20th March 2026BY Nihang Law

Bill C-12 Is Now Law: How It Affects Asylum Claims in Canada

Bill C-12 is now law. As of March 26, 2026, Canada has new asylum eligibility rules that apply to claims made on or after June 3, 2025. Most importantly, some claims will not be referred to the IRB if they are made more than one year after first entry into Canada after June 24, 2020, or more than 14 days after an irregular land-border entry from the United States. If a claim is ineligible, the person may still be referred to CBSA and may still have access to PRRA.

Last updated: April 2026

Editor’s note: Bill C-12 received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026. This article has been updated to reflect the law now in force and IRCC’s current public guidance.

For many people in Ontario, the fear is not abstract. It is the worker whose permit is expiring, the student whose home country has become more dangerous, the visitor who delayed seeking help because they hoped conditions would improve, or the family who crossed from the United States and thought there was still time to decide.

Bill C-12 matters because asylum claims in Canada may now turn on who still gets access to the Immigration and Refugee Board at all, not only what happens after a hearing starts. It also matters because the new eligibility rules already apply to claims made on or after June 3, 2025, which means some people may wrongly assume the law only affects claims made after Royal Assent. The safest approach is not to assume that the rules in place before March 26, 2026, still govern a claim today.

If you are dealing with broader Canadian immigration matters, including refugee claims, temporary status, or judicial review, it is important to assess your options early

Quick Start: Pick Your Path

Worker or student in Ontario:

Review whether the claim was made more than one year after your first entry into Canada after June 24, 2020, even if you later left and returned.

Visitor in Ontario:

Review whether the claim was made more than one year after your first entry into Canada after June 24, 2020, even if you later left and returned.

Person who entered from the U.S. between ports of entry:

Review exactly when and how you entered Canada. Claims made more than 14 days after entry between ports of entry along the Canada–US land border are now ineligible to be referred to the IRB.

Person with a pending or future asylum plan:

Preserve proof of your first entry date, travel history, claim date, status documents, and evidence of risk. Under the new rules, these dates may be decisive.

Employer or family supporting someone at risk:

Do not assume a work permit, study permit, visitor status issue, or removal issue is separate from asylum eligibility. Under Bill C-12, those issues may now overlap much more directly.

Has Bill C-12 Already Become Law?

Yes. Bill C-12 received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026, and is now law. IRCC says the two new asylum eligibility rules are already in effect and apply to claims made on or after June 3, 2025.

For people in Ontario considering an asylum claim, the key question is no longer what may change but whether the new rules already apply to their first entry date, claim date, and border history.

Could Bill C-12 Block Asylum Claims in Canada After One Year?

Yes. Bill C-12 now makes some asylum claims ineligible if they were made more than one year after the claimant’s first entry into Canada after June 24, 2020. IRCC says this rule applies to claims made on or after June 3, 2025, even if the person later left Canada and returned.

This is now one of the most significant Bill C-12 changes for asylum claims in Canada, especially for Ontario-based temporary residents. It can affect workers, students, and visitors who entered Canada lawfully, remained here for more than a year, and only later decided to seek protection.

In practical terms, a person who first entered Canada on a study permit or work permit, lived in Ontario for more than a year, and only later made an asylum claim may now face an eligibility bar before the Refugee Protection Division ever hears the merits.

The timing point is easy to miss because the new rules do not apply only to claims made after March 26, 2026. IRCC says they apply to claims made on or after June 3, 2025. That means timing analysis may require careful review of claims already submitted during that period.

Ontario is a particularly important place to watch this issue. In federal claimant data for January to June 2025, Ontario had 27,130 asylum claimants processed by CBSA and IRCC combined, compared with 19,620 in Quebec and 5,730 in British Columbia. Ontario’s high claimant volume helps explain why these new rules may affect many people already living, working, or studying here.

Figure 1: Ontario and Other Top Provinces for Processed Asylum Claimants

Nihang Law Insight

A common Ontario fact pattern is a person who entered lawfully, worked or studied for a significant period, and only later realized return may be unsafe because of political change, family violence, sexuality-based risk, religious persecution, or a new threat at home. Under Bill C-12, timing may now become a threshold eligibility issue before the evidence of risk is even tested.

Would Bill C-12 Restrict Asylum Claims in Canada After an Irregular U.S. Entry?

Yes. Bill C-12 now makes some claims ineligible where a person entered Canada between ports of entry along the Canada–US land border and made the asylum claim more than 14 days later.

There is also no change to the Safe Third Country Agreement rules for people who make a claim at a port of entry or within 14 days after irregular entry. In those situations, the claimant continues to be returned to the United States unless an exception or exemption applies.

That is why the exact facts of entry, including where a person crossed and when the claim was made, now matter so much. Under the present structure, the 14-day timing rule matters because it can determine whether the STCA bars the claim. Under Bill C-12, the same time limit becomes part of a second ineligibility path. The government’s CIMM materials describe this as the “14 days” ineligibility.

Current STCA exceptions still matter under existing law. Canada’s official STCA page identifies family-member, unaccompanied-minor, document-holder, and public-interest exceptions. But Bill C-12 leaves the details of exceptions to its new one-year and 14-day bars to future regulations, which means readers should not assume the future exceptions will mirror today’s framework exactly.

A useful case-law backdrop is the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2023 decision in Canadian Council for Refugees v. Canada, where the Court held that the regulations designating the United States as a safe third country did not infringe section 7 of the Charter, while also recognizing that individual relief may still exist in specific cases through the legislation’s “safety valves.” That does not decide Bill C-12’s legality, but it explains why the current STCA architecture is still operative today.

Scenario	Before Bill C-12	Current law under Bill C-12	Practical Ontario impact
Claim made more than one year after first entry to Canada	No general one-year bar in current IRPA section 101	Claim is ineligible if made more than one year after first entry into Canada after June 24, 2020, for claims made on or after June 3, 2025. A later departure and return does not reset the clock.	Inland workers, students, and visitors may face urgent timing issues
Irregular entry from the U.S. and claim made in less than 14 days	STCA generally applies, subject to exceptions	No change to STCA application. Claimant continues to be returned to the U.S. unless an exception or exemption applies.	Immediate border timing remains critical
Irregular entry from the U.S. and claim made after 14 days	Current 14-day rule may leave some room depending on facts and exceptions	Claim is ineligible to be referred to the IRB if made more than 14 days after entry between ports of entry along the Canada–US land border.	The route many people thought existed may effectively disappear
Claim found ineligible	No IRB referral	Claim is not referred to the IRB. IRCC says the person is referred to CBSA for removal, and CBSA tells them whether they may apply for PRRA.	Remedy may shift from IRB hearing to removal-stage risk process

The table above summarizes the present IRPA/IRPR framework and the key Bill C-12 proposals described in Parliament’s bill text and federal explanatory materials.

What Other Immigration and Asylum Powers Would Bill C-12 Create?

Bill C-12 is not only about refugee ineligibility. It would also let the Governor in Council, in the “public interest,” stop accepting some immigration applications, suspend or terminate processing of pending applications, and cancel, suspend, vary, or impose conditions on certain immigration documents. It would also reshape parts of the in-Canada asylum process.

On the immigration-document side, proposed sections 87.301 and 87.302 would allow orders dealing with applications for permanent resident visas, temporary resident visas, eTAs, work permits, study permits, and other documents. The bill says “public interest” may include matters such as administrative errors, fraud, public health, public safety, or national security. It also says the order may specify whether fees are repaid, and if they are repaid, that repayment is without interest.

On the asylum-process side, Bill C-12 would eliminate the designated countries of origin regime, allow the Minister to specify the documents and information required to support an inland refugee claim, create abandonment and withdrawal rules before referral, and provide that if a claimant or appellant is not physically present in Canada, the RPD or RAD may be prevented from proceeding or may have to treat the matter as abandoned in some circumstances. If the person voluntarily returns to the country of alleged persecution before decision, the bill would require abandonment findings in specified situations.

Legal Perspective

For consumers, the key lesson is that Bill C-12 is not just a “border bill.” It is also a process bill. People often think their refugee case, work permit strategy, travel plans, and status compliance are separate tracks. Under this bill, those tracks may interact much more directly.

Why is the Government Presenting This as an Asylum-System Integrity Bill?

Official federal materials tie the bill to pressure on the asylum system and border management. IRCC and the IRB reported 173,000 asylum claim referrals in fiscal year 2024-2025, 78,700 RPD finalizations in the same period, and a large inventory of claims still waiting to move forward.

The IRB’s own 2025-2026 Main Estimates say the RPD received 173,000 asylum claim referrals in 2024-2025 and finalized over 78,700 cases, while as of March 31, 2025, the IRB had 175,800 claims ready to be heard plus another 105,500 incomplete claims awaiting security screening or other requirements. The same materials say the Board’s 2025-2026 funded processing plan would allow it to process up to 85,000 refugee claims.

IRCC’s May 2025 transition binder also said Canada had over 92,000 claims in 2022, over 144,000 in 2023, and over 173,000 in 2024, while claims were down in early 2025, including 19,660 total asylum claims between January 1 and February 28, 2025. Separately, IRCC’s asylum trends page says irregular border claims dropped from an average of 165 a day in March 2023 to 13 a day, and asylum claims from TRV holders fell 50% in January 2026 compared with January 2025.

Figure 2: Asylum System Pressure and Adjudication Capacity

What Happens if an Asylum Claim in Canada Becomes Ineligible Instead of Being Referred to the IRB?

What happens to asylum claims in Canada after an ineligibility finding?

If a claim is found ineligible, it is not referred to the IRB for a refugee hearing. IRCC’s current guidance says the claimant will be referred to the CBSA for removal from Canada, and CBSA will tell the person whether they may apply for a PRRA.

That distinction matters because Bill C-12 asylum claims in Canada may now turn on whether a person still has access to a full IRB hearing or is moved into a different protection process tied to removal. PRRA is not the same as a regular IRB refugee hearing.

IRCC has also introduced a temporary public policy to facilitate access to open work permits for certain foreign nationals whose refugee claims are ineligible to be referred to the IRB. This may be especially important where there is a gap between the ineligibility determination and notice that the person may apply for PRRA. The policy also allows certain existing work permits to remain in place rather than being cancelled immediately when the removal order becomes enforceable.

By contrast, when a refugee claim is refused after being heard, the focus usually shifts to appeals and other post-refusal options. Sometimes the key issue is whether the decision itself was legally unreasonable or procedurally unfair, rather than whether the person can simply start a new process.

The government’s Bill C-12 explainer specifically says that anyone affected by the new one-year or 14-day ineligibilities would have access to PRRA and, if the PRRA is made within regulatory timelines, the application would stay removal until IRCC makes a decision. But the general PRRA eligibility page also reminds readers that PRRA is not self-started: a person can only apply if a CBSA officer says they are eligible, and most people face a 12-month waiting rule after certain negative decisions.

Nihang Law Insight

Many people hear “there is still PRRA” and assume nothing major changes. That is usually the wrong reaction. A shifted pathway can mean different procedure, different timing, and different litigation posture. Access to the IRB and access to PRRA are not interchangeable.

What Should You Do in Canada If You Think Bill C-12 May Affect You?

Why timing matters for Bill C-12 asylum claims in Canada

Do not wait passively. Anyone in Ontario who may be affected by Bill C-12 should review their first entry date, claim date, U.S. border history, status documents, and work permit situation as early as possible. Under the law now in force, those details may determine whether the claim reaches the IRB at all.

Step-by-Step Roadmap

Map every entry to Canada since June 24, 2020, and identify the first one. Under the new rule, later departures and returns do not reset the one-year clock.
Confirm the date the asylum claim was actually made. IRCC says the new rules apply to claims made on or after June 3, 2025.
Preserve proof of first entry, later travel, permits, visitor records, passport stamps, airline records, and any CBSA or IRCC correspondence.
If there was an entry from the United States between ports of entry, review the exact crossing date and the date the claim was made.
Do not assume that a later return to Canada resets the timeline. It does not.
Review whether a work permit application or continuation strategy may now be needed under the new temporary public policy.
If you have received any letter from IRCC or CBSA about eligibility, do not ignore it and do not guess at dates from memory alone.

What Common Mistakes Are People Making Right Now?

The biggest mistakes are factual assumptions and delay. People are confusing a pending bill with an enacted law, assuming their latest re-entry date is what matters, treating PRRA as equivalent to an IRB hearing, and overlooking how travel or U.S. border history can change the analysis.

Assuming Bill C-12 only applies to claims made after March 26, 2026.
Focusing on the most recent entry date instead of the first entry after June 24, 2020.
Assuming a departure and return to Canada resets the one-year clock.
Assuming PRRA is the same as a refugee hearing before the IRB.
Ignoring work permit consequences after an ineligibility finding.
Waiting too long to gather proof of first entry and travel history.
Assuming the 14-day issue only matters at a port of entry and not after an irregular land-border crossing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bill C-12 in force today?

Yes. Bill C-12 received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026 and is now law. IRCC says the new asylum eligibility rules are already in effect.

Does Bill C-12 affect workers, students, and visitors in Ontario?

Yes. IRCC says the one-year rule applies to claims made on or after June 3, 2025 and can affect workers, students, and visitors who made an asylum claim more than one year after first entering Canada after June 24, 2020.

What if I first entered Canada in 2021, left, and returned in 2025?

The one-year clock runs from the first entry after June 24, 2020. IRCC says the rule can still apply even if the person later left Canada and returned.

What if I already made my refugee claim before June 3, 2025?

Bill C-12’s transitional provision says the new one-year and 14-day bars would not apply to claims made before the day Bill C-2 was introduced. Parliament’s record shows Bill C-2 was introduced on June 3, 2025.

Is PRRA the same as a refugee hearing?

No. If a claim is ineligible, it is not referred to the IRB. IRCC says the person is referred to CBSA for removal, and CBSA will tell them whether they may apply for PRRA. PRRA is a different protection process.

Can I leave Canada while my claim or appeal is pending?

Under Bill C-12’s proposed physical-presence provisions, that could create serious problems. If a claimant voluntarily returns to the country of alleged persecution before decision, the bill would require abandonment in some situations, and if the person is not physically present in Canada the RPD or RAD may not proceed.

Does Bill C-12 only affect asylum claims?

No. The bill also contains proposed “public interest” powers over immigration applications and documents, including the ability to stop accepting certain applications, suspend or terminate processing, and cancel, suspend, vary, or impose conditions on certain documents such as visas, eTAs, work permits, and study permits.

Will there be exceptions to the new one-year and 14-day rules?

IRCC says officers will be given guidance to consider the individual circumstances of unaccompanied minors. Beyond that, readers should be careful about assuming that broad exceptions exist without reviewing the current law and the facts of the individual case.

Can I still make a work permit application if my claim is ineligible?

Possibly. IRCC has introduced a temporary public policy to facilitate open work permits for certain foreign nationals whose refugee claims are ineligible to be referred to the IRB. It also allows certain existing work permits to avoid automatic cancellation in this transition period.

Key Takeaways and How Nihang Law Can Help

Bill C-12 is now law, and it has already changed how some asylum claims are screened for eligibility in Canada. For many people, the key questions are no longer what might change, but whether the new rules already apply to their first entry date, claim date, and border history.

The practical takeaway is simple: timing may now be decisive. For many Bill C-12 asylum claims in Canada, the outcome may depend less on when a person decides to seek help and more on whether the law still allows the claim to be referred to the IRB at all.

If you are in Ontario and think Bill C-12 may already affect your asylum options, Nihang Law can review your entry history, claim timing, border facts, status documents, and next-step options, including whether the case now turns on PRRA, work permit issues, or another remedy.

Reminder: Bill C-12 is now law, but asylum eligibility and next steps still depend heavily on the facts of each case. Do not rely on general summaries alone where deadlines, first-entry dates, prior claims, inadmissibility issues, or Canada–U.S. border facts may change the answer.