Immigration, refugees and citizenship
Settlement services, refugee support and related programs.
Headline figures
Fiscal year 2024–25
$6.9B
1.4% of the $474.4B of federal program spending reported by theme, across 27 programs.
Cost per tax filer uses 29,965,100 tax filers (2023, the latest count published); per person uses a population of 41,162,593 (2024). It is an allocation of cost, not a tax bill.
Spending programs
Actual spending by program in 2024–25: operating costs, capital and payments to others, as reported by each department and reconciled to the Public Accounts. Select a program for its history and cost per taxpayer.
Asylum
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$2.3B
33.3% of list$76.32per tax filer$55.56per personSettlement
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$2.1B
29.9% of list$68.50per tax filer$49.87per personRefugee Resettlement
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$640M
9.3% of list$21.35per tax filer$15.54per personInformation Technology Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$233M
3.4% of list$7.78per tax filer$5.66per personVisitors
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$187M
2.7% of list$6.25per tax filer$4.55per personRefugee Protection Decisions
Immigration and Refugee Board
$178M
2.6% of list$5.95per tax filer$4.33per personPassport
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$121M
1.8% of list$4.03per tax filer$2.93per personTemporary Workers
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$118M
1.7% of list$3.92per tax filer$2.86per personFederal Economic Immigration
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$112M
1.6% of list$3.72per tax filer$2.71per personInternational Students
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$104M
1.5% of list$3.47per tax filer$2.53per personCitizenship
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$102M
1.5% of list$3.40per tax filer$2.48per personManagement and Oversight Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$101M
1.5% of list$3.36per tax filer$2.45per personFamily Reunification
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$88.4M
1.3% of list$2.95per tax filer$2.15per personInternal Services
Immigration and Refugee Board
$79.6M
1.2% of list$2.66per tax filer$1.93per personHuman Resources Management Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$72.9M
1.1% of list$2.43per tax filer$1.77per personRegional Economic Immigration
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$58.2M
0.8% of list$1.94per tax filer$1.41per personFinancial Management Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$54.3M
0.8% of list$1.81per tax filer$1.32per personRefugee Appeal Decisions
Immigration and Refugee Board
$51.4M
0.7% of list$1.71per tax filer$1.25per personLegal Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$44.7M
0.7% of list$1.49per tax filer$1.09per personCommunications Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$37.4M
0.5% of list$1.25per tax filer$0.91per person
Show the other 7 programs
Materiel Management Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$29.6M
0.4% of list$0.99per tax filer$0.72per personHumanitarian/Compassionate and Discretionary Immigration
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$23.1M
0.3% of list$0.77per tax filer$0.56per personImmigration Appeal Decisions
Immigration and Refugee Board
$22.2M
0.3% of list$0.74per tax filer$0.54per personAdmissibility and Detention Decisions
Immigration and Refugee Board
$21.5M
0.3% of list$0.72per tax filer$0.52per personReal Property Management Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$21.0M
0.3% of list$0.70per tax filer$0.51per personInformation Management Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$19.4M
0.3% of list$0.65per tax filer$0.47per personAcquisition Management Services
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$3.0M
0.0% of list$0.10per tax filer$0.07per person
Grants and contributions
Payments to provinces, organizations and individuals in 2024–25, by transfer payment program, from the Public Accounts. These are a different cut of the same money as the programs above, so the two lists are not added together. Select one to see its largest recipients.
Settlement Program
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$1.1B
31.0% of list$36.96per tax filer$26.90per personGrant for the Canada-Quebec Accord on Immigration
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$867M
24.3% of list$28.94per tax filer$21.07per personGrant for asylum seekers in Quebec
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$581M
16.3% of list$19.40per tax filer$14.12per personGrant for the Interim Housing Assistance Program
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$526M
14.7% of list$17.56per tax filer$12.79per personResettlement Assistance
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$342M
9.6% of list$11.42per tax filer$8.31per personGrant for the Resettlement Assistance Program
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$95.5M
2.7% of list$3.19per tax filer$2.32per personGrant for International Migration Capacity Building Program
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$27.2M
0.8% of list$0.91per tax filer$0.66per personGrant for Settlement Program
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$18.5M
0.5% of list$0.62per tax filer$0.45per personInternational Organization for Migration
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$3.8M
0.1% of list$0.13per tax filer$0.09per personContribution for Francophone Immigration Support Program
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$2.3M
0.1% of list$0.08per tax filer$0.06per personGlobal Assistance to Irregular Migrants
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$935K
0.0% of list$0.03per tax filer$0.02per personGrant for Francophone Immigration Support Program
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
$112K
0.0% of list<$0.01per tax filer<$0.01per person
Sources and basis
- GC InfoBase - Open Datasets, retrieved 2026-11-03. Open Government Licence - Canada. Program spending is reconciled to Public Accounts expenditures by vote for every organization and year. It excludes Employment Insurance benefits, the Canada Child Benefit and other items that are not appropriated, so it differs from the budget tables.
- Detailed information on Transfer Payments, as per the Public Accounts of Canada, retrieved 2026-11-03. Open Government Licence - Canada.
- Themes group programs by purpose, not by department. Each program is assigned to one theme by a published, reviewable rule set.