CIMM - Management of Expired and Cancelled Visas - December 4, 2025

Key Messages

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) screens all foreign nationals who require a visa or electronic travel authorization in order to travel to Canada.
• Upon arrival in Canada, travellers are screened again by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), who need to authorize their entry to Canada.
• Prior to being authorized into Canada as a temporary resident, a border services officer must be satisfied that all persons meet all legal requirements, including that they will depart Canada by the end of their authorized period of stay.
• All foreign nationals who enter Canada are recorded by CBSA. While entry records are systematically captured, exit data is more limited and varies by mode of travel. IRCC is able to access CBSA entry and exit data on a case-by-case basis to support the administration of the immigration and citizenship programs.
• Temporary residents are required to leave Canada once their authorized period of stay ends. Those who do not are subject to enforcement action, including arrest and removal from Canada, which is led by CBSA.

Key Facts and Figures

• Under our managed migration system, temporary resident visas (TRVs) are subject to a high degree of scrutiny, which is reflected in approval rates.
• As of September 30, 2025, approval rates for temporary resident applications were:
  • 49% for temporary resident visas (981K TRVs approved).
  • 55% for work permits (185K work permits approved)
  • 41% for study permits (92K study permits approved).
• The 2025 year-to-date global temporary resident visa refusal rate is 51%. This is in comparison to a 39% refusal rate for all of 2023. The vast majority of temporary resident visa applications are refused because an officer was not satisfied the applicant would leave Canada at the end of their authorized stay.
• The Department is also placing more emphasis on detecting fraud. Misrepresentation refusals come with a five-year ban from entering Canada, which discourages non-genuine applicants going forward.
• Once in Canada, temporary residents who actively seek to maintain their status have relatively high approval rates.
• As of September 30, 2025, approval rates for in-Canada renewals were:
  • 88% for visitor visas (135K visitor renewals approved);
  • 90% work permit renewals (571K work permit renewals approved); and
  • 93% for study permit renewals (195K study permit extensions approved).
• CBSA is responsible for all in-Canada immigration enforcement activities. The removal of foreign nationals that are found inadmissible as per the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) is an integral part of CBSA’s security mandate. CBSA removed over 18 000 inadmissible people last fiscal year—an increase from approximately 16 000 the fiscal year before.

Entry/Exit Data

• While Canada does not operate a traditional exit control regime—that is, requiring all departing travelers to present themselves to border officers—the Entry/Exit Program does provide biographic exit data for land and air travel. This data is accessed by IRCC to support various program integrity functions on a case-by-case basis, including:
  • Verifying residency requirements for citizenship and permanent resident card applications;
  • Supporting investigations of possible fraud in relation to immigration and citizenship programs.
• It is important to note that exit data cannot be readily aggregated or analyzed without significant manual reconciliation across multiple datasets.

Removals

• CBSA places the highest priority on the removal of cases involving national security, organized crime, crimes against humanity, and criminality, and is focused on cases that pose a risk to security and public safety. The Agency also prioritizes failed refugee claimants followed by all other inadmissible persons.

Visa Integrity Measures

• Canada welcomes around 20M visitors each year who provide the country with significant social, cultural, and economic benefits. Unfortunately, we have also seen a rise in misuse of visitor visas as a shortcut by people who want to remain long term.
• Although the vast majority of visitors are legitimate, we know non-genuine visitors have an impact on the confidence of Canadians in the immigration system. It is essential that we balance the economic and cultural benefits of visitors with the need to ensure migration to Canada is well-managed.
• Securing the border and the perimeter starts at the point of document issuance and before someone reaches Canada. IRCC is working with partners to strengthen our visitor screening to ensure we are adapting to modern changes, including global crises that affect migration patterns, increased digital fraud, and organized human smuggling.
• For example, Canada implemented a partial visa requirement for Mexican nationals in February 2024, after identifying an abuse of visa-free travel and a significant number of non-genuine asylum claims. This resulted in an almost immediate reduction of asylum claims from Mexican citizens at Canadian airports nationwide.
• On January 31, 2025, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations were amended to include discretionary cancellation authorities which specify when an officer may cancel a TRV, electronic travel authorization (eTA), work permit or study permit, on a case by case basis, strengthening the consistency and overall integrity of the cancellation process.
• Under a renewed effort to detect fraud, the total number of applications refused for misrepresentation has increased significantly in the last year.
• For travellers who are visa-exempt and who must apply for an eTA to visit Canada, IRCC will continue to strengthen the integrity of our screening through information sharing with international partners on eTA applicants.
• Information sharing allows the Department to more accurately verify the identity of travelers and make better-informed immigration and border decisions, while facilitating the travel of known individuals to Canada.

Status in Canada

• IRCC is responsible for processing applications to extend temporary resident status in Canada, including applications to restore temporary resident status. Restoration allows eligible applicants to regain their temporary resident status, as long as they apply for it within 90 days of losing their status.
• Individuals are expected to comply with the conditions of their entry into Canada, including leaving by the end of their authorized period of stay.
• Foreign nationals who do not maintain their temporary resident status in Canada are in contravention of IRPA and may have a removal order issued against them.
• Individuals subject to removal orders are expected to leave the country on their own. If they fail to leave the country, they may be subject to enforcement action, including removal from Canada.
• CBSA’s Inland Enforcement Officers undertake proactive investigations based on referrals received from IRCC and law-enforcement partners in order to identify and locate inadmissible individuals. Investigations are triaged ensuring high-risk cases (those inadmissible on security, human rights violations, criminality, and organized criminality) are prioritized.
• IRCC has processes in place to share information with CBSA regarding inadmissibility concerns both overseas, through Comprehensive Security Screening, and in Canada, where required. Visa information, including cancellations and validity periods are available in IRCC’s Global Case Management System, which CBSA has access to and which interfaces with CBSA systems.
• Persons who fail to legally maintain their status may also jeopardize their future admission to Canada.

Temporary Resident Visas Versus Status and Status Documents

• TRVs are immigration documents that IRCC places in a person’s passport or travel document to show that an applicant has been assessed by an IRCC officer, who is satisfied that they meet the requirements needed to travel to Canada.
• TRVs have a validity period; when this period ends the holder must apply for a new TRV before being able to travel to Canada. TRVs that are cancelled also cannot be used to travel to Canada.
• The TRV does not provide status in Canada; only CBSA officers, after examining a traveller upon arrival in Canada, may authorize entry as a temporary resident. At that point, the person has temporary resident “status,” which may be renewed on application to IRCC from within Canada.
• Status documents are also immigration documents but are not the same as a TRV; for example, work or study permits are issued to persons authorized to work or study in Canada. Status documents cannot be used to travel to Canada like a TRV.
• Biometrics are valid for 10 years. Unless exempt from the biometrics requirement under IRPA, a foreign national must have valid (unexpired) biometrics on file for the duration of their visa or permit. Clients may need to re-enroll their biometrics at the application stage if they wish to be granted a visa or permit beyond the expiry date of their current biometrics on file.