Security Screening

Visitors, immigrants and refugee claimants are carefully screened to prevent inadmissible persons from entering or remaining in Canada. This screening is an essential part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to keeping Canada safe and secure.

The CBSA works closely with its Immigration Intelligence Network, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, foreign and Canadian law enforcement agencies to prevent criminals and persons considered a security risk from entering Canada or to remove them once they are discovered in Canada.

Background checks

Background checks are carried out on anyone 18 years of age or over, who applies for immigration or comes to Canada and claims refugee status. These background checks are an important tool for identifying criminals and known security threats. Various sources are used for background checks, including visa application forms, intelligence information, criminal conviction records and immigration records.

Background checks may also be carried out on people who apply to come to Canada temporarily.

Danger Opinion

Danger opinions are issued if the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration believes that a person is a danger to the Canadian public or a danger to Canada's security. They can be issued against Convention refugees facing removal and against a person claiming protection.

A person's history is reviewed to determine if he or she poses a danger to Canada that outweighs the risk of removal to the country from which the individual fled persecution.

A danger opinion allows the CBSA to remove a Convention refugee from Canada. It also makes a refugee claimant ineligible for referral to the Refugee Protection Division of the IRB.

Irregular Migration

Irregular migrants are individuals who have migrated from one country to another with no legal recognition of their right to do so. The CBSA’s strategy for dealing with irregular migration to Canada relies on intelligence-based decision making to identify high-risk travellers, while facilitating the movement of legitimate visitors, refugees and immigrants.

Migration Integrity Officers are positioned in key locations overseas to work with other government departments, international partners, local immigration and law enforcement agencies and airlines to combat irregular migration, including people smuggling and trafficking. 

Document Integrity

The issue of document integrity involves matters relating to the accurate identification of document applicants and/or holders, entitlement to documents, the physical structure of documents, and document fraud detection and prevention.  It includes consideration of:

• the authentication of the identity of document applicants;
• the determination of whether a document applicant is entitled to that document;
• the production of the document;
• the secure issuance of the document to the entitled applicant;
• document security features;
• fraud prevention and detection;
• the tracking of the document through its life cycle, including the tracking of lost/stolen/cancelled documents;
• the authentication and verification of the document when used by the document holder, for example upon entry to Canada; and
• information sharing between federal departments and agencies and between governments on document security features, on lost, stolen and cancelled documents and/or to verify validity of documents.