CIMM – Modernizing Canada’s Immigration System – March 23, 2026
Key Messages
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) operates a vast service delivery network, engaging with millions of clients across Canada and around the globe.
- IRCC is committed to delivering modern client-centric services that are more efficient, transparent and easy to use. A strong digitally-enabled immigration system is critical to attract global talent and ensure Canada’s long-term success.
- New digital technologies are transforming IRCC’s services by simplifying online application processes, enhancing clients’ access to real-time application status, increasing operational efficiency, and strengthening program integrity and border protections.
Key Facts and Figures
- IRCC is committed to improving our services and continually uses client feedback from diverse sources, including user-testing and surveys, to identify challenges and develop service innovations that enhance the client experience.
- IRCC is leveraging advanced analytics and automation to improve operational efficiency and reduce client wait times, all while maintaining high standards of service, integrity and transparency. New tools and technologies are continuously reviewed to ensure they are working as intended, and without the introduction of unintended bias, while ensuring accessibility.
- IRCC has a departmental AI strategy that is aligned with Government of Canada AI strategy. Our approach makes sure we’re using AI in a way that is both responsible and transparent. We have formal governance within IRCC on how and where AI can be used, and all of our algorithmic impact assessments are published on Canada.ca.
- IRCC’s digital transformation has already achieved results for our clients, with a new online account being rolled out in stages. As of January 31, 2026:
- Over 123K clients have used it to apply for a visitor visa.
- Over 91K Canadians have used it to apply for an adult passport renewal, the first time an online channel has been available for passports.
- Clients who have used the new online account report a high level of satisfaction with it (88% satisfaction for temporary resident visa clients and 82% satisfaction for passport renewal clients as of December 2025). More clients using the new online account agree that information about their application status is clear, compared to those who checked their application status prior to the new account.
- IRCC received incremental funding of $134.8M through the 2025–2026 Main Estimates to advance the Department’s modernization efforts.
- The 2025 results of IRCC’s annual client satisfaction surveyFootnote 1 generally show high overall client satisfaction rates across most services. However, clients identified three key areas for improvement: faster processing times, clearer updates on application status and refusals, and proactive communication about delays.
| 2025 Annual Survey Client Satisfaction Rates |
|
|---|---|
| Permanent Resident Streams | |
| Federal Skilled Economic (Express Entry) | 92% |
| Provincial Nominee Program (Express Entry) | 90% |
| Family Reunification—Sponsored Spouses, Partners and Children | 86% |
| Temporary Resident Streams | |
| Work Permits | 86% |
| Study Permits | 72% |
| Visitors | 88% |
| Citizenship and Passport Programs | |
| Citizenship Proof | 90% |
| Citizenship Grants | 94% |
| Passport | 86% |
Modernizing Services at IRCC
- IRCC is modernizing how it delivers its services.
- The Digital Platform Modernization programme is transforming how we do business, leveraging new tools and technologies that will help IRCC deliver significant benefits for clients, employees, partners, and all Canadians:
- A new online account for clients is already being rolled out initially to certain visitors and adult passport renewal clients, which will eventually become the single-window to all IRCC services, offering clients easier to use services, a fully digital experience with more self-serve options, and access to real-time application status information.
- New client support tools are being rolled out that will provide employees with a 360 degree profile of clients, to help them respond to client enquiries more efficiently and effectively across all support channels, increasing client satisfaction.
- A digital visa pilot was conducted between November 2025 and February 2026 for a select cohort of Moroccan citizens approved for a visitor visa. Lessons from this pilot will shape how IRCC will deliver digital immigration documents in the future. Digital visas are designed to make travel to Canada faster, safer and more convenient. They will reduce the need to mail or submit a passport for a visa counterfoil and improve verification and security. They can also make program delivery more efficient and lower the costs of printing and mailing. Initial results from the pilot are positive, including feedback from clients.
- And finally, new streamlined and digitally-enabled processes will soon begin to be rolled out on cloud-based technology and will allow the Department to more nimbly make policy changes, meet immigration targets, reduce backlogs, and protect the integrity of the immigration system.
- At the same time as we are transforming, we continue to make iterative improvements to our services, for example, launching improvements to our online processing times tool in October 2025 to show better estimates of how long processing will take, as well as where an application is in the immigration queue.
- Additionally, as of July 2025, IRCC has been automatically releasing officer decision notes, providing individuals whose applications are refused in most temporary resident lines of business more information about the reasons for refusal. Officer decision notes will be available to additional client groups in phases over time. Since the Department began proactively releasing the Officer Decision Notes for temporary resident (TR) application refusals, excluding electronic travel authorization (eTA) and temporary resident permit, in
July 2025, the rate of Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests for TR refusals has decreased by approximately 68% compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year.
Access to the Client Support Centre
- The Department is currently meeting the service standard of responding to 80% email inquiries within three days this fiscal year (FY) up from 20% last FY and in January 2026, we achieved a 50% answer rate of callers requesting to speak to an agent, up from 38% last fiscal year; a significant improvement over last FY.
- In January 2026, IRCC’s Contact Centre received over 730K inquiries across all service channels.
- Operational changes have enhanced efficiency and service quality. As we improve our service standard adherence, we are observing a decrease in overall enquiries as clients receive the responses they need faster, reducing the need for multiple inquiries, and redials. Overall inquiries have decreased by 30% in January compared to the same period last year.
- Ensuring efficient and effective approaches to service delivery helps ensure that Canada can fully reap the benefits of a well-managed and sustainable immigration system.