CIMM – Modernizing Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada System for Clients – October 2, 2025
Key Messages
- A modern digitally-enabled immigration system is critical to meet our clients’ needs and ensure that Canada continues to attract the skilled talent needed to grow our economy.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is modernizing its programs and services, to enhance access, transparency, and security for our clients, while also improving operational efficiencies and program integrity.
- Through the Digital Platform Modernization (DPM) programme, IRCC is leveraging new technologies and data capabilities to simplify application processes, improve program integrity and the security of our borders, reduce red tape, and provide clients with enhanced access to information on application status and processing times.
- Moving forward, modern digitalized services will continue to strengthen public confidence in our immigration system by enhancing program integrity and prioritizing the health, safety and security of Canadians
Key facts and figures
- IRCC’s digital transformation has already achieved results for our clients. As of August 31, 2025:
- Over 87K clients have used it to apply for a visitor visa.
- Over 20K Canadians have used it to apply for an adult passport renewal, the first time an online channel has been available for passports.
- Clients who have used the new online account report a high level of satisfaction with it (87%, June 2025). Clients have indicated increasing satisfaction with the clarity of application status.
- IRCC received incremental funding of $134.8M through the 2025–2026 Main Estimates to advance the Department’s modernization efforts.
Modernizing Services at IRCC
- Delivering on the Government of Canada’s Digital Standards, IRCC is modernizing services across all lines of business, to ensure they are built on strong digital foundations, enhance program integrity, improve the client experience and achieve operational efficiencies.
- IRCC gets insights from clients about how to improve our services from various sources including client experience surveys, user research, and usability testing. We do this to ensure services meet client expectations around ease of use, access, privacy, security, accessibility and choice of official language.
- DPM is IRCC’s key initiative that transforming our business, including by leveraging new tools such as artificial intelligence (AI). DPM is helping IRCC simplify application processes, improve program integrity, reduce red tape and provide clients with better information on application status and processing times.
- Advanced analytics help identify routine applications for streamlined processing. This allows us to better manage our work so clients receive decisions sooner.
- All of IRCC’s advanced analytics tools are continuously reviewed by IRCC employees to make sure they are working as intended and that the results are consistent with applications that receive a full human review.
- IRCC does not use AI to refuse applications; all final refusals are made by human officers based on their own independent assessment, and every refused application receives thorough correspondence from IRCC.
- All automated and advanced analytics models we use are tested, reviewed and assessed to ensure they function well, meet the needs of our clients and officers, and help streamline processing for as many clients as possible.
- As part of DPM efforts, we have rolled out a new online account that will become the single-window interaction point for all IRCC services.
- Initially rolled out to visitor clients, this account was recently made available to adult Canadians seeking to renew their passports, representing the first time there is an online channel for passport applications. More client groups and features are being added to this account over the coming months.
- In July 2025, we began proactively providing officer decision notes with refusal letters for certain applications in the Temporary Resident stream. This makes it easier for clients to get access to their personal information and supports IRCC’s commitment to providing greater transparency in how it delivers services.
- IRCC is also redesigning high-traffic sections of its website to make it more intuitive and easier for clients to access information about our programs and services. This includes improving the online processing times tool to provide enhanced communication on application processing times, to better manage client expectations and help them make informed decisions.
DPM Supplementary Information
- A new online account, the first project of the DPM initiative, is being rolled out in an iterative manner to client groups, expanding over time, delivering incremental benefits and new features to clients along the way.
- New client support tools, the second project of the DPM initiative, are being rolled out to improve the client experience and improve efficiency responding to client enquiries. These new tools are expected to begin rolling out to IRCC client support employees later in 2025.
- A digital visa pilot, the third project of the DPM initiative, will launch later in 2025 to a small cohort of visitors to Canada, and will provide valuable insights as IRCC moves towards issuing more documents digitally rather than on physical paper.
- A New Case Management Platform is also under development in parallel to the implementation of the projects above. This new Case Management Platform will enable IRCC’s end-to-end business transformation and will eventually replace the Department’s current Global Case Management System.
- The first program to start using this new Case Management Platform will be Express Entry, anticipated to begin in 2026.