IRCC Minister Transition Binder 2021: Fees, Revenues & Reporting

Background

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) collects fees for immigration applications (both temporary and permanent), biometrics, citizenship applications and passports.
• In 2019-2020, IRCC collected revenue totaling over $1.3B on behalf of the Government of Canada from more than 70 user fees. Over a third of these revenues come from fees related to temporary residence.

2019-2020 IRCC Fee Revenue (in millions)

• The Citizenship Fees Revenue is $133M, representing 10% of total IRCC Fee Revenue.
• The Permanent residence Fees Revenue is $306M, representing 23% of total IRCC Fee Revenue.
• The Passport Fees Revenue is $267M, representing 20% of total IRCC Fee Revenue.
• The Temporary residence Fees Revenue is $473M, representing 35% of total IRCC Fee Revenue.
• The Other Fees Revenue is $167M, representing 12% of total IRCC Fee Revenue.

Revenue and Funding Mechanisms

• Revenues generated from most fees (except for Passport and International Experience Canada) are earned on behalf of the Government of Canada and are not available to discharge IRCC from its liabilities. They are also called non-respendable revenues.

Cost Recovery Monitoring

• IRCC maintains internationally competitive fees while striking the right balance of cost recovery by monitoring costs associated with service delivery (e.g. program processing and management, internal services and delivery partner costs).

The fees collected by IRCC represent approximately 50% of all fee revenue collected by the Government of Canada.

However, that fee revenue is not directly available for IRCC to use in program delivery, except for the Passport and International Experience Canada programs.

What are IRCC’s Fees?

IRCC’s 70+ user fees consist of service fees for processing applications, and regulatory fees that are charged to an applicant once their application is approved.

IRCC User Fees

Service Fees^{Footnote 1}

• Citizenship service fees (7)
• Passport Program fees (22)
• Permanent residence fees (20)
• Temporary residence fees (10)
• Other service fees (8)

Regulatory Charges^{Footnote 1}

• Right of citizenship
• Right of permanent residence
• Open work permit (International Mobility Program)
• Employer compliance fees (2)

What are IRCC’s Fees? (as of August 2021)

Temporary Residence Fees

Permanent Residence Fees

Citizenship Fees

Passport Fees

How Fees Are Set

The authority to set fees is split between the Minister of IRCC, the Governor in Council and the President of the Treasury Board.

Minister of IRCC

Legislative Authorities: Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA)

• Permanent residence (PR)
• Temporary residence (TR)
• Other immigration fees (e.g. biometrics; fees to address inadmissibility)

Governor in Council

Legislative Authorities: Citizenship Act

• Citizenship services

President of the Treasury Board

Legislative Authority: the Financial Administration Act (FAA)

• Passport fees
• International Experience Canada (IEC) participation fee
• Right of citizenship fee
• Right of permanent residence fee (RPRF)

Fee setting follows a rigorous process that requires business and policy rationale, as well as regulatory amendments.

As of April 2020, most PR fees and the RPRF increase every two years by the cumulative Consumer Price Index (CPI) as required by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. An increase is expected in April 2022.

All other fees set under the FAA are subject to the Service Fees Act and also increase annually by the CPI. Passport fees and the right of citizenship fee have not been adjusted since the increases came into effect. The Department intends to counter the effects of non-adjustments by seeking a remission order authority pursuant to s.23 (2.1) of the FAA.

When Can Fees Be Waived?

• The Minister of IRCC has the authority, via a public policy, to waive fees established pursuant to IRPA for a foreign national.
• When ministerial authority is not available in IRCC’s legislation (i.e. for fees other than temporary residence), fee waiving authority must be sought through a remission order submission, which is subject to the approval of the Treasury Board and the Governor in Council under the Financial Administration Act.
• Some examples of waiving fees via public policies are: BC wildfires, COVID-19, Hong Kong, etc. A complete list of IRCC public policies can be found here.

Current Status

• The Service Fees Act, which received Royal Assent in June 2017, has introduced several requirements for all fees collected by the Government of Canada.
  • Automatic annual fee increase by inflation.
  • Requirement to partially refund fee payers if the Department fails to process their application within established service standards. As a responsive measure, IRCC published its Departmental Remission Policy pursuant to the Service Fees Act. It took effect on April 1, 2021.
  • New Annual Report to Parliament on Fees to report on all departmental service fees and compliance with the Act. The next IRCC Departmental Report is expected to be towards the end of 2021. 
• Only certain IRCC fees are impacted^{Footnote 7}; most IRCC fees are exempted from the Act’s requirements through legislative exemptions sought under the previous User Fees Act.

COVID-19 Impact

• Performance results for service standards for most IRCC services have been impacted by the measures taken to control the spread of COVID‐19.
  • Specifically for passport fees, and in accordance with the Service Fees Act and the Directive on Charging and Special Financial Authorities, the Department has applied the “exceptional circumstances” exclusion in the IRCC Departmental Remission Policy as a result of measures taken to control the spread of COVID-19. This waives IRCC’s obligation to remit a portion of the fee for applications processed outside of service standards. This clause is in effect until December 31, 2021.
• Revenues collected in 2020-2021 have decreased significantly as a result of the pandemic. This information will be included in the upcoming Public Accounts of Canada and in IRCC’s Fees report, both of which are tabled in Parliament.

Key Takeaways

• While IRCC is a major contributor of fee revenue for the Government, most fee revenue is not directly available for IRCC to spend on improving programs and services.
• The Minister of IRCC, the Governor in Council and the President of the Treasury Board share fee setting authorities through the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Citizenship Act, and the Financial Administration Act.
• Fees can be waived by the Minister in exceptional circumstances by creating a temporary public policy or by seeking authority through a remission order submission.
• The Service Fees Act has introduced new requirements that changed IRCC’s fee landscape. This involves increased reporting requirements as well as requiring that IRCC partially refund clients whose applications are not processed within service standards.