Canada restructures delegation of authority to immigration officers

Canada’s immigration department has published a document detailing significant restructuring.

The latest version of the Instrument of Designation and Delegation (IDD), published on January 16, 2026, details a slew of changes authorized by Immigration Minister Lena Diab, effective as of December 15, 2025.

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Major changes include

• Expanding the distribution of powers to various roles;
• Restructuring to five geographic areas (down from nine); and
• Dividing the refugee division into two branches: asylum claims, and resettlement.

The document also includes a great number of minor changes, such as updating roles and titles, including the introduction of a new "Manager" designation for an officer of PM-05 level or equivalent within the Immigration Operations Branch and Humanitarian and Identity Operations Branch, renaming Integrity Risk Management to Migration Integrity Operations, and renaming international officials to "Migration Officers" (formerly named "Immigration Officers").

The IDD is a legal document whereby the immigration minister delegates their authority to officers, including IRCC, CBSA, and RCMP officials.

The latest version of the IDD delegates 189 powers to officials, while retaining 15 powers for the minister alone.

It replaces the version of March 11, 2025, which had been authorized by then-Immigration Minister Marc Miller.

These changes to IRCC's structure and service delivery have come in the wake of announcements of reductions in headcount at IRCC, and with the Liberal government under Mark Carney targeting significant reductions in headcount across the broader federal public service.

Distribution of powers

The new IDD grants a wide range of additional powers across roles in Settlement and Resettlement Operations, and creates a new Service Delivery Sector, whose agents perform functions such as conducting examinations, assessing for medical inadmissibility, and making determinations on applications for work permits, study permits, and permanent residence.

Under the new IDD, Resettlement Operations is authorized to refuse to issue permanent resident visas to applicants seeking to settle in Quebec without holding Quebec Selection Certificates (CSQs). IRCC expects this change to streamline processing.

Geographic restructuring

IRCC has now only five geographic regions:

• Americas and the Caribbean.
• Europe, Maghreb and Multilaterals.
• Middle East.
• Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Info-Pacific.

Formerly, IRCC was divided into nine geographic regions, including distinct regions for Northern Europe, South East Asia and Oceania, North Asia, South Asia, and the United States of America.

Refugee and Asylum

The latest version of the IDD has split what was formerly the Asylum and Refugee Resettlement branch into two: the Asylum Branch, and the Resettlement, Family, and Humanitarian Branch.

Under the new authorization of powers, authority for the determination of refugee claims has been split between higher and lower-level officers.

Lower-level officers are authorized to confirm eligibility, while ineligibility decisions are handled by higher level officers.

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