Program delivery update: Safe Third Country Agreement
This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.
May 04, 2023
As of March 25, 2023, at 00:01, Eastern Time, the Additional Protocol (AP) to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which expands the application of the agreement across the entire land border, came into force.
The AP and the accompanying regulatory amendments expand the STCA such that it now applies to persons who make a claim upon seeking entry to Canada between ports of entry and to those who make an inland refugee claim following an irregular entry.
Updates have been made to the related program delivery instructions to account for this expansion of the STCA.