Does the Government of Canada track the Entry and Exit movements of travelers?

The amount of days an outsider can stay in Canada is pertinent to applications for study grants, visitor visas, work permits, Canadian permanent residence status, and citizenship. If a visitor stays longer than the granted time period, it is illegal. Since February 2019, the Canadian government is efficiently tracking the movement of visitors who enter and leave the country by land. This traveler information is obtained from the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) through the Entry/Exit program of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Collecting the traveler’s information is restricted to land as of now and is expected to be extended to air travel this year.

What kind of information does the IRCC collect?

When the visitors leave the nation’s border, their vital information is sent to the Canadian Border Services Agency in the form of an “exit report”. As per the CBSA, this report is further disclosed to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for “the administration and enforcement of immigration and citizenship programs”.

Entry and exit information include the following biographic elements:

Full name;
Sex;
Date of birth;
Nationality or citizenship;
Travel document type;
Document number; and
Name of the country that issued the travel document.

What are the benefits of the Entry/Exit program?

With the help of the traveler information provided by CBSA, the IRCC would be able to verify documents that are required in applications for permanent residence and Canadian citizenship. Through this information, the government can track the admissible period of stay a foreign national has in the country. And, in turn, can take action for the overstayed period. Further, for the family class programs, it is necessary that a sponsor is a resident of Canada. With the help of the information given by the CBSA, it would be easy for the government to verify the residence of a sponsor. Also, illegal asylum seekers cause a big burden on the country. And Canada has been dealing with the issue of illegal migrants for a long time. The traveler data will help IRCC to verify a refugee claimant.

Use of Entry/Exit program by IRCC:

How will the government use the traveler information received from CBSA? The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) have stated that it will use the entry and exit information for all lines of business (LOBs).

Entry/Exit information will be used to administer the following application types:

Immigration
Citizenship
Investigations

1. IMMIGRATION:

Temporary Residence:

The application types that can use the entry/exit data are listed below:

temporary resident visas
temporary work permits
work permits
work permit extensions
visitor records
study permits
study permit extensions
electronic travel authorizations

Information collected with the help of the Entry/Exit program can help IRCC find out if a foreign national has expired work visa in Canada.

Permanent Residence

Following application types can use the entry and exit information:

permanent resident cards
overseas refugees
family class sponsorships
permanent resident travel documents

This entry/exit data is important for IRCC to have a record of time spent in and outside the country by foreign nationals who apply for permanent residence.

Inland Refugee Claims:

Entry and exit data can also be used by the Canadian government to get a thorough travel history of the asylum seekers.

2. CITIZENSHIP:

The entry and exit particulars of a person applying for Canadian citizenship can help IRCC to verify the physical presence requirements for securing Canadian citizenship. A candidate who applies for Canadian citizenship must live in the country for a minimum of 1095 days within a period of five years.

3. INVESTIGATIONS:

Passport Investigations

The information obtained from the entry/exit program can help to support authorities investigate an individual’s entitlement to a Canadian passport.

Citizenship revocation investigations

Similarly, the information obtained from the entry/exit program can help to support administrative investigations regarding an individual’s citizenship. Particularly, this data will be used to verify the residence of a citizenship applicant.