Certain Fees Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations Remission Order: SI/2025-126

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 159, Number 26

Registration
SI/2025-126 December 17, 2025

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION ACT

Certain Fees Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations Remission Order

P.C. 2025-908 December 5, 2025

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, considering that the collection of certain amounts is unreasonable, on the recommendation of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, under subsection 23(2.1)footnote a of the Financial Administration Actfootnote b, remits the excess from the adjustment, by operation of section 17footnote c of the Service Fees Actfootnote d, of any fees payable under subsections 298(1) and 306(1) and sections 309 and 310 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulationsfootnote e during the period beginning on December 1, 2019 and ending on November 30, 2023.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order.)

Proposal

The Governor in Council, considering that the collection of the debt is unreasonable, on the recommendation of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, has made the Certain Fees Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations Remission Order pursuant to subsection 23(2.1) of the Financial Administration Act (FAA).

Objective

The objective of the Remission Order is to remit outstanding debts resulting from the non-collection of annual increases to five inadmissibility fees from December 1, 2019, to November 30, 2023.

Background

In 2017, five inadmissibility fees set out under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations became subject to the Service Fees Act (SFA). These inadmissibility fees, which are charged for the processing of applications by foreign nationals seeking to regain their status or to be authorized to return to Canada after being found inadmissible, include the following:

  1. Authorization to return to Canada fee;
  2. Determination of rehabilitation – criminality fee;
  3. Determination of rehabilitation – serious criminality fee;
  4. Restoration of temporary resident status fee; and
  5. Temporary resident permit fee.

Under the SFA, these fees were required to be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) beginning on December 1, 2019. However, between December 1, 2019, and November 30, 2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) did not collect the amount associated with the CPI adjustment to the fees as required by the SFA, resulting in foregone revenue to the Government of Canada of $2,285,355.31 and a corresponding debt to clients. IRCC only started adjusting inadmissibility fees in accordance with the SFA on December 1, 2023.

Implications

The collection of this debt is considered unreasonable, as it would require small amounts to be recovered from thousands of individual clients who are not aware of the debt.

A remission order is required to remit the debt.

Table 1: Uncollected fee increases to the authorization to return to Canada fee
Year services provided Uncollected fee increases Volume Foregone revenue
Dec 1, 2019, to Nov 30, 2020 $8.80 521 $4,585.53
Dec 1, 2020, to Nov 30, 2021 $16.97 623 $10,575.14
Dec 1, 2021, to Nov 30, 2022 $16.14 785 $12,663.17
Dec 1, 2022, to Nov 30, 2023 $30.29 1 075 $32,556.70
TOTAL N/A N/A $60,380.55
Table 2: Uncollected fee increases to the rehabilitation – criminality fee
Year services provided Uncollected fee increases Volume Foregone revenue
Dec 1, 2019, to Nov 30, 2020 $4.40 2 142 $9,426.63
Dec 1, 2020, to Nov 30, 2021 $8.48 1 823 $15,459.04
Dec 1, 2021, to Nov 30, 2022 $8.07 1 579 $12,739.17
Dec 1, 2022, to Nov 30, 2023 $15.14 1 905 $28,834.13
TOTAL N/A N/A $66,458.97
Table 3: Uncollected fee increases to the rehabilitation – serious criminality fee
Year services provided Uncollected fee increases Volume Foregone revenue
Dec 1, 2019, to Nov 30, 2020 $22.00 456 $10,026.50
Dec 1, 2020, to Nov 30, 2021 $42.44 473 $20,081.19
Dec 1, 2021, to Nov 30, 2022 $40.35 410 $16,546.86
Dec 1, 2022, to Nov 30, 2023 $75.72 327 $24,760.44
TOTAL N/A N/A $71,415.00
Table 4: Uncollected fee increases to the restoration of temporary resident status fee
Year services provided Uncollected fee increases Volume Foregone revenue
Dec 1, 2019, to Nov 30, 2020 $4.40 40 261 $177,146.57
Dec 1, 2020, to Nov 30, 2021 $8.48 47 641 $403,996.39
Dec 1, 2021, to Nov 30, 2022 $8.07 40 614 $327,751.62
Dec 1, 2022, to Nov 30, 2023 $15.14 56 822 $860,280.03
TOTAL N/A N/A $1,769,174.60
Table 5: Uncollected fee increases to the temporary resident permit fee
Year services provided Uncollected fee increases Volume Foregone revenue
Dec 1, 2019, to Nov 30, 2020 $4.40 3 498 $15,392.67
Dec 1, 2020, to Nov 30, 2021 $8.48 11 814 $100,185.55
Dec 1, 2021, to Nov 30, 2022 $8.07 10 683 $86,207.78
Dec 1, 2022, to Nov 30, 2023 $15.14 7 671 $116,140.20
TOTAL N/A N/A $317,926.19

Accountability

All remissions associated with the Remission Order will be reported in the IRCC Fees Reports and IRCC Public Accounts.

Contact

Victoria Totten
Director
Integrity Policy and Programs
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 1L1