COW – Overview of Main Estimates – June 9, 2025

Key Facts and Figures

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) budgetary Main Estimates for 2025-2026 total $5.17B across all votes, representing a net increase of $979.6M in financial resources compared to last years’ Main Estimates.

Note: Total may not add up due to rounding

Key Messages

• Department’s financial authorities for 2025–2026 are evaluated at $5.17B, which is broken down by vote as follows:
  • $2,223.4M in Vote 1-Operating expenditures;
  • $6.0M in Vote 5-Capital expenditures;
  • $2,777.3M in Vote 10-Grants and Contributions; and,
  • $167.3M in statutory forecasts, including $20.6M for the Passport Program.
• The net increase could be confusing in the context of the overall spending reductions and can be explained by the following:
  • Main Estimates vs Supplementary Estimates: IRCC received 2024-2025 funding for the Interim Federal Health Program and Interim Housing Assistance Program through Supplementary Estimates during the year. In 2025-2026 however, funding for these two programs is included in the Main Estimates. Receiving this funding in the Main Estimates rather than in the Supplementary Estimates represents an increase of $984.3M.

Budget and Workforce Reductions

• IRCC initiated an operating spending review in November 2024 with the aim of identifying salary and non-salary cost reductions to align planned spending with operating funding authorities which decrease starting in 2025-2026.
• Operating funding decreases in 2025-2026 are largely attributable to:
  • the phasing down of work and associated temporary funding for various initiatives, including the resettlement of Afghan nationals, measures related to the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, and other sunsetting activities;
  • reductions in Canada’s 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan; and
  • the implementation of the government’s Refocusing Government Spending reduction initiative.
• Results were communicated in February 2025 and included a reduction of over 3 200 positions over three years (starting in 2025-2026) prioritizing the elimination of term and casual positions, as well as planned staffing commitments, before affecting indeterminate employees through the Workforce Adjustment (WFA) process.
• The WFA process is underway. At the same time, IRCC has introduced measures to prioritize WFA-affected employees in staffing processes for positions that are or become vacant.

Supplementary Information

The year-over-year variance of $979.6M is comprised of the following items:

Funding for the Interim Federal Health Program–$584.3M

• This funding is to cover incremental costs related to the provision of health care benefits to eligible beneficiaries.

Funding for the Interim Housing Assistance Program–$400.0M

• This funding is to support provinces and municipalities for the interim housing of asylum claimants.

Funding to proceed with building Canada’s modern, digital and data-driven migration system–$134.8M

• The incremental funding for the Digital Platform Modernization will enable IRCC to deliver an improved cross-channel experience for IRCC clients, including a new online account, integrated program finder, new channel support processes, as well as piloting digital visas/permits and to streamline back-end processing through the implementation of the new Case Management Platform.

Funding for the Canada-Quebec Accord–$92.3M

• The incremental funding is for the annual grant to Quebec to support settlement and integration services in the province of Quebec under the Canada-Quebec Accord.

Funding to continue providing temporary accommodations to asylum claimants–$66.4M

• This funding will be used to continue providing temporary accommodations to asylum claimants who do not have access to emergency shelters or affordable housing and will allow the Department to continue its success in drawing down operations while implementing renewed measures under the revised Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP).

Funding for biometrics collection costs–$55.5M

• This funding will mainly secure the necessary top-up funding to continue paying the contractors under the VAC contracts and guarantee the continuity of a fully supported biometrics collection service. It will also ensure that Canada can benefit from the identity management advantages that biometrics collection have to offer.

Funding for immigration measures for Palestinian temporary residents–$41M

• The funding will be used to offer temporary refuge and extend in-Canada and on-the-ground support to those impacted by the crisis in Gaza.

Employee Benefits Plans adjustments–$18.6M

• Annual adjustments to the Employee Benefits Plans (EBP) are related to IRCC’s salary included in the Main Estimates. EBP consists of employer’s costs for the Public Service Superannuation Plan, the Canada and Quebec Pension Plan, Life and Employment Insurance.

Other minor items–$9.8M

• These adjustments represent a number of minor funding changes for various initiatives.

Funding for the cumulative Immigration Levels Plans–($195.7M)

• The decrease of $195.7M compared to the previous Main Estimates is bringing the total cumulative funding to $1.2B for the implementation of the Levels Plans since the first multi-year Immigration Levels Plan for 2017-2019. It includes the reductions in funding following the decision to reduce immigration levels as part of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan.

Funding for the Afghanistan resettlement commitment–($146.2M)

• The decrease of $146.2M compared to previous Main Estimates is attributable to the phasing down of funding for processing and settlement activities related to Canada’s commitment to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals by the end of 2023.

Funding for the special immigration measures for Ukraine nationals–($60.6M)

• The decrease of $60.6M is attributable to the sunsetting of funding related to processing of existing application inventory, providing temporary accommodations, settlement services, and transitional financial assistance under the measures related to the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel.

Passport Program–($20.5M)

• The Passport Program operates on a cost recovery basis and finances activities through the fees charged for its services. Program funds are placed in a Revolving Fund which has a continuing non-lapsing authority from Parliament. A smaller draw from the Revolving Fund is expected in 2025-2026 compared to the 2024-2025 exercise, resulting in a variance of $20.5M. This is mainly explained by a decrease in anticipated revenues of $64.8M offset by a net increase in planned expenditures of $85.3M.