Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Open Data
canada.ca · Government
Open data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) covering permanent residence admissions, temporary resident volumes, citizenship grant statistics, study permit and work permit data, and Express Entry draws. Available through the Open Government Portal. Key data for insurers and financial institutions serving newcomers to Canada, and for workforce demographic analysis in commercial lines underwriting.
Authentication
No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.
Sample Requests
GET
Search IRCC datasets
Searches federal open data catalog for IRCC immigration datasets. Returns dataset metadata and download URLs for CSV and JSON files.
https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_search?q=immigration permanent residents&rows=10&organization=immigration-refugees-citizenship-canada
Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does
curl -X GET "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_search?q=immigration%20permanent%20residents&rows=10&organization=immigration-refugees-citizenship-canada"
import requests
params = {
"q": "immigration permanent residents",
"rows": "10",
"organization": "immigration-refugees-citizenship-canada"
}
response = requests.get(
"https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_search",
params=params,
)
print(response.json())const url = new URL('https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_search');
url.searchParams.set('q', 'immigration permanent residents');
url.searchParams.set('rows', '10');
url.searchParams.set('organization', 'immigration-refugees-citizenship-canada');
const response = await fetch(url);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
"net/url"
)
func main() {
baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_search")
q := baseURL.Query()
q.Set("q", "immigration permanent residents")
q.Set("rows", "10")
q.Set("organization", "immigration-refugees-citizenship-canada")
baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
targetURL := baseURL.String()
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)
client := &http.Client{}
resp, _ := client.Do(req)
defer resp.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))
}require "net/http"
require "json"
uri = URI("https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_search")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
"q" => "immigration permanent residents",
"rows" => "10",
"organization" => "immigration-refugees-citizenship-canada"
})
http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)<?php
$url = "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_search?" . http_build_query([
"q" => "immigration permanent residents",
"rows" => "10",
"organization" => "immigration-refugees-citizenship-canada"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
"method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));
GET
Get temporary residents dataset
Returns metadata and download links for a specific IRCC dataset — e.g., study and work permit statistics by province.
https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_show?id=temporary-residents-canada
Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does
curl -X GET "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_show?id=temporary-residents-canada"
import requests
params = {
"id": "temporary-residents-canada"
}
response = requests.get(
"https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_show",
params=params,
)
print(response.json())const url = new URL('https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_show');
url.searchParams.set('id', 'temporary-residents-canada');
const response = await fetch(url);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
"net/url"
)
func main() {
baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_show")
q := baseURL.Query()
q.Set("id", "temporary-residents-canada")
baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
targetURL := baseURL.String()
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)
client := &http.Client{}
resp, _ := client.Do(req)
defer resp.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))
}require "net/http"
require "json"
uri = URI("https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_show")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
"id" => "temporary-residents-canada"
})
http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)<?php
$url = "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/3/action/package_show?" . http_build_query([
"id" => "temporary-residents-canada"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
"method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));Postman Setup Guide
- No API key — IRCC data available via federal open.canada.ca CKAN API
- Organization filter: organization=immigration-refugees-citizenship-canada
- Key datasets: PR admissions by country/category, Express Entry draw history, Study/Work permits
- Data is published as CSV files — download URLs in resource.url field of package_show response
- IRCC also publishes data at canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/reports-statistics
- Express Entry draw history: canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/ministerial-instructions/express-entry-rounds.html
What can you build with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Open Data?
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Open Data is a Government API. Developers commonly use government APIs for:
- surfacing public datasets in citizen-facing apps
- building transparency and civic engagement tools
- accessing legislation, court records, and official data
- powering research and journalism tools
- creating compliance and regulatory monitoring dashboards
No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Open Data is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.
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