News

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

This latest version of the IDD replaces the version of March 11, 2025, which had been authorized by then-immigration minister Marc Miller.

This is a breaking news story. CIC News will update this article as more details emerge.

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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