Greatest immigration reforms in decades pass key milestone toward law

The Senate has passed a bill containing the greatest reforms Canada's immigration system has seen in decades, including the ability for the Governor in Council to vary, cancel, or suspend immigration documents, including work permits, study permits, and permanent resident visas.

Assess your Eligibility for Canadian Permanent Residence

Bill C-12, "An Act respecting certain measures relating to the security of Canada’s borders and the integrity of the Canadian immigration system and respecting other related security measures," passed its third reading in the Senate with amendments the evening of March 12, 2026.

The bill contains three major changes for immigration:

• Executive powers over immigration applications and documents;
• A reform of Canada's asylum system; and
• Provisions for increased sharing of personal information on the part of the immigration department.

Executive powers

Should the bill become law, it would provide the Governor in Council the ability to issues orders to

• Cease accepting for processing, pause the processing of, or terminate the processing of immigration applications;
• Cancel, suspend, or vary immigration documents, such as work permits, study permits, visitor visas, and permanent resident visas; and
• Impose or vary conditions on temporary residents.

Should the bill become law, these powers could be exercised by the Governor in Council in situations deemed to be in the public interest, which the bill defines as matters pertaining to “administrative errors, fraud, public health, public safety or national security.”

After the exercise of these powers, the immigration minister would be required provide justification for the order(s) to Parliament, as well as details on those affected.

Asylum reform

The bill introduces two new grounds for ineligibility for asylum claims to be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB):

• Claimants who first entered Canada after June 24, 2020, and made their claim more than a year after their first date of entry (post-one-year claimants); and
• Claimants who entered Canada from the Canada-US land boarder, outside a port of entry.

Currently, Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations allow asylum claims from claimants who have entered along the Canada-US land border outside a port of entry, provided that the claim is made at least 14 days after the claimant has entered Canada.

The two new grounds for ineligibility for asylum would apply retroactively to June 3, 2025, the date upon which was first introduced C-12's precursor bill, Bill C-2.

Claimants ineligible for referral to IRB may still apply for a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA).

Under amendments introduced by Senator Tony Dean, the immigration department would be required, five years after the coming into force of the Act, to provide annual reports to Parliament with details on the number of claims received from ineligible post-one-year claimants, along with the number and outcome of associated PRRAs.

Additional reforms to the asylum system include the requirement to determine claims to have been abandoned in cases in which the claimant has voluntarily returned to the country from which they claimed protection, and the requirement not to consider claims from claimants outside Canada.

Information sharing

The bill contains provisions that would allow the immigration department to disclose individuals' personal information to other government agencies and to government-controlled corporations, who would be allowed, with the permission of the immigration minister, to share that personal information with foreign entities.

Personal information that could be disclosed outside the department includes individuals' identities, their statuses in Canada, and any documents issued to them under the authority of the immigration minister.

Under an amendment introduced by Senator Paulette Senior and adopted by the Senate on March 10, these information sharing provisions would not apply to Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Comprehensive review

The outcomes of the act would be subject to Parliamentary oversight, under an amendment introduced by Senator Dean that would required a Parliamentary committee to review the operation and effect of the Act's changes five years after its coming into force, and to submit to Parliament a report setting out their findings and any recommended changes.

Because the bill was amended in the Senate prior to passing its third reading, it must be passed in a third reading by the House of Commons before it can become law.

To become law, an act of Parliament must pass its third reading in the same form in both houses of Parliament, and then receive royal assent.

Assess your Eligibility for Canadian Permanent Residence