SECD – Fraud – February 9, 2026

Key Messages

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has a multi-layered approach to prevent, detect and address fraud in immigration applications.
• This approach targets fraud in individual applications as well as coordinated fraud schemes to prevent systemic abuse within immigration and citizenship programs, and hold bad actors accountable.
• IRCC actively targets organized and coordinated fraud schemes through its administrative investigations and undertakes fraud disruption techniques in collaboration with Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), who is responsible for pursuing enforcement action related to foreign nationals in Canada.
• Anticipated legislative amendments in Bill C-12 will strengthen IRCC’s ability to combat fraud through measures such as a strengthened asylum system, increased control over immigration documents and applications, and improved information sharing with federal, provincial and territorial government partners.

Organized Crime and Other Public Investigations

• Canada maintains a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and organized crime. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, individuals convicted of serious crimes are inadmissible and may lose their immigration status, with CBSA empowered to enforce removal orders.
• IRCC collaborates with CBSA, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and international partners to detect and disrupt organized crime while raising public awareness to encourage reporting of suspicious activity.
• IRCC has been monitoring recent fraud concerns related to recent media coverage in Quebec. IRCC takes a firm stance against abuses of our programs. When information is uncovered, it is shared with our partners, such as CBSA and RCMP, to take enforcement action. We are also able to flag cases to our processing offices to prevent further abuse and disrupt the activities of these criminals.
• Permanent and temporary residents who are convicted of criminal offenses may be inadmissible to Canada and subject to removal. Business owners participating in illegal activity may also be charged with criminal offences.

Updated Regulations to Address Misconduct by People who are Paid for Representation or Advice

College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Regulations

• The government established the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants in 2021 to regulate immigration and citizenship consultants and protect the public from fraud.
• The College is an important part of the government’s efforts to fight fraud in Canada’s immigration system. IRCC maintains oversight to ensure the College fulfills its mandate to protect the public and strengthen the integrity of the immigration and citizenship consultants’ industry.
• New regulations are being introduced to strengthen how the College operates. These include:
  • Clear rules for how the College handles complaints, investigations, and its public register;
  • Guidelines for managing a compensation fund for victims of unethical consultants; and
  • Clarifying the Minister’s authority to step in if the College’s board fails to meet its obligations.
• These draft regulations were published in December 2024 for public feedback. They are expected to come into force in spring 2026.

Administrative Penalties and Consequences Regime

• The Government of Canada is introducing a new system called the Administrative Penalties and Consequences Regime. This system is being added to immigration and citizenship system to help protect people from fraud and unauthorized advice.
• The new regime allows IRCC to issue monetary penalties to people who give immigration or citizenship advice or representation without proper authorization, or who encourage others to lie or misrepresent information. In addition to monetary penalties, IRCC will be able to publish the names of those who break these rules.
• IRCC will also be able to inspect records and request documents from anyone offering paid services—whether authorized professionals or unauthorized individuals, in Canada or abroad.
• Penalties are issued per application, meaning repeat violations can lead to multiple fines. Individuals can request a review of any penalty by an independent reviewer.
• Fines range from:
  • $5,000 per case of unauthorized practice;
  • $15,000 per case of encouraging misrepresentation;
  • up to $1.5M in total penalties.
• The proposed changes were published in the Canada Gazette on December 21, 2024, with a 45-day public consultation with the final rules expected to come into effect later in 2025 or early 2026.

Bill C-12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration and Border Systems Act

• The Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act proposes important reforms to enhance the integrity and fairness of Canada’s immigration and asylum systems.
• The asylum measures would:
  • Address challenges faced by the in-Canada asylum system through the introduction of system-wide efficiencies and enhancements that improve all stages of the asylum application process, from initial application through to a decision being made on a claim;
  • Create new ineligibilities for asylum claims to protect the asylum system against sudden increases in claims. They would alleviate current burdens on the system and deter people from using the asylum system to bypass regular immigration rules or to extend their temporary stay in Canada.
• The proposed measures to strengthen immigration integrity would:
  • Strengthen control over immigration documents and applications, individually and on a large scale when needed in the public interest. These authorities will give the government greater tools to respond to unforeseen events, such as large-scale emergencies and risks to health, safety, and security of Canadians.
  • Improve how we share information within IRCC and with key federal, provincial, and territorial government partners.

Strengthened Asylum System

• One of the proposed measures in C-12 relates to ensuring that Ministerial Due Diligence is completed prior to a claim being referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) for a decision. IRCC and CBSA will continue to review all asylum claims to identify issues related to program integrity (e.g., fraud), credibility (e.g., identity), criminality and security. Following this review, IRCC or CBSA may decide to intervene and present evidence at a refugee hearing to challenge undeserving claims. This is not a new step, however, this change will ensure that claims are not referred to the IRB until after Ministerial Due Diligence and security screening has been completed.

Strengthening Document and Application Control (Mass Authorities)

• The new legislation would expand the Government of Canada’s ability to cancel, change or suspend immigration documents, and to cancel, suspend or stop accepting new applications—both individually and on a large-scale for groups of documents and applications.
• Large-scale authorities can only be used in limited and exceptional circumstances with a strong and clear justification that the action is in the public interest, which can include response to wide-scale fraud.
• For example, a potential scenario could include a cybersecurity attack where a vast number of fraudulent immigration documents were issued in the system, potentially requiring mass cancelling of the documents to ensure that nefarious actors cannot use them to travel to Canada. Where large-scale fraud trends were to be observed, these authorities could also be used to cancel or suspend documents and applications for documents based on known fraud indicators. Such actions would be grounded in objective indicators linked to fraud.
• It is, however, important to highlight that the use of these authorities would be limited to interventions on immigration documents and applications for those documents—not status. The use of these authorities for a person in Canada would not result in an immediate loss of status, meaning they would not need to leave Canada right away.
• All existing processes and protections relating to the removal of foreign nationals from Canada remain unchanged, including for refugee claimants.

Strengthened Domestic Information Sharing

• Legislative amendments within Bill C-12 will allow for the development of systematic information sharing processes within IRCC and with key federal, provincial, and territorial government partners.
• These proposed changes would close gaps in how we share client information, saving time and money. Once privacy safeguards—such as written arrangements or agreements—are in place federal, provincial, and territorial partners would get faster access to this information, which they may use to:
  • Confirm the identity of people who arrived in Canada through the immigration system, which is needed to deliver and give people access to a variety of public services and to support their successful integration into Canada;
  • Detect people defrauding benefit programs and other services by using different identities; and
  • Carry out law- and border-enforcement activities and investigations.
• The amendments combat fraud by breaking down internal silos. More specifically, if one area of IRCC identifies conflicting details in an application, it could signal potential fraud or an attempt to mislead. We can only share this information internally after completing the required Privacy Impact Assessments, which help ensure strong privacy protections. Without the ability to share that information swiftly across our programs, critical warning signs may be missed. These amendments enable earlier detection and coordinated responses—helping safeguard the integrity of Canada’s immigration system.
• External domestic partners rely on IRCC to validate identity, immigration status, and document authenticity. These legislative authorities enable systematic and proactive sharing of this critical information to partners legally allowed to collect it after written arrangements or agreements are in place—supporting timely access to partner programs and services, while helping to detect individuals who may attempt to defraud the system through false identities or forged documents.
• Despite these expanded authorities, all disclosures will continue to require robust privacy safeguards. Written Information‑Sharing Arrangements or Agreements and Privacy Impact Assessments must be in place prior to any exchange of personal information.
• IRCC takes the privacy of our clients seriously—but safety and security are equally paramount. These priorities go hand in hand, and our approach to information sharing reflects a careful balance between protecting personal information and ensuring the integrity of Canada’s immigration system.
• The proposed information-sharing authorities were amended while in the Senate as part of Bill S-6 to reflect recommendations from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. The Charter Statement provided by the Department of Justice details the considerations that support the consistency of the proposed amendments with s. 8 of the Charter.