Explaining application refusals: Officer decision notes
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our services, on July 29, 2025, we started proactively providing officer decision notes along with refusal letters for certain applications. These notes come from the officer who made the final decision on the application.
This change makes it easier for clients to get their personal information on their application. This supports our commitment to delivering our services with greater transparency.
Officer decision notes will be made available in phases for certain application types
We’ll start by including officer decision notes with refusal letters, including applications for extensions, for:
- temporary resident visas, excluding electronic travel authorizations and temporary resident permits
- visitor records
- study permits
- work permits
We’ll add more application types over time.
Clients who apply using the IRCC Portal – New version will not receive officer decision notes at this time.
How you will get your officer decision notes
If an application is refused, we will proactively include officer decision notes with the refusal letter sent to the applicant or authorized representative.
We may decide to exclude certain portions of the notes on a case-by-case basis due to security, privacy or other concerns.