Canada reveals new rules for checking inbound visitors, visas

Canada’s immigration department has unveiled new screening protocols for inbound visitors, stating that more than 40 national policy criteria are employed to determine visa requirements amid a surge in global applications. In a recent post on IRCC’s X handle, the specifics were outlined in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) 2026 Deputy Minister transition briefing, which highlighted a risk-based approach to border security as visitor applications are expected to reach 5.8 million.

According to the briefing, Canada’s Visa Policy Framework incorporates over 40 national criteria to assess whether foreign nationals need a traditional visa or are eligible for visa-free travel. These factors include safety and security evaluations, document integrity checks, economic and bilateral considerations, and migration trends such as asylum claim volumes and histories of visa violations.

However, it is crucial to note that these 40-plus criteria are applied at the national policy level to set border access rules for entire countries and do not serve as a point-based checklist for individual applicant evaluations.

For applicants seeking a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV), immigration officers conduct personalized, case-by-case reviews. Decisions are based on personal indicators, including applicant intent, financial capacity, and admissibility checks such as health, criminal, and security evaluations. In high-risk cases, files may be referred to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for additional screening.

IRCC has also implemented macro-level integrity tools to manage record volumes driven by high demand from major source countries like India and China. The Global Risk Framework (GRF), launched in late 2025, serves as an early-warning system to monitor global migration trends and identify integrity risks before backlogs occur. Additionally, biometric enrolment processes nearly 3.5 million biometric records annually across 166 Visa Application Centres worldwide to verify identities against security and immigration databases.

While these tightened screening measures aim to combat misuse, IRCC emphasizes that the overarching goal remains facilitating legitimate travel for genuine visitors who contribute positively to Canada’s economy.