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Entry/Exit Program

This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.

The Entry/Exit initiative benefits Canadians by strengthening the efficiency and security of the Canada–US shared border.

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Background

The Entry/Exit (E/E) Program is a joint initiative between Canada and the United States (US), based on the “Beyond the Border: A Shared Perimeter Security and Economics Competitiveness Action Plan.” This plan committed each partner to establish and coordinate an entry and exit system to facilitate the exchange of travellers’ biographic information (e.g. citizenship, Entry/Exit date and time/mode of travel – Biometrics out of scope).

With the passing of Bill C-21, an Act to amend the Customs Act, data on all travellers (including Canadian and US citizens) began to accumulate as of July 11, 2019, for travel by land. Regulations for the air mode came into force June 25, 2020, allowing the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to begin collecting pre-departure exit information and exit records directly from commercial air carriers. All air carriers were expected to be fully on-boarded by November 2022.

What Entry/Exit data is collected

The CBSA collects basic biographic information whenever you enter Canada. The CBSA also collects exit information in the land and air modes, excluding marine and rail exits as they are currently not in scope.

The following personal information elements, which are set in recent amendments to the Customs Act, will be collected by the CBSA under the Entry/Exit Initiative:

Biographic entry data Biographic exit data
  • First/Given Name(s)
  • Middle Name(s)
  • Last/Surname(s)
  • Date of Birth
  • Citizenship/Nationality
  • Gender
  • Travel Document Type
  • Travel Document Number
  • Travel Document Issuing Country or Organization

Additional entry data (Land port only)

  • Date/Time of Entry
  • Name of the Port of Entry
  • First/Given Name(s)
  • Middle Name(s)
  • Last/Surname(s)
  • Date of Birth
  • Citizenship/Nationality
  • Gender
  • Travel Document Type
  • Travel Document Number
  • Travel Document Issuing Country or Organization

Additional exit data (Land)

  • Date/Time of Exit
  • Name of the Port of Exit

Additional exit data (Air)

  • Date/Time of Departure
  • Name of the Port of Departure
  • Flight Information

What information is available through Entry/Exit (land and air)

Client-specific E/E data elements available

  • Given and Family Names
  • Aliases
  • Date of Birth
  • Gender
  • Country of Birth
  • Country of Citizenship
  • Passport Details
  • Date of Entry/Exit

When performing an Entry/Exit query through GCMS, the results are received automatically, and they take between 30 seconds to 2 minutes to transmit from CBSA’s systems to IRCC’s. As soon as CBSA enters the data into their systems, the information immediately becomes available to be queried through GCMS.

Who can access Entry/Exit information

Where Entry/Exit information has been deemed relevant to an IRCC officer’s decision in relation to a specific program, access is granted by way of system-user roles; only roles that allow a user to render a decision on an application in the Global Case Management System (GCMS) have access to the “Entry/Exit” tab.

GCMS users that can manually create and submit an Entry/Exit request Authorized CBSA employees with GCMS access
  • Manager or Team Lead
  • Visa officer
  • Designated immigration officer
  • Non-immigrant case analyst
  • Assistant
  • Immigration program officer
  • CBSA assistant
  • CBSA Case Review
  • CBSA Hearings
  • CBSA management
  • CBSA Minister’s delegate
  • CBSA officer
  • Migration integrity officer
  • In-Canada assistant
  • Local citizenship officer
  • Case processing centre service delivery clerk
  • Local office clerk
  • Case processing centre agent or officer
  • Border services officers and superintendents
  • Criminal investigations officers and analysts
  • Document analysts
  • Hearings officers and hearings advisors
  • Inland enforcement officers and enforcement case officers
  • Intelligence officers and intelligence analysts
  • National Border Operations Centre (NBOC) officers
  • National Security Screening Division officers and analysts
  • National Targeting Centre (NTC) targeting officers
  • NTC targeting operations intelligence
  • Trusted traveller officers

IRCC officers are not authorized to disclose Entry/Exit information unless the disclosure is necessary for the administration of the IRPA and is covered under existing MOUs or similar information-sharing agreements. Any disclosure that is not explicitly covered under an existing agreement must be governed by CBSA as the owner of the Entry/Exit data.

CBSA Entry/Exit program use

CBSA’s scope of the Entry/Exit Initiative is to collect, store, analyze and use traveller entry and exit data, and provide a valuable new source of information with potential benefits for security, law enforcement and immigration program integrity.

Accurate entry and exit records enable Canada to better

  • identify individuals overstaying their allowable period in Canada
  • close integrity gaps in Canada’s citizenship and immigration programs by providing objective travel information that can be used to identify residence fraud
  • record departures of individuals subject to removal orders
  • enhance its law enforcement, national security and border and immigration program management by enabling Canada to know who is within its borders

IRCC Entry/Exit program use

IRCC obtains Entry/Exit information, via GCMS, from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Entry/Exit information can be used to support the administration of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), the Citizenship Act and the Canadian Passport Order by allowing IRCC users to

  • verify residence requirements in support of applications for grants of citizenship (CIT) or permanent resident card applications
  • verify that sponsors are residing in Canada
  • verify the residence of spouses and partners under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class
  • support investigations of possible fraud in relation to immigration, citizenship, and passport/travel document programs

IRCC Entry/Exit use by line of business (LOB)

Entry/Exit information is used for the following application types across all LOBs at IRCC:

Immigration

  1. Temporary residence

    Entry/Exit information can be used to identify whether a foreign national has previously exceeded their authorized period of stay in Canada.

    Overstay monitoring begins upon a traveller’s entry into Canada and ends upon their exit. If the client has overstayed their visit, CBSA will indicate the overstay through the “overstay indicator,” and it will appear as a checked box in GCMS once queried.

    The following temporary residence application types can use Entry/Exit information:

    • Temporary resident visas
    • Temporary resident permits
    • Visitor records
    • Work permits and work permit extensions
    • Study permits and study permit extensions
    • Electronic travel authorizations (eTAs)

  2. Permanent residence

    Entry/Exit information can be used to outline the periods of time spent in and outside Canada for people applying for permanent residence status determination (PR Cards and PR travel documents). This will provide a full picture of whether or not residence has been maintained.

    In addition to checking residence requirements, other reasons for initiating an E/E query could include investigations into misrepresentation or revocation of Canadian documents.

    For sponsorship applications, Entry/Exit information can be used to determine if a sponsor is residing in Canada.

    The following permanent residence application types can use Entry/Exit information:

    • Permanent resident cards
    • Permanent resident travel documents
    • Overseas refugees
    • Family class sponsorships

  3. Refugee claims (inland)

    Applications for in-Canada asylum can also use Entry/Exit to verify information presented by the claimant.

    Entry/Exit information can be used as a more thorough and robust travel history of claimants, which may give rise to concerns related to program integrity, credibility and exclusions. Records could demonstrate inconsistencies with the claimant’s basis of claim narrative, and this could prompt further investigations.

Citizenship

  • Entry/Exit information can be used to
    • verify compliance with physical presence requirements for grants of citizenship
    • assist in the verification of other requirements, such as
      • flagging of potential loss of permanent resident status
      • the need for applicants to submit foreign police certificates
      • misrepresentation
    • verify compliance with physical presence requirements for resumption of citizenship
    • assist in cases of revocation of Canadian citizenship

Investigations

  1. Citizenship revocation investigations

    Entry/Exit information can be used to support administrative investigations into an individual’s acquisition of citizenship. Specifically, data will be used to confirm whether or not the client misrepresented their residence in Canada for the purpose of acquiring citizenship.

  2. Passport investigations

    Entry/Exit information can be used to support administrative investigations into an individual’s entitlement to Canadian passport services.

    The system captures if a person uses multiple passports (or other travel documents) but only if all have been used by the client in the history of their travels between Canada and the US If only one passport (or other travel document) has been used, it will be the only one to show in E/E query results. However, separate queries can be initiated using either document to help identify the person.

  3. Permanent residence and refugee claims investigations

    IRCC can query Entry/Exit information on a closed application as part of an investigation if there is a clear reason to reopen the application, but only if passage information would be influential to a decision.

    Once an application is reopened, the client is afforded procedural fairness to address the new information.

  4. Port of entry verifications and permanent residence determinations (CBSA - Only)

    Once fully implemented, Entry/Exit information will give the CBSA the ability to

    • identify individuals who are potentially overstaying their lawful period of stay
    • better monitor the departure of individuals who are subject to removal orders and warrants
    • verify that residence requirements are being met by permanent residents and applicants for continued eligibility for immigration and citizenship programs

    This will allow the CBSA to determine who is in Canada and who has left the country.

Data protection, privacy and rules for onward disclosure

The collection of exit data is limited by law to basic biographic information that is already routinely collected from all travellers entering Canada.

The Government of Canada is committed to keeping Canadians safe while protecting individual rights and freedoms, and has built privacy protections into the core of entry and exit information sharing.

IRCC retains only traveller passage information applicable to the client associated with an application.

Privacy

IRCC is committed to the protection of individuals’ privacy in the ongoing policy/program development, implementation and administration of the Entry/Exit Initiative. Only authorized GCMS users will be able to access Entry/Exit information.

Access to information and privacy (ATIP) requests and requests for corrections

Travellers have the right to request a copy of their personal travel history through the Privacy Act, and they may ask that a correction be included if any of the information is incorrect. More information on corrections of personal information can be found on the CBSA website. If a traveller has requested a correction to their passage information, IRCC officers are notified of this correction and are able to re-query the CBSA’s database to obtain the most up-to-date information.

Onward disclosure

IRCC officers are not authorized to disclose Entry/Exit information unless the disclosure is necessary for the administration of the IRPA and is covered under existing MOUs or similar information-sharing agreements. Any disclosure that is not explicitly covered under an existing agreement must be governed by CBSA as the owner of the data.

Collection and access to traveller data

The Customs Act currently allows the CBSA to collect land entry and exit data and air entry data on all travellers. Regulatory amendments for exits by air came into force in June 2020. Under the IRCC–CBSA MOU, information sharing between both departments for the administration and enforcement of IRPA is considered consistent use, as per paragraph 8(2)(a) of the Privacy Act.

Where Entry/Exit information has been deemed relevant to an IRCC officer’s decision in relation to a specific program (outlined in this PDI), access is granted by way of system-user roles; only roles that allow a user to render a decision on an application in GCMS have access to the “Entry/Exit” tab.

It is possible to obtain data and/or run reports on E/E. Such a report can be run in 2 ways:

  1. Submit a request to OPPB
  2. Reports can be generated using GCMS Answers or Cognos (this option is only available to authorized GCMS users)

Legal authorities for the collection, use and disclosure of Biographic Entry Data:

  • Canada Border Services Agency Act, subsection 5(1)
  • Customs Act, subsection 11(1), sections 92, 93 and 107
  • Privacy Act: sections 4, 7 and subsection 8(2)

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