Question Period Note: Client Service

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is committed to providing quality client service.

• IRCC is committed to delivering quality client service across its global network by making sure our programs and services are efficient, clear and easy to use.
• To meet this commitment, IRCC is transforming the way it delivers services to clients, and has made meaningful progress on several fronts.
• Since IRCC launched a new single-window online account in June 2024, almost 50,000 clients have used it to apply for a service to date.
• In December 2024, IRCC launched online passport renewals for eligible Canadians to renew their passports online for the first time.

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) operates a vast service delivery network, engaging with millions of clients across Canada and around the globe every year.
• The Government of Canada is committed to providing a user-friendly and positive experience for everyone accessing our services. At IRCC, delivering a modern, efficient, fair, and transparent client experience that is both predictable and timely is essential. As we compete globally for talent, a strong immigration system enabled by client service is critical to Canada's long-term success.
• Service includes various aspects, and we have made progress in the following key areas:
Client Communication
• IRCC is improving and redesigning high-traffic sections of the IRCC website to improve the client experience and make it easier for clients to access information about our programs and services.
• Through feedback acquired in client research, surveys and complaints and comments submitted through IRCC’s online webform, the Department is listening to the evolving needs of our clients and Canadians. For example, leveraging the insights of client research, IRCC is striving to provide clients with better reassurance on the progress of their application by improving operational transparency and clients access to their personal information. This work, which is being enabled by a new single-window online account, will reduce the need for clients reach out to IRCC’s Client Support Centre or make ATIP requests for file information.
• IRCC has also launched case status trackers for multiple programs so that clients can easily track the status of their application information online. This functionality is also being integrated into the new single-window online account.
• IRCC is also committed to enhancing transparency for new clients regarding application processing times. In May 2024, the Department began publishing on its website forward-looking processing times for select programs. Through ongoing testing and research with clients, IRCC is continually improving our online tools, ensuring clients can have access to clearer and more relevant information.
Client Research Informs Program and Policy Development
• IRCC actively engages with clients to identify challenges and barriers, to support research-based decisions that lead to a better client experience. We use various data sources to gain a comprehensive understanding from the client’s perspective, including client experience surveys, usability testing, client-focused research projects, client enquiry and volume reports, web traffic trends, direct feedback, and more. Recent research shows that a good client experience depends on clear and predictable processing times as well as timely application status updates.
• IRCC also conducts client surveys and research to ensure clients are aware of and benefitting from IRCC-funded settlement and resettlement services, which are delivered by third-party service provider organizations on behalf of the Department.
• The Department continues to analyze newcomer settlement outcomes to inform the design of the Settlement Program to ensure the right services are being provided to the right clients at the right time in their integration journey. The majority of clients surveyed agree that the services they received helped them in their settlement journeys.
• We are also focusing efforts on client feedback relating to accessibility barriers, to ensure they are addressed as part of departmental modernization efforts.
Digital Transformation Efforts
• IRCC is transforming its service delivery model through the Digital Platform Modernization initiative. This modernization effort is taking a phased approach, with the first part focused on the client experience, followed by new processes and tools for streamlined, efficient, and risk-focused end-to-end digital application processing. The roll-out of new capabilities is already underway, starting with a new single-window online account for clients that began roll-out in June 2024. New client support tools will also begin to be rolled out in Summer 2025.
• Through Digital Platform Modernization, IRCC is also collaborating with ESDC to introduce streamlined SIN issuance for eligible IRCC clients (aka SIN@Entry), through an integrated process that will provide clients with an option to request a SIN and view their SIN Confirmation Letter directly through their secure IRCC online account. This will make getting a SIN easier for clients, and significantly reduce in-person visits to Service Canada Centre.
• In the interim to full transformation, IRCC is using advanced analytics and automation to increase its capacity to respond to client enquiries, faster. For example, IRCC’s Client Support Centre uses automation to support faster uploading of documents received via the IRCC Web form.
IRCC also remains committed to improving access to its Client Support Centre. For example, the Client Support Centre maintained a call answer rate of 40% from January to April 2025 despite an increase in the number of clients requesting to speak to an agent during the same period in 2024.

• While our recent client surveys show an upward trend in overall client satisfaction, ranging from 85% to 95% across various programs, we know there are opportunities and we commit to continuously improving our services.
To make sure we stay focused on the most important areas, we continuously gather insights from clients through surveys, usability testing, user-centred research as well as our online feedback tools.