Citizenship and Passports.

 

Table 10: Departmental Result 8: Canadians’ international travel is facilitated

Table 10 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR3: Citizenship and Passports.

 

Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Plans to achieve results

The following section describes the planned results for CR3: Citizenship and Passports in 2025–26.

DR 7: Eligible permanent residents become Canadian citizens

The final step of the immigration process is for permanent resident to be granted Citizenship. IRCC strives to process these demands within service standards and seeks to improve client satisfaction.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

• Modernizing and making improvements to the Citizenship Program, to help Canada meet its goal of having 85% of permanent residents naturalize and become citizens. Changes include expanding the citizenship grant e-application to minors and family groups, implementing facilitative measures for the online knowledge test, and supporting up-front language and knowledge waiver requests.
• Planning meaningful citizenship ceremonies and working to increase the participation of Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, in support of IRCC’s commitment of Reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples.

DR 8: Canadians’ international travel is facilitated

IRCC strives to process travel document applications within service standards and seeks to improve client satisfaction, and ensure that Canadian travel documents continue to be internationally recognized.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

• Expanding a new online channel for a subset of passport clients (adult online renewal) through the Digital Platform Modernization programme that IRCC began rolling out in 2024.
• Leveraging the new passport processing system to expedite processing by enhancing automation.
• Deploying the new passport issuance platform to offices abroad, improving services for Canadians outside of Canada.
• Continuing to closely monitor passport application demand and working to streamline operational processes to improve processing times and client service. Due to the nature of the 10-year passport’s business cycle, it is expected that at least 4.5 million travel documents will be issued annually through 2027–28, with volumes expected to decline to around 4.0 million annually in the following five-year period. Application volumes have risen due to the increase in renewal applications as first-generation 10-year passport holders became eligible for renewal starting in 2023.
• Contributing to the Government of Canada’s campaign for re-election to the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Council by highlighting the Department’s participation at ICAO forums and working groups. IRCC will ensure changes to standards are implemented to meet compliance requirements at home and that capacity for uptake is increased abroad to facilitate overseas travel. 

Key risks

IRCC will proactively identify and mitigate service delivery risks to effectively facilitate Canadians’ international travel. The Department continues to enhance the client experience by regularly surveying feedback and tracking service standard performance, allowing for interventions to address service delivery standards. By closely monitoring passport demand and client behaviour, IRCC will position itself and its service delivery partners to proactively meet targets and adapt to evolving circumstances. The Department continues to work with our service delivery partners to improve processing to enhance client services and access. The Passport Program is moving towards online applications which will increase both the efficiency of the program and ease-of-use for clients.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 11: Planned resources to achieve results for CR3: Citizenship and Passports

Table 11 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Related government priorities

Gender-based analysis plus

The Department collects data for the Citizenship Program based on gender (including the “X” gender identifier), date of birth, place of birth, official language results, citizenship test results and linkages with permanent residence admissions data. This data supports the Department to undertake a GBA Plus analysis on programs and to support efforts to improve policy outcomes for people who experience greater barriers to accessing services. IRCC uses age-based requirements and/or different fees for naturalization to facilitate equitable access to citizenship for minors and seniors.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Expanding digital citizenship and passport services supports developing effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels (SDG 16).

IRCC is committed to making Canadian citizenship more accessible for all eligible permanent residents, which supports the objectives of promoting inclusive and sustained economic growth, productive employment and decent work for all (SDG 8).

More information on IRCC’s contributions to Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan on the 2030 Agenda and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy can be found in IRCC’s Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Innovation

IRCC continues to digitize its citizenship workload and take advantage of electronic tools, including digital processing, e-applications, the online knowledge test, and electronic citizenship certificates. While in-person citizenship ceremonies are available to all, IRCC offers virtual ceremonies, increasing accessibility to clients in remote and rural communities.

IRCC works closely with ESDC and Service Canada to improve passport service delivery. IRCC’s new online account being delivered through the Digital Platform Modernization programme will support streamlining across programs, because it will allow clients to apply for all IRCC services with the same account.

Program inventory

Core Responsibility 3: ‘Citizenship and Passports’ is supported by the following programs:

• Citizenship
• Passport

Additional information related to the program inventory for Citizenship and Passports is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Internal services

In this section

• Description
• Plans to achieve results
• Key risks
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

Plans to achieve results

This section presents details on how the Department plans to achieve results and meet targets for internal services.

Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:

Information Technology

• Continuing the roll out of its new single-window online account for clients, as part of the Digital Platform Modernization programme. Once rolled-out to all client groups, this new account will offer a more seamless online experience with improved client support, a single online window to access and apply for IRCC services, and real-time information about the status of applications. It will also lay the foundations to address challenges related to obtaining physical status credentials by giving the ability to a subset of clients to access and share digital status credentials.
• Focusing digital transformation efforts on designing and beginning to implement a new Case Management Platform which will eventually replace IRCC’s aging Global Case Management System. Once fully implemented (over several years) the new case management platform will serve as the primary system to process applications and issue IRCC documents.
• Recognizing the increasing demand and transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), IRCC is committed to adopting AI responsibly to drive operational efficiencies, enhance service and program delivery, and strengthen integrity measures. AI systems are not used to refuse applications, or to deny entry to Canada. IRCC officers remain at the core of immigration processing, exercising full authority and discretion in decision-making. IRCC will continue to align AI solutions with federal public service values and international best practices, ensuring ethical use and secure deployment.
• Prioritizing delivery of analytics services that enable/support data-driven business decisions and the implementation a holistic approach to enterprise data management.
• Advancing our approach to data management and supporting the 2023–26 data strategy, IRCC has developed a new data service strategy, to be implemented by 2025–26, which ensures a structured and client-responsive approach that not only enhances data accessibility and security but also supports continuous improvement across IRCC’s programs.

Human Resources: Workforce Engagement & Workplace

• Supporting a high performing, adaptive, diverse workforce with strong leadership. To strengthen these goals, a Workforce and Workplace Strategy for IRCC is under development and will be implemented in 2025–28. The Strategy aims to align human resource strategies to business and financial priorities. The Strategy will be accompanied by an action plan to address workforce and workplace priorities.
• Ensuring that employees occupying supervisory positions in bilingual regions are fluently bilingual as per the modernization of the Official Languages Act. Employees and managers will be equipped with knowledge and tools to foster a bilingual environment.
• Streamlining the accommodation process through the work of the Employee Support Office, and its partners who assist employees and managers in getting the tools, support and measures needed for an inclusive and barrier-free workplace and ensure sound application of the Duty to Accommodate.
• Launching the Organizational Ombuds Office. The Office will provide a confidential and informal resource where employees can voice concerns, seek guidance, and resolve conflicts in the interest of providing a supportive work environment, while enhancing engagement, promoting fairness and trust, and identifying systemic workplace issues.
• Providing multiple options for addressing workplace issues and concerns, including the informal approach. The Office of Conflict Resolution supports staff at all levels of the organization in preventing, managing and resolving workplace conflicts through capacity building and informal conflict management services.

Management and Oversight Services

• Updating IRCC’s Departmental Results Framework (DRF) by reviewing the reporting structure, results and performance metrics to improve its alignment with the relevant legal statutes and regulations, departmental mandates and ever-evolving immigration landscape. The amendments will be reflected in the 2026–27 Departmental Plan, where a more streamlined DRF will allow the Department to report on the accomplishment of its plans and results using evidence-based performance metrics.
• Monitoring and reporting on the progress of the 2025-2027 IRCC Strategic Plan with annual updates, informed by regular periodic reviews. The Strategic Plan is the internal guide for the Department on how to achieve its mandate and objectives; it provides direction to plan and prioritize work, allocate resources and mitigate risks. The Strategic Plan annual update will be influenced by the DRF renewal, as well as the annual setting of targets and review of departmental priorities.
• Updating IRCC’s Departmental Results Risk Profile (DRRP) to align with the new IRCC Strategic Plan and renewal of the DRF to provide greater focus on key risks to the achievement of departmental results. This streamlined approach will allow the Department to collect and report on its top strategic risks to monitor through the DRRP.
• Leading initiatives to manage and address the rising number of access to information and privacy (ATIP) requests, including collaborations with internal stakeholders to improve access to personal information. IRCC receives 60% of all ATIP requests in the federal government. Digital modernization efforts that are being implemented aim to reduce IRCC’s ATIP volumes as it will allow clients to easily access their information online.

Real Property/Material Management Services

• Creating unassigned flexible work location hubs, in the National Capital Region and across the country to help reintegrate IRCC’s workforce to the office.
• Engaging in efforts to better respond to the needs of clients and employees with disabilities. The Department will support an inclusive and accessible workplace by completing several GCworkplace projects and furniture modernization. Areas to be addressed are all-access washrooms and the installation and modernization of automatic door openers.

Key risks

To prevent key systems being compromised, which, among other potential consequences, could lead to privacy breaches and/or delay the Department’s transformation agenda, IRCC continues to strengthen its vulnerability identification, monitoring and response efforts. The Workforce and Workplace Strategy and plan 2025-2027 will include measures to mitigate the risk of losing the Department’s talent by introducing a mobility framework, and by equipping IRCC with workforce strategies to implement. The reductions in levels of permanent and temporary admissions could trigger a surge in requests for information on individual applications. Digital modernization efforts are being implemented incrementally and aim to reduce IRCC’s ATIP volumes as they will allow clients to easily access their information online.

The Department will continue to mature our processes and practices for managing and reporting on risks in a consistent, accountable and systematic way. These practices are aimed at fostering a risk-informed culture and risk-informed decision-making that contribute to the attainment of the organization’s strategic priorities with the intended results.

Planned resources to achieve results

Table 12: Planned resources to achieve results for internal services this year

Table 12 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.

Complete financial and human resources information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Government of Canada departments are to meet a target of awarding at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses each year. This commitment is to be fully implemented by the end of 2024–25.

IRCC is committed to meeting this goal. In the 2023–24 fiscal year, IRCC exceeded the 5% target and awarded 5.85% (approximately $37.9M) of its contracts to Indigenous businesses.

Contracting officers and budget managers are encouraged to consider Indigenous businesses in any procurement process. IRCC currently maximizes opportunities by encouraging the increased use of Indigenous supplier solicitations in commodities such as management consulting, computer equipment and software. IRCC aims to increase Indigenous business further via designated solicitation streams in the information technology Omnibus Professional Services contract renewals, incorporating Indigenous considerations in major procurements, such as those within the Digital Platform Modernization programme, computer equipment ever-greening programs and incentivizing contractors to use Indigenous Participation Plans (IPPs). IPPs facilitate prime contractors that may not be Indigenous owned to direct subcontracts to Indigenous firms for portions of the overall contracted work. In addition, IPPs enhance indirect benefits to Indigenous communities and suppliers as portions of a contracts total value may be allocated to providing training, career development and scholarships to Indigenous Peoples. Overall IPPs will enhance IRCC’S capability to reach further into the Indigenous Business Community to meet its 5% target.

The following table shows in percentages the actual, forecasted and planned value for the Indigenous Business target. There were no Deputy Head exceptions taken into account in the calculations below.

Table 13: Percentage of contracts planned and awarded to Indigenous businesses

Table 13 presents the current, actual results with forecasted and planned results for the total percentage of contracts the Department awarded to Indigenous businesses.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of IRCC’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2025–26 with actual spending from previous years.

In this section

• Spending
• Funding
• Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
• Human resources

Spending

This section presents an overview of the Department's planned expenditures from 2022–23 to 2027–28.

Graph 1: Planned spending by core responsibility in 2025–26

Graph 1 presents how much the Department plans to spend in 2025–26 to carry out core responsibilities and internal services.

Text description of Graph 1

Core responsibilities and internal services	2025–26 planned spending
CR 1. Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers	427,247,353
CR 2. Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration	3,999,913,801
CR 3. Citizenship & Passports	117,646,909
Internal services	629,219,589

Analysis of planned spending by core responsibility

In 2025–26, the Department plans on spending $427.2 million under Core Responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers. Resources under this core responsibility will be used to facilitate the entry of persons who wish to come to Canada temporarily. IRCC processes visas, electronic travel authorizations, and work and study permits for tourists, business travelers, international students and temporary workers, whose spending and presence in Canada benefit the economy.

The Department also plans on spending $4.0 billion under Core Responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration. Resources under this core responsibility will be used to facilitate the admission and economic and social integration of immigrants and refugees who intend to stay in Canada permanently. The Department selects economic immigrant applicants, processes family member applicants to reunite families, and processes refugee and protected person applicants to provide a safe haven for those facing persecution. In order to support immigrants and refugees in integrating into Canadian society, IRCC offers a variety of settlement support services through a network of service providers.

Furthermore, the Department plans on spending $117.6 million under Core Responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports. Resources under this core responsibility will be used to promote the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship, and issue secure and internationally recognized Canadian citizenship and travel documents so that Canadians can participate fully in civic society and so that travel is facilitated across borders while contributing to international and domestic security.

Finally, the Department plans on spending $629.2 million for Internal Services. These resources are provided to the Department to meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs.

Budgetary performance summary

Table 14: Three-year spending summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

Table 14 presents how much money IRCC spent over the past three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services. Amounts for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on spending to date.

Analysis of the past three years of spending

The 2023–24 actual spending increased by $785.1 million (or 15%) in comparison with 2022–23. The increase is mainly due to the increase in healthcare provision to eligible beneficiaries under the Interim Federal Health Program, in immigration levels, in interim housing of asylum claimants in 2023–24 under the Interim Housing Assistance Program, in funding for Canada’s response to the Ukrainian crisis, in temporary accommodation and support services costs in response to a higher number of asylum claimants, as well as an increase in spending for the Canada-Quebec Accord. IRCC also made investments to stabilize its resources available for temporary resident processing as a result of a growing number of visitors, workers and students; and to stabilize its existing information technology infrastructure while advancing the transformation and modernizing agenda and set foundation for new digital services.

The increase in the 2024–25 forecast spending is mainly attributable to funding received through the supplementary estimates process for:

• The continued delivery of the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) to cover incremental expenditures related to the provision of healthcare to eligible beneficiaries;
• The one-time stand-alone payment to Quebec in recognition of expenses for the provision of services to asylum claimants, including temporary housing;
• The renewal and extension of the Interim Housing Assistance Program for asylum claimants;
• The continued provision of temporary accommodations to asylum claimants due to the continued high volume of claimants arriving in Canada; and
• The implementation of Tranche 1 and 2 of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 programme, including the implementation of front-facing capabilities for all IRCC clients to improve client experience and streamline application intake as well as the procurement and implementation of the back-end Case Management Platform.

More financial information from previous years is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase. 

 

Table 15: Planned three-year spending on core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

Table 15 presents how much money IRCC plans to spend over the next three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services.

Analysis of the next three years of spending

The total planned expenditures are decreasing by $1.6 billion (or 30%) over three years. The decreasing trend is seen across all core responsibilities and is mainly attributable to:

• The temporary top-up funding for the Interim Federal Health Program ending in 2025–26 to manage asylum-related expenditures as the system continues to respond to elevated claim volumes;
• The extension of funding for the Interim Housing Assistance Program ending in 2026–27 to support jurisdictions on housing-related pressures associated with heightened volumes of asylum claimants as the Department draws down its hotel operations; and
• The decrease of funding following the decision to reduce immigration levels as part of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan.

Even though the planned expenditures are decreasing over three years, the Department will continue to enhance efficiency and boost productivity. The Department is modernizing its operations, implementing new policies and infrastructure to improve services and transform the way it does business. This transformation will support IRCC’s ability to successfully achieve Departmental results, now and in the future.

More detailed financial information on planned spending is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.

Table 16: Budgetary gross and net planned spending summary (dollars)

Table 16 reconciles gross planned spending with net spending for 2025–26.

Analysis of budgetary gross and net planned spending summary

Through its activities, the Department collects revenues on behalf of the government. Of these collected revenues, the Department has the authority to re-spend its revenues for the Passport Program and the International Experience Canada Program.

The International Experience Canada Program operates on a vote-netted revenue basis, where the Department has the permission to collect and spend revenues earned. Its revenues are generated through the collection of a participation fee.

The Passport Program operates on a full cost-recovery basis over its 10-year business cycle and generates revenues through fees paid for passports and other travel documents.

Information on the alignment of IRCC’s spending with Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available on GC InfoBase.

Funding

This section provides an overview of the Department’s voted and statutory funding for its core responsibilities and for internal services. For further information on funding authorities, consult the Government of Canada budgets and expenditures.

Graph 2: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period

Graph 2 summarizes the Department’s approved voted and statutory funding from 2022–23 to 2027–28.

Text description of graph 2

Fiscal Year	Total	Voted	Statutory
2022–23	5,209,116,970	4,749,256,681	459,860,289
2023–24	5,994,255,316	5,712,653,980	281,601,336
2024–25	6,578,880,383	6,394,434,387	184,445,996
2025–26	5,174,027,652	5,006,681,805	167,345,847
2026–27	4,074,143,581	3,930,671,508	143,472,073
2027–28	3,596,483,723	3,467,489,412	128,994,311

Analysis of statutory and voted funding over a six-year period

The graph above represents actual spending incurred by the Department from 2022–23 to 2023–24, the forecast spending for 2024–25 based on approved authorities and planned spending from 2025–26 to 2027–28. As illustrated, IRCC's actual spending increased from fiscal year 2022–23 through to fiscal year 2023–24 mainly due to the incremental funding received for the Interim Housing Assistance Program, the Interim Federal Health Program, the Immigration Levels Plan, the crisis in Ukraine, and the temporary accommodation for asylum claimants.

The increase in the 2024–25 forecast spending is mainly attributable to funding received through the supplementary estimates process for the Interim Federal Health Program, the one-time stand-alone payment to Quebec for costs related to asylum seekers, the Interim Housing Assistance Program, the provision of temporary accommodations to asylum claimants, and the implementation of Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 programme.

Planned expenditures will decrease significantly after 2024–25 as temporary funding will end for the Interim Federal Health Program and the Interim Housing Assistance Program; as well as a decrease in funding following the decision to reduce immigration levels as part of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan.

For further information on IRCC’s departmental appropriations, consult the 2025–26 Main Estimates.

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations

The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of IRCC’s operations for 2024–25 to 2025–26.

Table 17: Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ended March 31, 2026 (dollars)

Table 17 summarizes the expenses and revenues which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers for 2024–25 to 2025–26. The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

Analysis of forecasted and planned results

The decrease in spending from 2024–25 to 2025–26 is mainly attributable to decreases in funding for:

• The Interim Housing Assistance Program for asylum claimants;
• The Immigration Levels Plan;
• The provision of temporary accommodations and support services to asylum claimants; and
• The Government of Canada’s commitment to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals.

Total revenues are expected to decrease by $64.8 million, or 9.5%, in 2025–26 compared to forecast results for 2024–25, mainly attributable to a decrease in the anticipated demand projections.

A more detailed Future‑Oriented Statement of Operations and associated Notes for 2025–26, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, is available on IRCC’s website.

Human resources

This section presents an overview of the Department’s actual and planned human resources from 2022–23 to 2027–28. 

Table 18: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 18 shows a summary of human resources, in full-time equivalents, for IRCC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on year to date.

Analysis of human resources over the last three years

The 2023–24 actual FTEs increased by 1,413 FTEs (or 13%) in comparison with 2022–23. The increase is mainly due to growth in the workforce in support of the increased levels in permanent resident admissions, and the investments made to stabilize its resources available for temporary resident processing as a result of a growing number of visitors, workers and students; and to stabilize its existing information technology infrastructure while advancing the transformation and modernizing agenda and set foundation for new digital services.

The increase in the 2024–25 forecasted FTEs is mainly attributable to personnel funding received through the supplementary estimates process for:

• The full Tranche 1 implementation of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 programme, including the implementation of front-facing capabilities for all IRCC clients to improve client experience and streamline application intake;
• The Digital Platform Modernization (DPM) Phase 3 to support Tranche 2 implementation, for which the primary activities are the procurement and implementation of the back-end Case Management Platform; and
• The partial visa imposition on Mexico, mainly to ensure that the Department is able to establish a high level of client service for all applicants from Mexico and preserve the current level of client service globally.

Table 19: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 19 shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents, for each of IRCC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for the next three years.

Analysis of human resources for the next three years

The planned full-time equivalents are decreasing by 1,432 FTEs (or 11%) over three years. The decreasing trend is seen across all core responsibilities and is mainly attributable to:

• The decrease of personnel funding following the decision to reduce immigration levels as part of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan;
• The temporary personnel funding ending in 2025–26 for the full Tranche 1 implementation of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 programme, including the implementation of front-facing capabilities for all IRCC clients to improve client experience and streamline application intake;
• The temporary personnel funding ending in 2026–27 for the implementation of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 Tranche 2, enabled by the procurement of a new back-end Case Management Platform;
• The Department’s commitment to reduce spending as announced in Budget 2023 Refocusing Government Spending; and
• The decrease in personnel funding to stabilize Canada’s asylum system and further streamline the processing of asylum claims to allow the system to function more effectively and efficiently in the face of increased volumes, while supporting enhanced program integrity.

Corporate information

Departmental profile

Appropriate minister: The Hon. Lena Metlege Diab, P.C., K.C., M.P.

Institutional head: Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar

Ministerial portfolio: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Enabling instruments: Section 95 of the Constitution Act, 1867, the Citizenship Act, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and the Canadian Passport Order.

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1994

Departmental contact information

Mailing address:

365 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1
Canada

Telephone: 1-888-242-2100

Email: ParliamentaryReports-RapportsParlementaires@cic.gc.ca

Website: Immigration and citizenship - Canada.ca

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on IRCC’s website:

• Details on transfer payment programs
• Gender‑based analysis plus

Information on IRCC’s departmental sustainable development strategy can be found on IRCC’s website.

Federal tax expenditures

IRCC’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.

This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.

Definitions

List of terms

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, departments or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full-time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

Is an analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs, and other initiatives. GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is impacted by the issue or opportunity being addressed by the initiative; identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet diverse needs of the people most impacted; and anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or benefitting from the initiative. GBA Plus is an intersectional analysis that goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences to consider other factors, such as age, disability, education, ethnicity, economic status, geography (including rurality), language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

Using GBA Plus involves taking a gender- and diversity-sensitive approach to our work. Considering all intersecting identity factors as part of GBA Plus, not only sex and gender, is a Government of Canada commitment.

government priorities (priorités gouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2025–26 Departmental Plan, government priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the most recent Speech from the Throne.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Indigenous business (entreprise autochtones)

For the purpose of the Directive on the Management of Procurement Appendix E: Mandatory Procedures for Contracts Awarded to Indigenous Businesses and the Government of Canada’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses, a department that meets the definition and requirements as defined by the Indigenous Business Directory.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Non-budgetary authorities that comprise assets and liabilities transactions for loans, investments and advances, or specified purpose accounts, that have been established under specific statutes or under non-statutory authorities in the Estimates and elsewhere. Non-budgetary transactions are those expenditures and receipts related to the government's financial claims on, and obligations to, outside parties. These consist of transactions in loans, investments and advances; in cash and accounts receivable; in public money received or collected for specified purposes; and in all other assets and liabilities. Other assets and liabilities, not specifically defined in G to P authority codes are to be recorded to an R authority code, which is the residual authority code for all other assets and liabilities.

performance (rendement)

What a department did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the department intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of a department, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how a department intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to a department, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single department, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the department’s influence.

statutory expenditures(dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target(cible)

A measurable performance or success level that a department, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

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