Understanding the Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act

The Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act makes legislative changes while protecting privacy and rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It helps disrupt increasingly complex criminal groups, strengthen border security, and improve our immigration and asylum systems.

About Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act

The Act keeps people in Canada safe by making sure law enforcement has to the right tools to:

keep our borders secure
fight transnational organized crime
stop the flow of illegal fentanyl
crack down on money laundering
protect Canada while upholding Canada's privacy and Charter rights

It strengthens our security by proposing changes to laws that support:

border security
immigration and asylum
combating transnational organized crime
disrupting illicit financing

Border security

Many of our laws related to managing our borders and immigration systems needed to be updated to continue to address increasing and more complex security challenges.

The Act gives border, immigration and law enforcement agencies modernized powers to be more effective now and in the future.

Export inspections

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Officers have the power to inspect goods for export, but they may not have been able to access the goods at certain locations.

The Act gives the CBSA access to exported goods located in warehouses and transportation hubs.

Maritime security

Canada's coasts face evolving security risks. To respond effectively, departments and agencies must work together to strengthen maritime security.

The Act allows the Canadian Coast Guard to conduct security patrols and to collect, analyze and disseminate information and intelligence for security purposes.

Information sharing on registered sex offenders

Border security requires a coordinated effort across all of government because information from various federal institutions may be required to thoroughly assess a given situation.

Federal departments and agencies need to work together to share information to understand and respond to demands, and to keep people safe.

The Act enhances the ability of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to share information on registered sex offenders with domestic and international partners, including those in the United States.

Immigration and asylum

New eligibility requirements for asylum claims

Canada's asylum system protects people who can demonstrate they face a real risk of persecution or serious harm. Two new eligibility requirements are now in effect and will apply to all claims made on or after June 3, 2025:

Asylum claims made more than one year after someone's first entry into Canada after June 24, 2020 won't be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), regardless of whether the person has since left and returned.
Asylum claims from people who enter Canada between ports of entry along the Canada–US land border and who make a claim after 14 days won't be referred to the IRB.

These new eligibility requirements will reduce pressure on the asylum system, protect it against sudden increases in claims, close loopholes and deter people from claiming asylum as a shortcut to regular immigration pathways.

The new rules aren't intended to apply to unaccompanied minors. People who are affected by these new rules will still have access to a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) to prevent them from being sent back to a country where they face risks like persecution, torture or other harm.

There is no change to the application of the Safe Third Country Agreement: people who make a claim at a port of entry along the Canada–US land border or within 14 days of irregular entry continue to be returned to the US, unless they qualify for an exception or exemption.

Learn more about how the asylum process works and see a list of all the eligibility requirements.

Modernized asylum process

Over the coming months, Canada will improve how we receive, process and decide on asylum claims by updating the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. These changes will:

simplify the online application process and reduce the need to answer duplicate questions and complete multiple forms
refer only complete and "schedule- ready" claims to the IRB to speed up decisions
ensure that the IRB decides on claims only while the claimant is physically present in Canada, and if a claimant voluntarily returns to their country of alleged persecution before the IRB has made a decision, their claim would be considered abandoned
remove inactive cases from the system
speed up voluntary departures by making removal orders effective on the same day a claim is withdrawn
help vulnerable people, like minors or those who don't understand the process, by appointing a representative to support them during certain Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Canada Border Services Agency proceedings

Along with the new eligibility rules, these changes will make the system more efficient, sustainable and well-managed.

Domestic information sharing

IRCC now has clear legal authority to share certain personal information within the department and with domestic government partners. These changes make information sharing more secure and consistent, helping to improve service delivery and collaboration between federal and provincial governments and programs.

The new authorities:

allow IRCC to share identity, status and IRCC-issued documents with federal, provincial and territorial government partners through written information-sharing agreements
make it easier for IRCC to share client information between its own programs (for example, using permanent residence application data to process citizenship applications)
allow for regulations to be developed to share client information across federal departments and agencies for the purpose of co-operation

These new authorities have built-in safeguards to ensure that applicants' privacy and Charter rights remain protected:

Information can only be shared with federal, provincial or territorial partners that are legally allowed to collect that information for specific purposes, and that have clear, written agreements or arrangements in place
Provinces and territories can't share this information with other countries unless IRCC gives written permission and the disclosure complies with Canada's international obligations regarding mistreatment
Within IRCC, a privacy impact assessment (PIA) must be completed for any new use of personal information. PIAs spell out what can be shared and why, and set limits so staff only access what they need for their work

Immigration document and application authorities

The Government of Canada now has new tools to better manage immigration documents (such as visas, electronic travel authorizations, and work and study permits) and related applications. These measures will help the government respond quickly to emergencies or unexpected situations while supporting fairness, transparency and accountability.

When it's in the public interest, IRCC may cancel, suspend or change a large group of immigration documents, pause application intake, or cancel or suspend application processing
- "Public interest" grounds include fraud, administrative errors or concerns for public health, safety or national security
- The decision can't be made by a single minister — each decision requires approval by the Governor in Council through an order in council, recommended by Cabinet
- Decisions are published in the Canada Gazette and reported to Parliament. This process must be followed each time these authorities are used
The authorities also allow the Government of Canada to make regulations that prescribe scenarios when officers can take similar actions, case-by-case, for example by reviewing document holders outside Canada to confirm that they remain admissible or eligible
The authorities don't affect asylum claims (applications for refugee protection) and don't give the government power to grant, change or revoke status, such as permanent resident and temporary resident status

Learn more about how the Government of Canada manages groups of immigration documents and applications.

Fighting international organized crime

The greatest threats to our border continue to be international organized crime networks. They try to take advantage of areas along the border to smuggle people or illegal goods.

Law and border enforcement must keep pace with these modern criminal threats and prepare for future challenges.

The Act modernizes legal authorities for border and law enforcement agencies so they can respond to current and emerging challenges more effectively.

Disrupt illegal drug production

While Canada strictly controls synthetic drugs and the precursor chemicals used to produce them, the illegal drug market is constantly evolving in an attempt to evade these controls.

The Act:

amends the accelerated scheduling pathway that allows precursor chemicals that can be used to produce illicit drugs to be rapidly controlled by the Minister of Health
- This allows law and border enforcement agencies to take swift action to prevent their illegal importation and use, and would ensure strict federal oversight over any legitimate use of these chemicals

Disrupting illicit financing

Financial crimes are not victimless. Money laundering supports and perpetuates crimes such as human trafficking, fentanyl trafficking, and other illicit drug trafficking, as well as fraud, theft, and other economic crimes. Terrorist financing wreaks havoc on communities at home and around the world.

To disrupt illicit finance and combat transnational organized crime, new tools were introduced to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated criminal threats and techniques.

Anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing: Supervision, compliance, and enforcement

Businesses with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing (AML/ATF) obligations are on the front lines of the fight against financial crimes. These obligations, such as reporting suspicious transactions, are designed to detect and deter financial crimes.

The Act strengthens AML/ATF compliance, supervision, and enforcement, including through a 40 times increase in administrative money penalties, so that non-compliance is not treated as the cost of doing business.

Supervisory collaboration

Coordination among federal agencies with financial sector responsibilities supports high standards of regulatory compliance by federally regulated financial institutions.