Strategic Outcomes and Program Alignment Architecture (in effect April 1, 2011)

Program 4.2 – Migration Control and Security Management

Program Description
In accordance with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and Regulations, this Program aims to ensure the managed migration of people to Canada in order to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians. Even as CIC facilitates the travel of bona fide permanent residents, visitors, students and temporary workers, it also deploys an array of policy interventions to manage access and entry to Canada, including visa, admissibility, information sharing, travel document, and identity management policies. Effective partnerships with public safety-related departments and organizations are an essential component of this program.

Under IRPA, all visitors to Canada require a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) except where an exemption has been granted under the Regulations. The TRV requirement is Canada’s primary means of controlling migration and allows for the screening of individuals for health, safety and security risks before they begin travel to Canada.

CIC also aims to ensure that admissibility policy continues to provide flexibility to address compelling circumstances that warrant a foreign national’s presence in Canada, while maintaining the integrity of Canada’s immigration system. Information sharing agreements and mechanisms support immigration management and provide security advantage.

This Program supports CIC’s policy initiatives related to identity management and entry document requirements, including the expansion of biometrics to accurately identify foreign nationals entering Canada and the provision of a highly secure proof of status document to all permanent residents. The Permanent Resident Card also serves as a travel document and is required for all commercial travel to Canada.

Permanent Resident Cards

The Permanent Resident Card was introduced with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in 2002 to provide secure status documents that would facilitate the travel of permanent residents to Canada. On December 31, 2003, the card became mandatory for all permanent residents returning to Canada aboard a commercial carrier. The cards are typically, but not always, valid for five years from the date of issue. To date, over 3 million Permanent Resident Cards have been issued.

More information on the Permanent Resident Card

Visitors

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, every foreign national wishing to visit Canada must have a temporary resident visa before arriving in Canada unless they are from countries specifically exempted in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, or they benefit from certain other limited exceptions, for example, being members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Canada. As of July 2012, citizens from 143 countries and territories require temporary resident visas to visit Canada.

Tourists and business visitors make a significant contribution to our economy by creating a demand for services in the hospitality sector and allowing Canadian businesses to benefit from their specialized expertise. Every year, CIC processes new applications and extensions from over 1 million persons seeking temporary resident visas as tourists or business visitors to Canada.

More information on visiting Canada

Temporary Resident Permits

Subsection 24(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act authorizes designated officers to issue temporary resident permits to foreign nationals who they believe are inadmissible or who do not meet the requirements of the Act. These permits are issued when there are compelling reasons to admit an otherwise inadmissible individual into Canada, and include permits issued as part of the Department’s commitment to protecting victims of human trafficking. In exercising their discretion, decision makers must take into consideration any instructions issued by the Minister under subsection 24(3), and weigh the risk to Canada against the reason for permitting temporary residence. Issued for a limited period and subject to cancellation at any time, temporary resident permits also give CIC the flexibility to address exceptional circumstances or cases affecting the national interest.

More information on Temporary Resident Permits

Fraud Prevention and Program Integrity Protection

As part of its access management framework to address increasingly sophisticated security threats and challenges, CIC is committed to strengthening the integrity of Canada’s immigration system by reducing the risk of identity fraud and unreliable travel documents as well as the likelihood of known inadmissible persons gaining entry to Canada. The Department recognizes the direct link between its program integrity and its ability to provide core services to Canadians, who have also become increasingly concerned with their national security. As such, under its broader fraud prevention framework, an ongoing priority for CIC is to address security and safety threats early while facilitating the movement of legitimate travelers to Canada.

While a visa requirement is currently the most effective means of protecting the integrity of Canada’s immigration and asylum systems, Canada’s visa policy is moving towards an individual-based screening approach. This will include, among other initiatives, introducing the use of biometric data (fingerprints and photograph) in the temporary resident immigration program to verify traveler identity at the earliest opportunity, to increase security and to enhance fraud detection. The use of biometrics will help visa officers establish the identity of applicants with greater confidence at the beginning of the visa application process. This additional screening tool will help support the decision making of visa officers with regard to who should be granted a visa to come to Canada. Biometrics will also enable border services officers to have greater certainty that the individual who was granted a visa is the one seeking entry into Canada.

The individual-based screening approach will also entail the development of more effective information sharing mechanisms with key international partners, including in accordance with the Canada-U.S. Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness and with commitments made as part of the Five Country Conference.

Enhancing international immigration information sharing with key partners will significantly improve Canada’s screening capability in order to more effectively identify individuals who may pose a threat to the safety and security of the Canadian public. This supports program integrity by identifying those who have committed serious crimes, or violated immigration law in Canada or the partner country, preventing individuals from assuming different identities between one country and another, and identifying individuals known to have previous immigration violations related to inadmissibility grounds such as fraud and criminality. Ultimately this helps to reduce abuse of the immigration and refugee programs. Along with the procedures Canada already has in place, such upcoming measures will allow the Department to further mitigate security threats and maintain public confidence in Canada’s immigration system.

More information on fraud prevention