Canada uncovers 62 cases of immigration bribery, misconduct by IRCC staff

Canada's first IRCC misconduct report reveals 62 cases of bribery, racism, and immigration data breaches, raising concerns over internal oversight and staff conduct

In a first, Canada’s federal immigration department on June 13 released a report documenting internal misconduct, revealing serious breaches of ethics, privacy, and professional conduct by its staff.

 

The 2023–2024 misconduct report by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), reviewed by Business Standard, outlines 62 confirmed cases involving everything from attempted bribery to racism and misuse of internal systems.

 

Bribery and privacy violations uncovered

 

One of the most serious findings involved an immigration case officer who, under financial pressure, asked a colleague if they would take money to approve a study permit.

 

“The employee who received the request informed the agent that the request violates IRCC’s Code of Conduct,” the report says.

 

 

The officer later claimed someone else had taken over their laptop, but further investigation revealed the agent had fabricated the story. Their security clearance was revoked.

 

In another set of cases, 12 staff accessed confidential immigration files—some out of curiosity, others to check on relatives or friends. A few also asked colleagues to fast-track applications or amend records.

 

Racist behaviour and unprofessional conduct

 

Nine cases involved harassment, including racist comments and threatening or disrespectful behaviour toward colleagues.

 

One employee was suspended without pay after making “disrespectful and discriminatory remarks that a group of people of a specific nationality believe they are above the law,” the report said.

 

Another staff member formed a personal relationship with an asylum seeker met at a hotel, later co-signing their car loan and advising them on how to deal with the department. IRCC flagged this as a conflict of interest and suspended the employee.

 

Other administrative misconduct

 

The report also found:

 

37 cases of time theft, absenteeism and misuse of government resources

Staff cheating on internal assessments

Employees making derogatory remarks or failing to declare personal conflicts in client dealings

 

IRCC said 76 cases were examined, of which 62 were found to involve misconduct.

  Why this matters?

 

Ketan Mukhija, senior partner at Burgeon Law, explained to Business Standard, "Insider misconduct poses a serious threat to the fairness and integrity of Canada’s immigration system, particularly within high-volume visa streams where oversight is inherently more challenging and the stakes for applicants are significant".

 

Harpreet Kochhar, deputy minister at IRCC, said, “We are grateful to the courageous employees who raised concerns or blew the whistle when a potentially problematic behaviour was observed.”

 

“At IRCC we encourage our employees to speak up without fear or reprisal,” he said.

 

The department said it has responded with disciplinary action, mandatory training, and strengthened oversight. Managers were required to report privacy breaches to the internal privacy division for further containment and action. 

IRCC employs about 13,000 people, including those stationed at embassies worldwide. The confirmed cases involved a small portion of the workforce, but the department acknowledged that these were only the incidents detected or reported. 

"While IRCC has introduced safeguards such as mandatory reliability screenings, task rotation, regular quality audits, and digital monitoring, the recurrence of such incidents indicates persistent gaps in enforcement and supervisory oversight. These measures must be strengthened particularly in the areas of digital access controls, real-time monitoring, and whistleblower protections to effectively prevent insider abuse and curb exploitation by organized immigration networks," Mukhija said.

 

The report marks the first time IRCC has published a dedicated review on employee misconduct.