Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s 2025–26 Departmental Plan
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s 2025–26 Departmental Plan
On this page
- From the Minister
- Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
- Planned spending and human resources
- Corporate information
- Supplementary information tables
- Federal tax expenditures
- Definitions
Copyright information
From the Minister
As the new Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, I am pleased to present the 2025–2026 Departmental Plan.
Many newcomers come here to build better lives and be part of building Canada. They bring new businesses, innovations, and cultures, and they contribute to a strong, educated workforce. Immigration has always been an economic advantage to Canada, and with that comes a responsibility to maintain a sustainable immigration level consistent with our country’s community and service capacity. This is also necessary to make sure that those who do come here have access to the jobs, social services and housing they need to contribute to our communities.
We are making immigration work and leveraging our existing programs to help newcomers access supports, jobs, and homes. We are supporting newcomers’ integration and giving them a fair shot in Canada, while responding to the pressures that families and communities face today.
Work is underway at IRCC so that the Department operates within an environment of fiscal restraint. We will ensure that IRCC runs within its revised budget, while continuing to work towards meeting the needs of the people we serve.
We will work to reduce the share of temporary residents to 5% of Canada’s total population, and our economic immigration streams will focus on transitioning temporary workers in Canada to permanent residence, as we continue to address labour shortages in specific areas through programs that target rural and Northern communities. The Government is also committed to stabilizing permanent resident admissions at less than 1% of Canada’s population annually beyond 2027.
While reducing overall targets, our targets for Francophone newcomers settling outside Quebec will continue to increase to help support our plan to restore the demographic weight of Francophone communities outside of Quebec. It is vital that we continue to support all newcomers as they integrate into their communities, by funding service provider organizations around the country.
We will improve and strengthen the asylum system by making it more responsive, equitable and sustainable, while supporting vulnerable and at-risk populations.
Driven by the principles of client service excellence, we will move forward with the Digital Platform Modernization programme. Once fully implemented, it will offer clients a seamless online experience with improved support, a single window to access and apply for IRCC services, and real-time updates on the status of applications. We will also forge ahead with our new Case Management Platform, which will serve as the primary system to process applications and issue IRCC documents in the years ahead.
It is a pleasure to serve as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and I look forward to seeing what we will accomplish this coming year. To find out more about our priorities, I invite you to read the 2025–26 Departmental Plan.
The Hon. Lena Metlege Diab, P.C., K.C., M.P.
Minister of Immigration, Refugees
and Citizenship
Plans to deliver on core responsibilities and internal services
Core responsibilities and internal services
- Core responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers
- Core responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration
- Core responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports
- Internal services
Core responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers
In this section
Description
IRCC facilitates the entry of migrants who wish to come to Canada temporarily, while protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians. The Department works with partners to verify that individuals meet admissibility requirements. IRCC processes visas, electronic travel authorizations, and work and study permits for tourists, business travellers, international students and temporary workers, whose spending and presence in Canada benefit the economy.
Quality of life impacts
This core responsibility contributes to the “Prosperity” and “Good governance” as well as “Fairness and inclusion” domains of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada and, more specifically “Household incomes” and “Employment”, “Confidence in institutions” and “Discrimination and unfair treatment”.
Indicators, results and targets
This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for CR1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers. Details are presented by departmental result.
Table 1: Departmental Result 1: Entry to Canada of eligible visitors, international students and temporary workers is facilitated
Table 1 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers.
| Departmental Result Indicators | Actual Results | Target | Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Total number of visas and electronic travel authorizations issued to visitors, international students and temporary workers | 2021: 1,467,333 2022: 4,789,693 2023: 6,645,353 |
≥ 6.25 million Footnote 1 | End of each Calendar Year (CY) |
| 2. Percentage of visitor, international student and temporary worker applicants found inadmissible on health grounds and those who are authorized to enter with a condition on their visa related to health surveillance | 2021: 1.6% 2022: 1.6% 2023: 2.23% |
≤ 3% Footnote 2 | End of each CY |
| 3. Percentage of visitor, international student and temporary worker applicants found inadmissible on safety and security grounds | 2021: 0.03% 2022: 0.04% 2023: 0.03% |
≤ 0.06% Footnote 3 | End of each CY |
| 4. Percentage of temporary resident applications that met service standards | 2021–22: Not applicable (N/A) Footnote 4 2022–23: 60% 2023–24: 64% |
≥ 80% | End of each Fiscal Year (FY) |
| 5. Percentage of visitor, international student and temporary worker applicants who report they were satisfied overall with the services they received | 2021–22: 83% 2022–23: 83% 2023–24: 88% |
≥ 90% | End of each FY |
Table 2: Departmental Result 2: Facilitation of temporary entry helps to generate economic benefits
Table 2 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers.
| Departmental Result Indicators | Actual Results | Target | Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Total monetary contribution of visitors and international students to Canada’s economy Footnote 5 | 2021: $46.9 billion (2019) 2022: $15.4 billion (2020) 2023: $37.3 billion (2021) |
≥ $36 billion | End of each CY |
| 2. Number of temporary workers who fill labour market needs for which Canadians are unavailable | 2021: 103,552 2022: 135,818 2023: 184,008 |
80,000 – 84,800 | End of each CY |
Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Plans to achieve results
The following section describes the planned results for Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers in 2025–26.
DR 1: Entry to Canada of eligible visitors, international students and temporary workers is facilitated
DR 2: Facilitation of temporary entry helps to generate economic benefits
Key risks
As demand from those wanting to work and study in Canada exceeds new temporary resident levels, inventories of temporary resident applications will continue to grow. This creates potential risks related to managing processing resources, client experience and satisfaction, and IRCC’s relationship with partners. Processing delays could also lead to prolonged wait times for learning institutions and Canadian businesses seeking to access specialized skills or top talent. These risks will be mitigated using strategies and tools to reduce the potential impact of increased inventories, as the Department prioritizes reducing wait times and improving service standards, while maintaining program integrity. Tools such as advanced analytics triage and targeted quality assurance continue to support IRCC in its effort to maintain service excellence while addressing program integrity risks and increased intakes.
IRCC’s ability to detect non-genuine and inadmissible temporary residents is a key element of its mandate to manage migration, and protect the health, safety and security of Canadians. In the years following the pandemic, the migration landscape has evolved with increasing global crises. Organized human smuggling, fraud, and abuse of IRCC’s programs continue to pose challenges. This has had an impact on confidence in the immigration system, and it is important that the Department is able to balance the economic and cultural benefits of international tourism, while keeping Canadians safe and our programs free of fraud.
Reduction of the temporary resident population is expected to have economic impacts which may not be felt equally across regions and sectors of the country. For international students, reductions will have more of an impact on the communities where they attend college or university, especially where student populations represent disproportionate shares of the population. A reduction in temporary workers may have a more significant impact on sectors or economic regions facing a tight labour market. As work continues to monitor and recalibrate Canada’s foreign worker programs, the Department will continue to prioritize key sectors such as agriculture, food processing, and healthcare to minimize adverse impacts on Canada’s economy, food supply chain, and other essential services. The Department will also continue to engage with provinces, territories and other federal departments on federal immigration program and policy development to help ensure Canada’s immigration system meets the country’s economic needs.
Planned resources to achieve results
Table 3: Planned resources to achieve results for CR1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers
Table 3 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.
| Resource | Planned |
|---|---|
| Spending | 427,247,353 |
| Full-time equivalents | 3,210 |
Complete financial and human resources information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Related government priorities
Gender-based analysis plus
United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Innovation
Program inventory
Core Responsibility 1: ‘Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers’ is supported by the following programs:
- Visitors
- International Students
- Temporary Workers
Additional information related to the program inventory for CR 1: ‘Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers’ is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.
Core responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration
In this section
Description
IRCC facilitates the admission and economic and social integration of immigrants and refugees who intend to stay in Canada permanently, while protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians. The Department selects economic immigrant applicants to contribute to the Canadian economy, processes family member applicants to reunite families, and processes refugee and protected person applicants to provide a safe haven for those facing persecution. IRCC works with partners to verify that individuals meet admissibility requirements before they enter Canada. In order to support immigrants and refugees in integrating into Canadian society, IRCC offers a variety of settlement support services through a network of service providers.
Quality of life impacts
This core responsibility contributes to the “Prosperity” and “Good governance” as well as “Fairness and inclusion” domains of the Quality-of-Life Framework for Canada and, more specifically “Household incomes” and “Employment”, “Personal safety”, “Confidence in institutions” and “Discrimination and unfair treatment” through all of the activities mentioned in the core responsibility description.
Indicators, results and targets
This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration. Details are presented by departmental result.
Table 4: Departmental Result 3: Potential permanent residents are selected for immigration to Canada
Table 4 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration.
| Departmental Result Indicators | Actual Results | Target | Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Total number of permanent resident admissions, against the annual immigration levels plan | 2021: 405,999 2022: 437,539 2023: 471,808 |
367,000 – 436,000 | End of each CY |
| 2. Percentage of permanent residents admitted to Canada, outside Quebec, who identify as French-speaking | 2021: 1.95% 2022: 4.44% 2023: 4.68% |
≥ 8.5% | End of CY 2025 |
| 3. Percentage of permanent resident applicants found inadmissible on health grounds, and those who are permitted admission with a condition on their visa related to health surveillance | 2021: 2.0% 2022: 2.4% 2023: 2.98% |
≤ 3% Footnote 7 | End of each CY |
| 4. Percentage of permanent resident applicants found inadmissible on safety and security grounds | 2021: 0.07% 2022: 0.11% 2023: 0.12% |
≤ 0.4% Footnote 8 | End of each CY |
| 5. Percentage of permanent resident applications that met service standards | 2021–22: N/A Footnote 9 2022–23: 56% 2023–24: 77% |
≥ 80% | End of each FY |
| 6. Percentage of permanent resident applicants who report they were satisfied overall with the services they received | 2021–22: 81% 2022–23: 81% 2023–24: 84% |
≥ 90% | End of each FY |
Table 5: Departmental Result 4: Permanent residents are welcomed and benefit from settlement supports
Table 5 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration.
| Departmental Result Indicators | Actual Results | Target | Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Percentage of Canadians who support the current level of immigration | 2021–22: 67% 2022–23: 61% 2023–24: 50% |
≥ 65% | End of each FY |
| 2. Percentage of settlement clients who improved their official language skills | 2021–22: 36% 2022–23: 34% 2023–24: 34.7% |
≥ 50% | End of each FY |
| 3. Percentage of settlement clients who acquired knowledge and skills to integrate into the Canadian labour market | 2021–22: 40% 2022–23: 66% 2023–24: 53.8% |
≥ 50% | End of each FY |
Table 6: Departmental Result 5: Immigrants and refugees achieve economic independence and contribute to labour force growth
Table 6 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration.
| Departmental Result Indicators | Actual Results | Target | Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Percentage of newcomers who are employedFootnote 10 | 2021: 76% 2022: 78% 2023: 77.8% |
≥ 65% | End of each CY |
| 2. Percentage of immigrants and refugees who are in the middle income range or aboveFootnote 11 | 2021–22: 62% 2022–23: 63% 2023–24: 62.7% |
≥ 50% | End of each FY |
| 3. Percentage of the Canadian labour force that is made up of immigrants and refugees | 2021: 29% 2022: 29% 2023: 28.9% |
≥ 25% | End of each CY |
Table 7: Departmental Result 6: Immigrants and refugees feel part of and participate in Canadian society
Table 7 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration.
| Departmental Result Indicators | Actual Results | Target | Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Percentage of immigrants and refugees that have a strong sense of belonging | 2021–22: 90% 2022–23: 90% 2023–24: 87.5% |
≥ 85% | End of each FY |
| 2. Percentage of immigrants and refugees who volunteer in Canada | 2021–22: 21% 2022–23: 22% 2023–24: 23% |
≥ 20% | End of each FY |
Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Plans to achieve results
The following section describes the planned results for CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection
and Integration in 2025–26.
DR 3: Potential permanent residents are selected for immigration to Canada
DR 4: Permanent residents are welcomed and benefit from settlement supports
DR 5: Immigrants and refugees achieve economic independence and contribute to labour force growth
DR 6: Immigrants and refugees feel part of and participate in Canadian society
Key risks
In response to the pandemic and labour shortages, we brought in temporary immigration measures to attract some of the world’s best and brightest to study and work in Canada, which supported the urgent needs of businesses. The plan worked by continuing the contribution of immigrants to the economy in a challenging period. Canada experienced unprecedented population growth in recent years, surpassing 41 million in April 2024. Immigration accounted for almost 98% of this growth in 2023. This growth affected Canada’s ability to effectively integrate newcomers, while negatively impacting public support for immigration. To mitigate this risk, the 2025-2027 Levels Plan outlines decreases in overall permanent resident admissions. Including temporary resident arrivals in the Plan supports a more integrated approach to immigration planning. Improved planning will strengthen the whole-of-government approach to immigration and better align intake with community capacity.
As international crises continue to arise, Canada is increasingly called upon to address unique humanitarian situations, including through immigration measures when appropriate. IRCC’s Crisis Response Framework (CRF) provides the foundation to help better anticipate, respond to, and manage emerging crises in support of a controlled and well managed migration system. It applies a consistent principles-based assessment criteria to inform recommendations on whether and how to mount a migration response. This includes ensuring alignment with the Immigration Levels Plan and domestic welcoming capacities, including those of provinces and territories, settlement service-provider organizations, and other key partners.
High admissions, combined with Canada’s response to global humanitarian crises in recent years, have placed additional pressure on the Resettlement and Settlement Program’s service delivery. Resettlement Program costs have increased and securing permanent accommodations for GARs has become more challenging as rental costs have increased. The reduction in immigration levels over the next few years will impact Settlement Program funding, which would reduce the capacity of service provider organizations (SPOs) to meet the needs of higher numbers of clients. As a result, the risk to service delivery remains high. GARs may be spending longer periods of time in temporary accommodations while appropriate permanent accommodations can be secured, which will both drive up program costs and delay the settlement of these clients. In addition, other eligible clients will likely need to wait longer before being able to access necessary settlement services. To mitigate this risk, IRCC is prioritizing high-quality core Settlement and Resettlement services to ensure service continuity for newcomers, capitalizing on innovative approaches to service delivery while also identifying efficiencies where possible. The Department will also continue to maintain open lines of communication with service provider organizations and invest in the sector.
Planned resources to achieve results
Table 8: Planned resources to achieve results for CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration
Table 8 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.
| Resource | Planned |
|---|---|
| Spending | 3,999,913,801 |
| Full-time equivalents | 4,557 |
Complete financial and human resources information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Related government priorities
Gender-based analysis plus
United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Innovation
Program inventory
Core Responsibility 2: ‘Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration’ is supported by the following programs:
- Federal Economic Immigration
- Regional Economic Immigration
- Family Reunification
- Humanitarian/Compassionate and Discretionary Immigration
- Refugee Resettlement
- Asylum
- Settlement
Additional information related to the program inventory for CR2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.
Core responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports
In this section
Description
IRCC promotes the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship, and issues secure and internationally recognized Canadian citizenship and travel documents so that Canadians can participate fully in civic society and so that travel is facilitated across borders while contributing to international and domestic security.
Quality of life impacts
This core responsibility contributes to the “Society” and “Good governance” as well as “Fairness and inclusion” domains of the Quality-of-Life Framework for Canada and, more specifically “Sense of belonging”, “Confidence in institutions” and “Performance of socio-economic groups” through all of the activities mentioned in the core responsibility description.
Indicators, results and targets
This section presents details on the Department’s indicators, the actual results from the three most recently reported fiscal years, the targets and target dates approved in 2025–26 for CR3: Citizenship and Passports. Details are presented by departmental result.
Table 9: Departmental Result 7: Eligible permanent residents become Canadian citizens
Table 9 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR3: Citizenship and Passports.
| Departmental Result Indicators | Actual Results | Target | Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Percentage of permanent residents who become Canadian citizens | 2021: 86% (2016) 2022: 83% (2021) 2023: 83% (2021) |
≥ 85% | 2026 (every five years)Footnote 12 |
| 2. Percentage of citizenship applications that met service standards | 2021–22: N/A Footnote 13 2022–23: 36% 2023–24: 66% |
≥ 80% | End of each FY |
| 3. Percentage of citizenship applicants who report they were satisfied overall with the services they received | 2021–22: 78% 2022–23: 81% 2023–24: 88.6% |
≥ 90% | End of each FY |
Table 10: Departmental Result 8: Canadians’ international travel is facilitated
Table 10 provides a summary of the target and actual results for each indicator associated with the results under CR3: Citizenship and Passports.
| Departmental Result Indicators | Actual Results | Target | Date to achieve target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Percentage compliance of the Canadian passport with international standards | 2021–22: 100% 2022–23: 100% 2023–24: 100% |
100% | End of each FY |
| 2. Percentage of Canadian travel document applications that met service standardsFootnote 14 | 2021–22: 81% 2022–23: 77% 2023–24: 91.4% |
≥ 90% | End of each FY |
| 3. Percentage of passport applicants who report they were satisfied overall with the services they received | 2021–22: 85% 2022–23: 71% 2023–24: 84.7% |
≥ 90% | End of each FY |
Additional information on the detailed results and performance information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Plans to achieve results
The following section describes the planned results for CR3: Citizenship and Passports in 2025–26.
DR 7: Eligible permanent residents become Canadian citizens
DR 8: Canadians’ international travel is facilitated
Key risks
IRCC will proactively identify and mitigate service delivery risks to effectively facilitate Canadians’ international travel. The Department continues to enhance the client experience by regularly surveying feedback and tracking service standard performance, allowing for interventions to address service delivery standards. By closely monitoring passport demand and client behaviour, IRCC will position itself and its service delivery partners to proactively meet targets and adapt to evolving circumstances. The Department continues to work with our service delivery partners to improve processing to enhance client services and access. The Passport Program is moving towards online applications which will increase both the efficiency of the program and ease-of-use for clients.
Planned resources to achieve results
Table 11: Planned resources to achieve results for CR3: Citizenship and Passports
Table 11 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.
| Resource | Planned |
|---|---|
| Spending | 117,646,909 |
| Full-time equivalents | 1,844 |
Complete financial and human resources information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Related government priorities
Gender-based analysis plus
United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Innovation
Program inventory
Core Responsibility 3: ‘Citizenship and Passports’ is supported by the following programs:
- Citizenship
- Passport
Additional information related to the program inventory for Citizenship and Passports is available on the Results page on GC InfoBase.
Internal services
In this section
Description
Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:
- management and oversight services
- communications services
- legal services
- human resources management services
- financial management services
- information management services
- information technology services
- real property management services
- material management services
- acquisition management services
Plans to achieve results
This section presents details on how the Department plans to achieve results and meet targets for internal services.
Results we plan to achieve in 2025–26:
Information Technology
- Continuing the roll out of its new single-window online account for clients, as part of the Digital Platform Modernization programme. Once rolled-out to all client groups, this new account will offer a more seamless online experience with improved client support, a single online window to access and apply for IRCC services, and real-time information about the status of applications. It will also lay the foundations to address challenges related to obtaining physical status credentials by giving the ability to a subset of clients to access and share digital status credentials.
- Focusing digital transformation efforts on designing and beginning to implement a new Case Management Platform which will eventually replace IRCC’s aging Global Case Management System. Once fully implemented (over several years) the new case management platform will serve as the primary system to process applications and issue IRCC documents.
- Recognizing the increasing demand and transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), IRCC is committed to adopting AI responsibly to drive operational efficiencies, enhance service and program delivery, and strengthen integrity measures. AI systems are not used to refuse applications, or to deny entry to Canada. IRCC officers remain at the core of immigration processing, exercising full authority and discretion in decision-making. IRCC will continue to align AI solutions with federal public service values and international best practices, ensuring ethical use and secure deployment.
- Prioritizing delivery of analytics services that enable/support data-driven business decisions and the implementation a holistic approach to enterprise data management.
- Advancing our approach to data management and supporting the 2023–26 data strategy, IRCC has developed a new data service strategy, to be implemented by 2025–26, which ensures a structured and client-responsive approach that not only enhances data accessibility and security but also supports continuous improvement across IRCC’s programs.
Human Resources: Workforce Engagement & Workplace
- Supporting a high performing, adaptive, diverse workforce with strong leadership. To strengthen these goals, a Workforce and Workplace Strategy for IRCC is under development and will be implemented in 2025–28. The Strategy aims to align human resource strategies to business and financial priorities. The Strategy will be accompanied by an action plan to address workforce and workplace priorities.
- Ensuring that employees occupying supervisory positions in bilingual regions are fluently bilingual as per the modernization of the Official Languages Act. Employees and managers will be equipped with knowledge and tools to foster a bilingual environment.
- Streamlining the accommodation process through the work of the Employee Support Office, and its partners who assist employees and managers in getting the tools, support and measures needed for an inclusive and barrier-free workplace and ensure sound application of the Duty to Accommodate.
- Launching the Organizational Ombuds Office. The Office will provide a confidential and informal resource where employees can voice concerns, seek guidance, and resolve conflicts in the interest of providing a supportive work environment, while enhancing engagement, promoting fairness and trust, and identifying systemic workplace issues.
- Providing multiple options for addressing workplace issues and concerns, including the informal approach. The Office of Conflict Resolution supports staff at all levels of the organization in preventing, managing and resolving workplace conflicts through capacity building and informal conflict management services.
Management and Oversight Services
- Updating IRCC’s Departmental Results Framework (DRF) by reviewing the reporting structure, results and performance metrics to improve its alignment with the relevant legal statutes and regulations, departmental mandates and ever-evolving immigration landscape. The amendments will be reflected in the 2026–27 Departmental Plan, where a more streamlined DRF will allow the Department to report on the accomplishment of its plans and results using evidence-based performance metrics.
- Monitoring and reporting on the progress of the 2025-2027 IRCC Strategic Plan with annual updates, informed by regular periodic reviews. The Strategic Plan is the internal guide for the Department on how to achieve its mandate and objectives; it provides direction to plan and prioritize work, allocate resources and mitigate risks. The Strategic Plan annual update will be influenced by the DRF renewal, as well as the annual setting of targets and review of departmental priorities.
- Updating IRCC’s Departmental Results Risk Profile (DRRP) to align with the new IRCC Strategic Plan and renewal of the DRF to provide greater focus on key risks to the achievement of departmental results. This streamlined approach will allow the Department to collect and report on its top strategic risks to monitor through the DRRP.
- Leading initiatives to manage and address the rising number of access to information and privacy (ATIP) requests, including collaborations with internal stakeholders to improve access to personal information. IRCC receives 60% of all ATIP requests in the federal government. Digital modernization efforts that are being implemented aim to reduce IRCC’s ATIP volumes as it will allow clients to easily access their information online.
Real Property/Material Management Services
- Creating unassigned flexible work location hubs, in the National Capital Region and across the country to help reintegrate IRCC’s workforce to the office.
- Engaging in efforts to better respond to the needs of clients and employees with disabilities. The Department will support an inclusive and accessible workplace by completing several GCworkplace projects and furniture modernization. Areas to be addressed are all-access washrooms and the installation and modernization of automatic door openers.
Key risks
To prevent key systems being compromised, which, among other potential consequences, could lead to privacy breaches and/or delay the Department’s transformation agenda, IRCC continues to strengthen its vulnerability identification, monitoring and response efforts. The Workforce and Workplace Strategy and plan 2025-2027 will include measures to mitigate the risk of losing the Department’s talent by introducing a mobility framework, and by equipping IRCC with workforce strategies to implement. The reductions in levels of permanent and temporary admissions could trigger a surge in requests for information on individual applications. Digital modernization efforts are being implemented incrementally and aim to reduce IRCC’s ATIP volumes as they will allow clients to easily access their information online.
The Department will continue to mature our processes and practices for managing and reporting on risks in a consistent, accountable and systematic way. These practices are aimed at fostering a risk-informed culture and risk-informed decision-making that contribute to the attainment of the organization’s strategic priorities with the intended results.
Planned resources to achieve results
Table 12: Planned resources to achieve results for internal services this year
Table 12 provides a summary of the planned spending and full-time equivalents required to achieve results.
| Resource | Planned |
|---|---|
| Spending | 629,219,589 |
| Full-time equivalents | 3,078 |
Complete financial and human resources information for IRCC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.
Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses
Government of Canada departments are to meet a target of awarding at least 5% of the total value of contracts to Indigenous businesses each year. This commitment is to be fully implemented by the end of 2024–25.
IRCC is committed to meeting this goal. In the 2023–24 fiscal year, IRCC exceeded the 5% target and awarded 5.85% (approximately $37.9M) of its contracts to Indigenous businesses.
Contracting officers and budget managers are encouraged to consider Indigenous businesses in any procurement process. IRCC currently maximizes opportunities by encouraging the increased use of Indigenous supplier solicitations in commodities such as management consulting, computer equipment and software. IRCC aims to increase Indigenous business further via designated solicitation streams in the information technology Omnibus Professional Services contract renewals, incorporating Indigenous considerations in major procurements, such as those within the Digital Platform Modernization programme, computer equipment ever-greening programs and incentivizing contractors to use Indigenous Participation Plans (IPPs). IPPs facilitate prime contractors that may not be Indigenous owned to direct subcontracts to Indigenous firms for portions of the overall contracted work. In addition, IPPs enhance indirect benefits to Indigenous communities and suppliers as portions of a contracts total value may be allocated to providing training, career development and scholarships to Indigenous Peoples. Overall IPPs will enhance IRCC’S capability to reach further into the Indigenous Business Community to meet its 5% target.
The following table shows in percentages the actual, forecasted and planned value for the Indigenous Business target. There were no Deputy Head exceptions taken into account in the calculations below.
Table 13: Percentage of contracts planned and awarded to Indigenous businesses
Table 13 presents the current, actual results with forecasted and planned results for the total percentage of contracts the Department awarded to Indigenous businesses.
| 5% Reporting Field | 2023–24 Actual Result | 2024–25 Forecasted Result | 2025–26 Planned Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total percentage of contracts with Indigenous businesses | IRCC actual was 5.85% ($37.9M or a total value of $647.7M in contracts) | 5% (15M based on a forecasted value of $300M in contracts) | 5% (15M based on a forecasted value of $300M in contracts) |
Planned spending and human resources
This section provides an overview of IRCC’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2025–26 with actual spending from previous years.
In this section
Spending
This section presents an overview of the Department's planned expenditures from 2022–23 to 2027–28.
Graph 1: Planned spending by core responsibility in 2025–26
Graph 1 presents how much the Department plans to spend in 2025–26 to carry out core responsibilities and internal services.
Text description of Graph 1
Analysis of planned spending by core responsibility
In 2025–26, the Department plans on spending $427.2 million under Core Responsibility 1: Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers. Resources under this core responsibility will be used to facilitate the entry of persons who wish to come to Canada temporarily. IRCC processes visas, electronic travel authorizations, and work and study permits for tourists, business travelers, international students and temporary workers, whose spending and presence in Canada benefit the economy.
The Department also plans on spending $4.0 billion under Core Responsibility 2: Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration. Resources under this core responsibility will be used to facilitate the admission and economic and social integration of immigrants and refugees who intend to stay in Canada permanently. The Department selects economic immigrant applicants, processes family member applicants to reunite families, and processes refugee and protected person applicants to provide a safe haven for those facing persecution. In order to support immigrants and refugees in integrating into Canadian society, IRCC offers a variety of settlement support services through a network of service providers.
Furthermore, the Department plans on spending $117.6 million under Core Responsibility 3: Citizenship and Passports. Resources under this core responsibility will be used to promote the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizenship, and issue secure and internationally recognized Canadian citizenship and travel documents so that Canadians can participate fully in civic society and so that travel is facilitated across borders while contributing to international and domestic security.
Finally, the Department plans on spending $629.2 million for Internal Services. These resources are provided to the Department to meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs.
Budgetary performance summary
Table 14: Three-year spending summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)
Table 14 presents how much money IRCC spent over the past three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services. Amounts for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on spending to date.
| Core responsibilities and Internal services | 2022–23 Actual Expenditures | 2023–24 Actual Expenditures | 2024–25 Forecast Spending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers | 373,511,658 | 520,355,542 | 356,253,357 |
| Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration | 3,979,176,018 | 4,674,884,681 | 5,379,824,077 |
| Citizenship and Passports | 411,971,361 | 244,311,930 | 140,645,680 |
| Subtotal | 4,764,659,037 | 5,439,552,153 | 5,876,723,114 |
| Internal services | 444,457,933 | 554,703,163 | 702,157,269 |
| Total | 5,209,116,970 | 5,994,255,316 | 6,578,880,383 |
Analysis of the past three years of spending
The 2023–24 actual spending increased by $785.1 million (or 15%) in comparison with 2022–23. The increase is mainly due to the increase in healthcare provision to eligible beneficiaries under the Interim Federal Health Program, in immigration levels, in interim housing of asylum claimants in 2023–24 under the Interim Housing Assistance Program, in funding for Canada’s response to the Ukrainian crisis, in temporary accommodation and support services costs in response to a higher number of asylum claimants, as well as an increase in spending for the Canada-Quebec Accord. IRCC also made investments to stabilize its resources available for temporary resident processing as a result of a growing number of visitors, workers and students; and to stabilize its existing information technology infrastructure while advancing the transformation and modernizing agenda and set foundation for new digital services.
The increase in the 2024–25 forecast spending is mainly attributable to funding received through the supplementary estimates process for:
- The continued delivery of the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) to cover incremental expenditures related to the provision of healthcare to eligible beneficiaries;
- The one-time stand-alone payment to Quebec in recognition of expenses for the provision of services to asylum claimants, including temporary housing;
- The renewal and extension of the Interim Housing Assistance Program for asylum claimants;
- The continued provision of temporary accommodations to asylum claimants due to the continued high volume of claimants arriving in Canada; and
- The implementation of Tranche 1 and 2 of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 programme, including the implementation of front-facing capabilities for all IRCC clients to improve client experience and streamline application intake as well as the procurement and implementation of the back-end Case Management Platform.
More financial information from previous years is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.
Table 15: Planned three-year spending on core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)
Table 15 presents how much money IRCC plans to spend over the next three years to carry out its core responsibilities and for internal services.
| Core responsibilities and Internal services | 2025–26 Planned Spending | 2026–27 Planned Spending | 2027–28 Planned Spending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers | 427,247,353 | 361,696,267 | 333,337,908 |
| Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration | 3,999,913,801 | 3,054,520,958 | 2,726,824,139 |
| Citizenship and Passports | 117,646,909 | 106,085,188 | 99,525,718 |
| Subtotal | 4,544,808,063 | 3,522,302,413 | 3,159,687,765 |
| Internal services | 629,219,589 | 551,841,168 | 436,795,958 |
| Total | 5,174,027,652 | 4,074,143,581 | 3,596,483,723 |
Analysis of the next three years of spending
The total planned expenditures are decreasing by $1.6 billion (or 30%) over three years. The decreasing trend is seen across all core responsibilities and is mainly attributable to:
- The temporary top-up funding for the Interim Federal Health Program ending in 2025–26 to manage asylum-related expenditures as the system continues to respond to elevated claim volumes;
- The extension of funding for the Interim Housing Assistance Program ending in 2026–27 to support jurisdictions on housing-related pressures associated with heightened volumes of asylum claimants as the Department draws down its hotel operations; and
- The decrease of funding following the decision to reduce immigration levels as part of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan.
Even though the planned expenditures are decreasing over three years, the Department will continue to enhance efficiency and boost productivity. The Department is modernizing its operations, implementing new policies and infrastructure to improve services and transform the way it does business. This transformation will support IRCC’s ability to successfully achieve Departmental results, now and in the future.
More detailed financial information on planned spending is available on the Finances section of GC Infobase.
Table 16: Budgetary gross and net planned spending summary (dollars)
Table 16 reconciles gross planned spending with net spending for 2025–26.
| Core responsibilities and Internal services | 2025–26 Gross planned spending (dollars) | 2025–26 Planned revenues netted against spending (dollars) | 2025–26 Planned net spending (authorities used) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers | 441,495,853 | 14,248,500 | 427,247,353 |
| Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration | 3,999,913,801 | - | 3,999,913,801 |
| Citizenship and Passports | 720,473,602 | 602,826,693 | 117,646,909 |
| Subtotal | 5,161,883,256 | 617,075,193 | 4,544,808,063 |
| Internal services | 629,219,589 | - | 629,219,589 |
| Total | 5,791,102,845 | 617,075,193 | 5,174,027,652 |
Analysis of budgetary gross and net planned spending summary
Through its activities, the Department collects revenues on behalf of the government. Of these collected revenues, the Department has the authority to re-spend its revenues for the Passport Program and the International Experience Canada Program.
The International Experience Canada Program operates on a vote-netted revenue basis, where the Department has the permission to collect and spend revenues earned. Its revenues are generated through the collection of a participation fee.
The Passport Program operates on a full cost-recovery basis over its 10-year business cycle and generates revenues through fees paid for passports and other travel documents.
Information on the alignment of IRCC’s spending with Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available on GC InfoBase.
Funding
This section provides an overview of the Department’s voted and statutory funding for its core responsibilities and for internal services. For further information on funding authorities, consult the Government of Canada budgets and expenditures.
Graph 2: Approved funding (statutory and voted) over a six-year period
Graph 2 summarizes the Department’s approved voted and statutory funding from 2022–23 to 2027–28.
Text description of graph 2
Analysis of statutory and voted funding over a six-year period
The graph above represents actual spending incurred by the Department from 2022–23 to 2023–24, the forecast spending for 2024–25 based on approved authorities and planned spending from 2025–26 to 2027–28. As illustrated, IRCC's actual spending increased from fiscal year 2022–23 through to fiscal year 2023–24 mainly due to the incremental funding received for the Interim Housing Assistance Program, the Interim Federal Health Program, the Immigration Levels Plan, the crisis in Ukraine, and the temporary accommodation for asylum claimants.
The increase in the 2024–25 forecast spending is mainly attributable to funding received through the supplementary estimates process for the Interim Federal Health Program, the one-time stand-alone payment to Quebec for costs related to asylum seekers, the Interim Housing Assistance Program, the provision of temporary accommodations to asylum claimants, and the implementation of Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 programme.
Planned expenditures will decrease significantly after 2024–25 as temporary funding will end for the Interim Federal Health Program and the Interim Housing Assistance Program; as well as a decrease in funding following the decision to reduce immigration levels as part of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan.
For further information on IRCC’s departmental appropriations, consult the 2025–26 Main Estimates.
Future-oriented condensed statement of operations
The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of IRCC’s operations for 2024–25 to 2025–26.
Table 17: Future-oriented condensed statement of operations for the year ended March 31, 2026 (dollars)
Table 17 summarizes the expenses and revenues which net to the cost of operations before government funding and transfers for 2024–25 to 2025–26. The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.
| Financial information | 2024–25 Forecast results |
2025–26 Planned results |
Difference (Planned results minus forecasted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses | 7,640,025,212 | 6,145,859,789 | (1,494,165,423) |
| Total revenues | 681,890,036 | 617,075,193 | (64,814,843) |
| Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers | 6,958,135,176 | 5,528,784,596 | (1,429,350,580) |
Analysis of forecasted and planned results
The decrease in spending from 2024–25 to 2025–26 is mainly attributable to decreases in funding for:
- The Interim Housing Assistance Program for asylum claimants;
- The Immigration Levels Plan;
- The provision of temporary accommodations and support services to asylum claimants; and
- The Government of Canada’s commitment to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals.
Total revenues are expected to decrease by $64.8 million, or 9.5%, in 2025–26 compared to forecast results for 2024–25, mainly attributable to a decrease in the anticipated demand projections.
A more detailed Future‑Oriented Statement of Operations and associated Notes for 2025–26, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, is available on IRCC’s website.
Human resources
This section presents an overview of the Department’s actual and planned human resources from 2022–23 to 2027–28.
Table 18: Actual human resources for core responsibilities and internal services
Table 18 shows a summary of human resources, in full-time equivalents, for IRCC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for the previous three fiscal years. Human resources for the current fiscal year are forecasted based on year to date.
| Core responsibilities and internal services | 2022–23 Actual full-time equivalents | 2023–24 Actual full-time equivalents | 2024–25 Forecasted full-time equivalents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers | 2,139 | 2,649 | 2,912 |
| Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration | 4,537 | 4,785 | 5,183 |
| Citizenship and Passports | 2,062 | 2,164 | 1,977 |
| Subtotal | 8,738 | 9,598 | 10,072 |
| Internal services | 2,491 | 3,044 | 3,247 |
| Total | 11,229 | 12,642 | 13,319 |
Analysis of human resources over the last three years
The 2023–24 actual FTEs increased by 1,413 FTEs (or 13%) in comparison with 2022–23. The increase is mainly due to growth in the workforce in support of the increased levels in permanent resident admissions, and the investments made to stabilize its resources available for temporary resident processing as a result of a growing number of visitors, workers and students; and to stabilize its existing information technology infrastructure while advancing the transformation and modernizing agenda and set foundation for new digital services.
The increase in the 2024–25 forecasted FTEs is mainly attributable to personnel funding received through the supplementary estimates process for:
- The full Tranche 1 implementation of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 programme, including the implementation of front-facing capabilities for all IRCC clients to improve client experience and streamline application intake;
- The Digital Platform Modernization (DPM) Phase 3 to support Tranche 2 implementation, for which the primary activities are the procurement and implementation of the back-end Case Management Platform; and
- The partial visa imposition on Mexico, mainly to ensure that the Department is able to establish a high level of client service for all applicants from Mexico and preserve the current level of client service globally.
Table 19: Human resources planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services
Table 19 shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents, for each of IRCC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services planned for the next three years.
| Core responsibilities and internal services | 2025–26 Planned full-time equivalents | 2026–27 Planned full-time equivalents | 2027–28 Planned full-time equivalents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visitors, International Students and Temporary Workers | 3,210 | 2,922 | 2,951 |
| Immigrant and Refugee Selection and Integration | 4,557 | 4,166 | 3,920 |
| Citizenship and Passports | 1,844 | 1,859 | 1,858 |
| Subtotal | 9,611 | 8,947 | 8,729 |
| Internal services | 3,078 | 2,925 | 2,528 |
| Total | 12,689 | 11,872 | 11,257 |
Analysis of human resources for the next three years
The planned full-time equivalents are decreasing by 1,432 FTEs (or 11%) over three years. The decreasing trend is seen across all core responsibilities and is mainly attributable to:
- The decrease of personnel funding following the decision to reduce immigration levels as part of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan;
- The temporary personnel funding ending in 2025–26 for the full Tranche 1 implementation of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 programme, including the implementation of front-facing capabilities for all IRCC clients to improve client experience and streamline application intake;
- The temporary personnel funding ending in 2026–27 for the implementation of the Digital Platform Modernization Phase 3 Tranche 2, enabled by the procurement of a new back-end Case Management Platform;
- The Department’s commitment to reduce spending as announced in Budget 2023 Refocusing Government Spending; and
- The decrease in personnel funding to stabilize Canada’s asylum system and further streamline the processing of asylum claims to allow the system to function more effectively and efficiently in the face of increased volumes, while supporting enhanced program integrity.
Corporate information
Departmental profile
Departmental contact information
Supplementary information tables
The following supplementary information tables are available on IRCC’s website:
Information on IRCC’s departmental sustainable development strategy can be found on IRCC’s website.
Federal tax expenditures
IRCC’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.
The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.
This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.
Definitions
List of terms
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