Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's 2024–25 Departmental Results Report

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
• Progress on results
• Details on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Core responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration

In this section

• Description
• Quality of life impacts
• Progress on results
• Details on results
• Key risks
• Resources required to achieve results
• Related government priorities
• Program inventory

Details on results

The following section describes the results for Core responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration in 2024–25 compared with the planned results set out in IRCC’s departmental plan for the year.

Departmental Result 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 achieved

• Admitted 483,640 new permanent residents (PRs) in 2024, which fell within the planned range for PR admissions, as outlined in the 2024–2026 Immigration Levels Plan.
  • 58% of permanent resident admissions were in the economic class, 22% were family class admissions, and the remaining 20% were in the refugee and humanitarian classes.
• Met the planned admission ranges for most categories in the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan.
  • Federal economic PR admissions: Fell within the Levels Plan range.
  • Regional economic PR admissions: Surpassed the Levels Plan range.
  • Family class admissions: Fell within the Levels Plan range.
  • Refugee admissions: Fell within the Levels Plan range.
  • Protected persons admissions: Fell within the Levels Plan range.
  • Humanitarian & compassionate and other admissions: Surpassed the Levels Plan range.
• Prioritized the transition of temporary residents to permanent residents with the creation of an “in-Canada focus” theme introduced in the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan, which specifically focuses on those already living in Canada.
  • Nearly 69% of Express Entry candidates who received an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence in 2024 were already in Canada as temporary residents.
• Made over 25 amendments to Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) pathways in 2024 to respond to changing labour market needs. IRCC worked with provinces and territories to amend and update their streams to reflect priorities and support their specific labour market needs.
  • For example, IRCC worked with New Brunswick to amend their Skilled Worker Stream to refine occupations eligible within this stream, including adding multiple high-demand occupations in the health, construction, and education sectors – areas facing critical shortage in the province.
• Issued 98,905 ITAs as part of Express Entry in 2024, a decrease from 110,265 invitations issued in 2023, in line with the reduction of immigration admission levels.
• Continued to implement category-based selection (CBS) in the Express Entry system for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM); health care; trades; transport, agriculture and agri-foods, and French-proficiency to address long term labour shortages and focus on economic growth through Francophone immigration outside Quebec.
• In 2024, category-based occupations of candidates with work experience in STEM occupations yielded over 16,600 economic admissions; invitations to candidates with experience in healthcare occupations yielded over 8,200 admissions; trades, over 2,400 admissions; transport invitations resulted in 1,845 admissions; and agriculture and agrifood, supported over 900 admissions. French-proficient candidates settling in Francophone communities outside Quebec, also a CBS category for 2024, represented over 21,200 of economic admissions.
• Launched Rural and Francophone Community Immigration Pilots in January 2025 to provide a pathway to permanent residence for skilled workers and international graduates. IRCC partnered with 18 rural, remote, and Francophone-minority communities outside of Quebec, to support rural immigration and fill critical labour market gaps within the communities. The Community Immigration Pilots, including the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (started in 2019 and ended in 2024), have admitted over 9,700 individuals as of March 31, 2025.
• Continued to welcome refugees as economic immigrants through Canada’s first labour mobility pathway for refugees, the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP). In 2024, 550 people arrived to safety in Canada. These individuals fill labour market needs in in demand sectors such as health care, which represents 37% of EMPP admissions.
• Extended the temporary public policy for Out-of-Status Construction Workers in the Greater Toronto Area until the end of 2024 to provide more time for up to 1,000 of these workers to obtain permanent residence. In 2024, 80 workers were approved for permanent residence, as well as 115 of their spouses and dependents, bringing the number of individuals admitted under this program to 1,365 from its inception in 2020 to December 2024.
• Admitted close to 6,100 persons through existing Caregiver Programming pathways (Home Child Care Provider Pilot, Home Support Worker Pilot, Caring for Children Program, Interim Pathways for Caregivers, and the Live-in Caregiver Program) in 2024.
• Introduced two new caregiver pilots – the Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot: Home Support, and the Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot: Child Care. As part of the pilots, language and education requirements were reduced to broaden access while still ensuring that candidates possess the requisite skills and competency. Both pilots expand the types of employers beyond private households, to include organizations that directly employ homecare workers full-time, but deploy them to clients’ homes.
• Admitted close to 1,840 persons through the Agri-Food Pilot in 2024. The application intake for the pilot was set at 1,010 applications for 2025, and the intake cap was reached in mid-February.
• Admitted over 30,550 new French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec, representing 7.2% of total admissions. This exceeded the 6% target for this category.
• Leveraged Express Entry as the main channel for French-speaking and bilingual immigration outside Quebec, accounting for nearly 73% of total French-speaking permanent resident admissions in 2024.
  • Issued over 23,000 invitations to apply for permanent residence to candidates with strong French language skills through French-proficiency category-based invitation rounds in Express Entry.
• Launched the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot to attract French-speaking immigrants to Francophone minority communities outside Quebec and address labour shortages. Six communities have been selected for the program, which will support their economic development.
• Supported 13 projects totaling approximately $10.2M under the Centre for Innovation in Francophone Immigration’s Francophone Immigration Support Program (FISP).
• Welcomed 105,990 permanent residents under the family class, reuniting Canadian citizens and permanent residents with their spouses, partners, children, parents, and grandparents.
• Received over 171,000 in-Canada asylum claims in 2024 in different ports of entry and inland offices, which is a 20% increase from 2023. The increase in claims may be attributed to several factors, including global patterns of conflict and displacement.
• Conducted more efficient and effective asylum claim processing to keep pace with increased claim volumes. For the eight-week period ending March 31, 2025, 80% of eligibility decisions made by IRCC were finalized in 21 days or less, compared to 109 days for the same measure in April 2024.
• Worked collaboratively with provinces and territories through the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration (FMRI) and established a Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Asylum that met 12 times in 2024.
• Allocated approximately $526M to 16 provincial and municipal governments under the Interim Housing Assistance Program, in support of their work to provide interim housing for asylum claimants.
  • $62.3M of these allocations were provided in support of the early development of reception center and transitional housing models, aimed to better assist asylum claimants towards housing independence.
• Reduced the footprint of IRCC’s hotel interim lodging sites for asylum claimants by 76% by the end of 2024–25. This was achieved through a reduction in the number of claimants in need of temporary accommodation support, the increased rate of transition out of interim accommodations, and the opening of reception centres and transitional housing models in key communities.
• Provided 623,365 eligible individuals with temporary health care through the Interim Federal Health Program.
• Welcomed 49,285 resettled refugees, including government-assisted refugees, privately sponsored refugees, and refugees that receive a blend of support from the government and private sponsors.
• Created new multi-year resettlement commitments for government assisted refugees from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, allocating 12,000 admissions to each region for 2024–2026, while maintaining the existing commitment to resettle 4,000 refugees from the Americas by 2028.
• Temporarily paused the acceptance of new applications from Groups of Five and Community Sponsors as part of the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program in November 2024.
• Renewed IRCC’s partnership with the Rainbow Refugee Society until the end of 2029. Canada has welcomed more than 330 refugees through the partnership since the initiative began in 2011, with the help of over 60 organizations.
• Admitted 10,375 individuals to Canada in 2024–25, as part of the Americas Commitment to welcome 15,000 individuals through safe and regular pathways.
• Responded to international crises, including:
  • Approved 1,690 applications and admitted 720 persons under a humanitarian pathway in 2024–25, in addition to existing temporary measures. The pathway was launched in February 2024 to facilitate permanent residence for both Sudanese and non-Sudanese nationals.
  • Welcomed over 57,000 Afghans under the Afghan Resettlement Initiative as of March 2025.
  • Leveraged IRCC’s Crisis Response Framework to enable a sustainable approach to immigration, advance consistent and coherent advice, and facilitate well-coordinated implementation of Government decisions.
• Engaged with key multilateral, regional and bilateral partners on migration and protection issues.
  • Assumed co-chairmanship of the Global Compact on Migration Champion Countries Initiative alongside Ecuador for 2025.
  • Canada was elected as the Chairperson of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Council Bureau for the 2027–28 term.

Departmental Result 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 achieved

• Supported slightly over 690,000 unique clients by helping them settle and adapt to life in Canada.
• Enabled the provision of direct and indirect settlement and resettlement services by over 550 service provider organizations across Canada (outside Quebec).
  • This included close to 80 francophone service providers to support the integration of French-speaking newcomers^{Footnote 1} into francophone-minority communities.
• Negotiated and signed 802 funding agreements to provide settlement and resettlement supports across Canada, with a total 3-year value of $3.2B, as part of the Call for Proposals 2024.
• Invested $88.5 million in Francophone organizations for settlement and resettlement services in 2024–25. Around 41,730 French-speaking newcomers received at least one settlement or resettlement service, which is about a 38% increase from 2023–24 (30,210).
• Increased the percentage of French-speaking newcomers who received at least one settlement service from a francophone service provider organization from around 64% in 2023–24 to about 69% in 2024–25.

Departmental Result 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 achieved

• Funded employment and occupation specific language training, which targets the development of language skills as well as the communication skills, terminology and cultural skills required in the workplace. Proficiency in English or French plays a key role in helping newcomers succeed in Canada. Timely access by newcomers to IRCC’s funded language training and employment-related services can help them better understand the Canadian labour market, present their skills effectively, and identify new skills in demand.
  • While direct outcomes may vary, early access to language training—particularly when tailored to employment—can help bolster and equip newcomers to find employment faster and integrate more confidently into Canadian society.
• Facilitated employment connections between asylum claimants and potential employers by engaging and collaborating with other government and NGO partners, holding targeted meetings with employers and employer councils, and coordinating job fairs and other employment events at IRCC-funded hotels.

Departmental Result 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 achieved

• Launched the Council of Newcomers which is comprised of eleven newcomers from across the country. The Council reports to the Deputy Minister of IRCC to share their lived experience and perspectives on Canada’s immigration system.
• Continued to support the network of 90 Local Immigration Partnerships in 2024–25, which includes seven Zonal Immigration Partnerships.
• Completed the pilot phase of the Welcoming Francophone Communities Initiative (WFC). Preliminary findings from an external report indicate that French-speaking newcomers attach great importance to the presence of a Francophone population in their community and express a desire to settle permanently when they successfully build community connections.
  • Announced the WFC initiative’s renewal in all 14 existing communities and an expansion to 10 more communities following the success of its pilot phase. As of March 2025, there are a total of 24 WFCs across Canada (outside Québec).
• Supported the Réseaux en immigration francophones to engage more than 350 organizations to attract, welcome and retain newcomers in Francophone and Acadian communities.

Key risks

To mitigate funding pressures in 2025, IRCC signed new funding agreements with service provider organizations for three years, rather than five, to limit longer-term commitments and provide flexibility to reassess funding needs. IRCC continues to maintain bilateral relations with PT partners to support information sharing and communication around service pressures.

The department identified the risk of not meeting a more ambitious admissions target for French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec in 2024. To mitigate this risk, the department leveraged measures such as Francophone category-based selection rounds in Express Entry, and expanded promotional efforts both internationally and in Canada to meet the 6% target.

To manage the risks created by growing volumes of applicants to permanent resident programs, the department strengthened program integrity and risk-informed processing. IRCC reinforced information sharing and operational partnerships with provinces and territories to better manage service pressures while protecting program integrity. These measures helped to ensure IRCC maintained the integrity of permanent immigration pathways.

The department continued to prepare for humanitarian and international crises while sustaining ongoing immigration and refugee commitments. Work progressed on the development of a Crisis Response Framework designed to support IRCC’s ability to respond to emerging crises. IRCC also collaborated with settlement and resettlement service providers and maintained bilateral relations with provincial and territorial partners to address service capacity and human resources pressures.

Resources required to achieve results

Related government priorities

This section highlights government priorities that are being addressed through this core responsibility.

Gender-based Analysis Plus

IRCC’s 2024 Call for Proposals (CFP), though which hundreds of settlement and resettlement organizations across Canada received funding, integrated GBA Plus throughout the process for the first time. Applicants were expected to incorporate GBA Plus in the design, implementation, and evaluation of their proposed project. This included incorporating Truth and Reconciliation through programming to increase awareness of Indigenous-related topics among newcomers, and facilitating meaningful connections between Indigenous Peoples, newcomers, and Canadians. All IRCC employees assessing CFP applications completed mandatory training on GBA Plus, and integrated an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion score in the assessment. Four funding agreements were signed under a specific CFP Equity stream, for a total investment of $16M over three years.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

IRCC is a partner in the implementation of Canada’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. The implementation Plan reflects connections between the department’s mandate and the Women Peace and Security agenda, including reducing the impacts of displacement due to violent conflict and persecution, promoting gender equality (SDG 5), empowering women and girls, and strengthening inclusion.

Recognizing the distinct protection needs of refugee women, girls and gender-diverse individuals, the Government of Canada provides resettlement opportunities to women who are in precarious or permanently unstable situations abroad through various mechanisms, such as the assistance to women at risk category, the Urgent Protection Program and the human rights defenders stream. These opportunities are also offered to women who are experiencing significant difficulties, such as harassment by local authorities or members of their own communities, or women who are single heads of households.

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 our Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy.

Innovation

IRCC successfully deployed advanced analytics solutions in May and June 2024 to facilitate the department’s processing of overseas spousal and partner applications under the family class, including streamlining the eligibility assessment. While the solutions do not automate final decisions, this innovation helped improve service delivery efficiency and supported the department’s commitment towards meeting its permanent resident targets under its 2024–2026 Immigration Levels Plan. Over the last year, over half of sponsors and about one-third of principal applicants have had their eligibility passed automatically by the solutions, which enabled officers to focus on admissibility assessment and applications that are more complex.

Regional economic immigration programs are designed and delivered in collaboration with delivery partners, provinces and territories, and communities, where they can add innovative measures to address their critical labour market needs. Saskatchewan and Manitoba amended their PNP streams to waive the language testing requirement for qualified nurses that already demonstrated language competencies as part of the foreign credential recognition (FCR) process. This change addressed duplication in requiring candidates to provide language results for both the regulatory process and the immigration process. Other provinces have also explored innovative solutions. For example, British Columbia took steps to streamline the FCR process, where the College of Nurses and Midwives modified the application process so U.S. nurses could register in just a few days and work in British Columbia, compared to the previous average of four months.

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 Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.

Table 9: Eligible permanent residents become Canadian citizens

Table 9 shows the target, the date to achieve the target and the actual result for each indicator under Eligible permanent residents become Canadian citizens in the last three fiscal years.

Table 9: Eligible permanent residents become Canadian citizens

Departmental Result Indicator	Target	Date to achieve target	Actual Result
1. Percentage of permanent residents who become Canadian citizens	≥ 85%	2026 (every five years)Table note 1	2022: 83% (2021) 2023: 83% (2021) 2024: 83% (2021)
2. Percentage of citizenship applications that met service standards	≥ 80%	End of each FY	2022–23: 36% 2023–24: 66% 2024–25: 86%
3. Percentage of citizenship applicants who report they were satisfied overall with the services they received	≥ 90%	End of each FY	2022–23: 81% 2023–24: 88.6% 2024–25: 92%

Table 10: Canadians’ international travel is facilitated

Table 10 shows the target, the date to achieve the target and actual result for each indicator under Canadians’ international travel is facilitated in the last three fiscal years.

Table 10: Canadians’ international travel is facilitated

Departmental Result Indicator	Target	Date to achieve target	Actual Result
1. Percentage compliance of the Canadian passport with international standards	100%	End of each FY	2022–23: 100% 2023–24: 100% 2024–25: 100%
2. Percentage of Canadian travel document applications that met service standardsTable note 1	≥ 90%	End of each FY	2022–23: 77% 2023–24: 91.4% 2024–25: 78.5%
3. Percentage of passport applicants who report they were satisfied overall with the services they received	≥ 90%	End of each FY	2022–23: 71% 2023–24: 84.7% 2024–25: 86.5%

The Results section of the Infographic for IRCC on GC InfoBase page provides additional information on results and performance related to its program inventory.

Table 11: Snapshot of resources required for Core responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passport

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

Table 11: Snapshot of resources required for CR3: Citizenship and Passport

Resource	Planned	Actual
Spending	$130,262,871	$222,547,042
Full-time equivalents	1,969	2,010

The Finances section of the Infographic for IRCC on GC InfoBase page and the People section of the Infographic for IRCC on GC InfoBase page provide complete financial and human resources information related to its program inventory.

While FTEs for 2024–25 closely aligned with planned levels, actual expenditures for this core responsibility differed by 71% from the planned budget. This variance is primarily attributable to the Passport Program. In 2024–25, travel document requests decreased relative to the forecast established in October 2023, while remission payments increased due to non-compliance of service standards, which resulted in lower than anticipated revenues. Although an increase in volumes was initially forecasted, a revised projection indicated even greater demand. This required additional service delivery costs to meet expectations, contributing to a larger than expected deficit. Furthermore, the planned cost reductions through automation and mitigation measures did not fully materialize in 2024–25. While surpluses for previous years will offset the 2024–25 deficit, the Passport Revolving Fund remains in a challenging financial position due to the higher than expected shortfall.

Description

Internal services refer to the activities and resources that support a department in its work to meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. The 10 categories of internal services are:

• Management and Oversight services
• Communications Services
• Legal Services
• Human Resources Management
• Financial Management
• Information Management
• Information Technology
• Real Property
• Materiel
• Acquisitions

Progress on results

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

Management and Oversight Services

• Implemented a Dissent Channel, that offers all IRCC employees the opportunity to raise substantive, good faith dissenting policy views directly with the Deputy Minister without fear of retribution. During the first year, 72% of accepted messages proposed actions that were partially or fully implemented by the DM, while 28% of accepted messages proposed ideas that were already being put into action at IRCC.
• Reviewed the Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory structure, and worked on amendments to the framework for improved Program performance measurement aligned with the department’s mandate and priorities.
• Published IRCC’s 2025-2027 Strategic Plan in December 2024, a multi-year plan identifying key actions and results to meet the department’s five Strategic Priorities.
• Produced a pilot Departmental Results Risk Profile and based on its valuable lessons learned, initial steps were taken to integrate risk into the first Strategic Plan progress update, marking the beginning of broader integration efforts.

Access to Information and Privacy

• Led the Government of Canada in leveraging emerging technology to accelerate the processing of Access to Information and Privacy requests. Automated tools were deployed to handle routine tasks and streamline file processing.
  • With support of Robotic Process Automation, IRCC processed over 277,000 requests; achieving a compliance rate of 80% for Privacy Act requests and 72% for requests received under the Access to Information Act.
• Advanced initiatives aimed at improving access to client information through a new account for clients, which will allow clients to have increased access to information as IRCC advances its Digital Platform Modernization programme.

Human Resources Management Services

• Initiated Workforce Adjustment, through which IRCC’s planned workforce will be reduced by approximately 3,300 positions between 2025–26 and 2027–28. It is estimated that about 80% of these reductions can be achieved by eliminating planned staffing, terms and other temporary staffing commitments. The remaining 20% of reductions will be achieved through the Workforce Adjustment process and will affect 660 indeterminate employees.
• Delivered Anti-racism Middle Manager training and an Anti-racism leadership coaching program for executives.
• Enhanced departmental capacity for the prevention, management and resolution of workplace conflicts through improved access to resolution resources and support services.
• Created new training for executives on how to foster meaningful values and ethics conversations and how to establish concrete objectives.
• Implemented a new conflict of interest attestation mechanism.

Information Management and Information Technology Services

• Implemented IRCC’s 2023–26 Data Strategy. More than half of this work is already complete, helping the department to become a more service-oriented and effective organization.
• Advanced service redesign and digital transformation taking part as part of the Digital Platform Modernization programme. Specifically:
  • Began rolling-out a new online account in June 2024, starting with visitor clients and then to eligible Canadian adults seeking to renew their passports in December 2024. Almost 47,000 clients have used the new online account to apply for a service as of March 31, 2025.
  • Completed procurement of a new Case Management Platform in September 2024, which will eventually replace IRCC’s legacy Global Case Management System (GCMS), and began design and solution delivery activities.
• Developed an AI strategy to enhance operational efficiency and service delivery at IRCC, supported by pilot projects to test impact and guide broader adoption, and procured a scalable AI platform to enable ongoing development and deployment of AI solutions.

Real Property Management Services

• Provided tools to IRCC employees to support the reintegration to the office using the unassigned flexible work model.
• Implemented automatic door openers across all regions, and made progress on all access washrooms and sit-stand desk installations, to foster accessibility in the workplace. Created 12 dedicated spiritual spaces and four low luminance quiet zones to support diverse religious, wellness, and sensory needs.
• Made progress towards developing a spiritual space to support Indigenous smudging ceremonies.

Key risks

• IRCC faces the risk of losing in-demand talent to other departments, levels of government, and the private sector due to budget constraints, slowed growth, limited promotional opportunities, and increased uncertainty. To address this challenge, IRCC is prioritizing strategies aimed at stabilizing the department post-workforce adjustment, ensuring employees have pathways for career development, and fostering an environment that supports long-term retention and organizational resilience.
• IRCC continues to modernize its digital platforms, introducing a new online account which will increasingly give clients access to better information about their applications. Given the complexity of IRCC’s digital transformation, there is a risk that the implementation will be delayed which may lead clients to continue seeking application information through the Access to Information Act, or the Privacy Act. To mitigate this, IRCC continues to advance a number of improvements to increase the information accessible to clients such as making refusal letters clearer and more accessible, and continuing to roll out online application status tracking functionality in the new account.

Resources required to achieve results

Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Government of Canada departments are required to award at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses every year.

IRCC results for 2024–25:

Table 13: Total value of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses^{Table note 1}

As shown in Table 13, IRCC awarded 5.34% of the total value of all contracts to Indigenous businesses for the fiscal year.

Table 13: Total value of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

Contracting performance indicators	2024–25 Results
Total value of contracts awarded to Indigenous businessesTable note 2 (A)	$29,055,292.53Table note *
Total value of contracts awarded to Indigenous and non‑Indigenous businesses (B)	$ 543,753,188.09
Value of exceptions approved by deputy head (C)	$ 0
Proportion of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses [A / (B−C) × 100]	5.34%Table note *

IRCC awarded 5.34% of its total contract value to Indigenous-owned businesses in the 2024–25 fiscal year, exceeding the 5% target established under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB).

Looking ahead to 2025–26, several PSIB contracts were awarded at the end of 2024–25. While these contracts yielded limited Indigenous procurement in the current fiscal year, they are expected to contribute significantly to Indigenous contracting figures in 2025–26.

IRCC remains firmly committed to fulfilling the procurement expectations set out by the Treasury Board Secretariat, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Indigenous Services Canada. The department continues to embed procurement streams that support both Indigenous and non-Indigenous suppliers and is actively seeking opportunities to include Indigenous Participation Plans. These plans would enable subcontracting with Indigenous businesses within larger, non-Indigenous contracts, thereby increasing Indigenous involvement.

Recent initiatives demonstrate IRCC’s ongoing efforts:

• A multi-year $16M contract was signed with Telecom Computer Inc. to replenish laptop inventory.
• A request for information was launched for a second-language training program to support Foreign Service Officers; industry days and informal consultations in the National Capital Region may offer Indigenous participation opportunities.
• Site visits are being incorporated into specific office furniture Requests for Proposal, fostering Indigenous capacity building.

To reinforce governance and alignment with socio-economic goals, IRCC is instituting reviews for all contracts exceeding $1M through its Procurement and Contract Oversight Committee. This mechanism ensures senior management engagement on Indigenous participation and supports the development of set-aside procurement strategies.

The department achieved 5.34%, reflecting sustained efforts to meet and exceed the target of 5%.

Internal achievements supporting the target:

• IRCC will continue to review if Indigenous procurement opportunities are available via its contract planning tool.

Internal evaluations guiding future improvements:

• Assessment of current Task-based informatics professional services and Solutions-based informatics professional services contracts to explore Indigenous-centric re-procurement strategies.

Spending

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

Funding

This section provides an overview of the department's voted and statutory funding for its core responsibilities and for internal services. Consult the Government of Canada budgets and expenditures for further information on funding authorities.

Table 20: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 20 shows a summary in full-time equivalents of human resources for IRCC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years.

Table 20: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services

Core responsibilities and internal services	2022–23 actual full-time equivalents	2023–24 actual full-time equivalents	2024–25 actual full-time equivalents
Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers	2,139	2,649	2,806
Immigrants and Refugee Selection and Integration	4,538	4,785	4,621
Citizenship and Passports	2,062	2,164	2,010
Subtotal	8,738	9,598	9,437
Internal services	2,491	3,044	3,326
Total	11,229	12,642	12,763

Analysis of human resources for the last three years

In 2024–25, actual full-time equivalents (FTEs) increased by 1,534 FTEs (14%) compared to 2022–23. This growth was primarily driven by increased staffing to support higher permanent resident admissions under the previous Immigration Levels Plan; and to advance the Digital Platform Modernization, which is designed to enhance client experience and replace the current Global Case Management System with new back-end digital technologies. Additionally, staffing levels also increased following the termination of the Memorandum of Understanding with Employment and Social Development Canada and as a result, IRCC assumed full responsibility for the International Mobility Program. Additional increases supported the partial visa imposition on Mexico and the International Student program and visa centers as part of the Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Asia Pacific foundation of Canada.

Table 21: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

Table 21 shows the planned full-time equivalents for each of IRCC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the next three years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecast based on year to date.

Table 21: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services

Core responsibilities and internal services	2025–26 planned full-time equivalents	2026–27 planned full-time equivalents	2027–28 planned full-time equivalents
Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers	3,210	2,922	2,951
Immigrants and Refugee Selection and Integration	4,557	4,166	3,920
Citizenship and Passports	1,844	1,859	1,858
Subtotal	9,611	8,947	8,729
Internal services	3,078	2,925	2,528
Total	12,689	11,872	11,257

Analysis of human resources for the next three years

The department’s human resources outlook over the next three fiscal years indicates a projected reduction of 1,432 full-time equivalents (FTEs), representing an 11% decrease in workforce levels. This decline is primarily attributable to reduced personnel funding resulting from the government’s decision to lower immigration levels, the gradual phase-out of temporary staffing for the Digital Platform Modernization initiative—which aims to enhance client experience and replace the existing Global Case Management System with new back-end digital technologies; expenditure reductions committed under Budget 2023’s Refocusing Government Spending initiative; and the stabilization of Canada’s asylum system, which has enabled further efficiencies in processing asylum claims.

In anticipation of a planned workforce reduction over the next few years, the department is proactively implementing strategies to safeguard its ability to meet operational requirements and achieve targets The department is positioning itself to maintain a high standard of productivity and service delivery by investing in streamlined processes and technology-driven efficiencies. This forward-thinking approach ensures that, even with a leaner structure, the department will remain agile, resilient, and aligned with its strategic objectives.