How MAK Reviews Canadian Immigration Information

Official sources come first

For Canadian immigration rules, MAK prioritizes current information from the government or legal authority responsible for the rule. Secondary sources may help identify an issue worth investigating, but they do not replace an available current official source for a material immigration requirement.

About our public information

MAK website articles, guides, videos and social-media content provide general Canadian immigration information. They cannot account for every fact in an individual matter. Case-specific advice requires an appropriate review of the person’s circumstances, documents, status, deadlines and objectives by a licensed immigration professional.

MAK Canadian Immigration Change & Verification Ledger

The published MAK Immigration Source Guide uses selected bounded entries from this verification framework for source navigation in ChatGPT.

Latest source verification: September 23, 2026. This ledger records selected material official-source changes and bounded source-state checks that affect MAK’s public immigration information. A status of NO MATERIAL CHANGE DETECTED applies only to the specific propositions listed in that entry. It does not mean every part of a program was checked or that a rule cannot change after the verification date.

September 2, 2026 — Canadian Experience Class work-experience rules

Status: SOURCE VERIFIED / NO MATERIAL CHANGE DETECTED IN THE CHECKED CEC WORK-EXPERIENCE RULES.

• Official source: IRCC — Canadian Experience Class.
• What the source establishes: qualifying skilled work experience must be in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3; be gained in Canada while authorized to work under temporary resident status; be paid; show the NOC lead-statement actions and most main duties; and total at least 1 year or 1,560 hours in the 3 years before applying. For remote work, the worker must have been physically in Canada and working for a Canadian employer. The current page also retains the stated physician exception to the general self-employment rule.
• What this entry does not establish: meeting these work-experience points alone does not establish CEC eligibility. Other minimum requirements, admissibility and the applicant’s actual facts still matter.
• MAK reviewer: Usman Khalil, RCIC R709592.

September 2, 2026 — Express Entry work-evidence and personalized-checklist source state

Status: SOURCE VERIFIED / PERSONALIZED CHECKLIST DISTINCTION CONFIRMED.

• Official source: IRCC — Apply for permanent residence through Express Entry.
• What the source establishes: after the online application form is completed, the system generates a personalized document checklist and the applicant must upload the documents listed for that application.
• What this entry does not establish: a generic public checklist should not be treated as every applicant’s complete personalized document list. The actual IRCC checklist and the applicant’s circumstances control what must be uploaded for a specific application.
• MAK reviewer: Usman Khalil, RCIC R709592.

September 2, 2026 — IRPA section 16 evidence obligation

Status: STATUTORY SOURCE VERIFIED / EVIDENCE-CONSISTENCY BASIS CONFIRMED.

• Official source: Justice Laws — Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 16.
• What the source establishes: section 16(1) requires a person making an application to answer truthfully questions put to them for the examination and to produce the visa and relevant evidence and documents that an officer reasonably requires.
• What this entry does not establish: section 16 does not replace program-specific instructions or a personalized checklist, and it does not by itself determine whether a particular document is required in every file.
• MAK reviewer: Usman Khalil, RCIC R709592.

September 3, 2026 — Work-permit financial-support source boundary relevant to C11 evidence review

Status: SOURCE CORRECTED / C11-SPECIFIC PROGRAM DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS CONTROL.

• Official source: IRCC — Work permit: applying from inside Canada, eligibility and requirements (general work-permit requirements) and IRCC — Business owners seeking only temporary residence [R205(a) – C11] (program-specific instructions, rechecked September 25, 2026).
• What the source establishes: the current general work-permit rule requires enough money to care for the applicant and family members during the stay in Canada and to return home. IRCC says the amount may depend on family size, the community and the work-permit program, and presents Low Income Cut-Off amounts as a general reference only.
• C11-specific rule: IRCC’s program-specific C11 instructions require business funds to be available separately from support funds and state that support funds should be transferable, available and unencumbered in an amount equal to the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) for the applicant’s family size for a minimum of 18 months, or for the planned stay in Canada if shorter.
• Correction: the earlier entry was incomplete because it treated the general work-permit page as the full source boundary instead of reconciling it with the program-specific C11 instructions.
• MAK reviewer: Usman Khalil, RCIC R709592 | CPA Ontario C83028834.

September 3, 2026 — Spousal relationship-genuineness and relationship-record source state

Status: SOURCE VERIFIED / R4 AND CURRENT IRCC RELATIONSHIP-RECORD BASIS CONFIRMED.

• Official sources: Justice Laws — IRPR section 4; IRCC — Relationship Information and Sponsorship Evaluation (IMM 5532); and IRCC — Spouse sponsorship document checklist (IMM 5533).
• What the sources establish: IRPR R4(1) retains the disjunctive relationship test: a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner is not considered such for the Regulations if the relationship was entered into primarily to acquire status or privilege under the Act, or if it is not genuine. IMM 5532 requires the sponsor and principal applicant to certify that the information they provide is complete, accurate and factual, including the relationship information in Part C. IMM 5533 identifies scenario-dependent relationship-evidence categories and provides for a written explanation where specified evidence is unavailable in the relevant checklist scenario.
• What this entry does not establish: these sources do not create a universal relationship-evidence score or fixed evidence hierarchy, do not mean every case requires every evidence category, and do not guarantee that particular evidence will be sufficient in a specific application or PFL response.
• MAK reviewer: Omer Khalil, RCIC R710149.

September 5, 2026 — 2027 Express Entry category consultation closed; consultation options are not current selection rules

Status: SOURCE VERIFIED / CONSULTATION CLOSED / 2027 OPTIONS NOT YET ADOPTED AS CURRENT CATEGORIES.

• Official sources: IRCC 2026 consultation on 2027 category-based selection; IRCC current category-based selection page.
• What the sources establish: IRCC has archived the consultation, which ran August 4 to September 1, 2026. The 2027 economic priorities and categories on that page were under consideration. IRCC states that new categories are posted once approved by the Minister. The current category-based selection page and the instructions for an applicable invitation round remain the sources to check for current selection rules.
• What this entry does not establish: It does not predict that any 2027 proposal will be adopted, a future CRS cutoff or invitation volume, or an applicant’s eligibility, invitation, approval or refusal. A consultation proposal is not a basis to change or retrofit work history, duties, dates or evidence.
• MAK reviewer: Usman Khalil, RCIC R709592.

September 7, 2026 — Federal High Skilled reform proposal does not replace current CEC work-experience rules

Status: SOURCE VERIFIED / PROPOSED REGULATORY REFORM NOT CURRENT CEC RULE.

• Official sources: IRCC — Forward Regulatory Plan: modernize the federal high skilled classes; IRCC — Consultations on Reforms to Express Entry’s Federal High Skilled Programs and Comprehensive Ranking System; and IRCC — Canadian Experience Class.
• What the sources establish: IRCC’s 2026–2028 Forward Regulatory Plan says amendments are being proposed to introduce a new federal high skilled class with streamlined eligibility requirements and repeal the existing Federal Skilled Worker Class, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Class. IRCC’s reform discussion describes a possible future single-program model, including one year of cumulative skilled work experience acquired in Canada or elsewhere. These are proposed or potential future changes. The current CEC page remains the source for current CEC work-experience requirements and continues to require qualifying work in Canada while authorized under temporary resident status, the stated remote-work physical-presence and Canadian-employer conditions, paid skilled work, the NOC lead-statement actions and most main duties, and at least 1 year or 1,560 hours in the 3 years before applying.
• What this entry does not establish: the proposed consolidation or repeal is not treated here as current law or a current CEC eligibility rule. This entry does not establish an effective date, final regulatory text, transition rules, future CRS settings, invitations, individual eligibility, approval or refusal. The possible future “Canada or elsewhere” work-experience model should not be applied to a current CEC application; the current rules and the applicant’s actual facts and application stage control.
• MAK reviewer: Usman Khalil, RCIC R709592.

September 23, 2026 — Source Guide bounded official-source recheck

Status: SOURCE RECHECKED / NO NEW MATERIAL CHANGE DETECTED IN THE PUBLISHED V1.0.0 CHECKED PROPOSITIONS / LIVE TOOL VERIFICATION METADATA REMAINS STALE.

• CEC work experience: IRCC continues to require qualifying paid TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 work gained in Canada while authorized under temporary resident status; the checked remote-work rule still requires physical presence in Canada and a Canadian employer. Official IRCC source.
• Express Entry evidence: IRCC continues to list proof of work experience such as an employer reference or experience letter, and the permanent-residence system still generates a personalized document checklist after the online form is completed. Documents source; application source.
• Spousal sponsorship / relationship evidence / procedural fairness: IRPR R4(1) remains unchanged. Current IRCC material continues to treat proof of contact, visits, photographs and other relationship records as relevant evidence, with interviews available where an officer considers one necessary; current IRCC material also continues to describe procedural fairness as an opportunity to respond to officer concerns. The September 10, 2026 expiry of the separate undeclared-family public policy remains recorded and does not change R4. IRPR R4; IRCC relationship-evidence source; IRCC procedural-fairness source.
• IRPA 16(1): the statutory text remains unchanged. Justice Laws still reports the Act current to July 21, 2026, so the live Source Guide’s older act_current_to value remains stale. Justice Laws source.
• Business / source of funds / financial evidence: general work-permit guidance still requires enough money for the applicant and family during the stay and to return home, with the amount depending on family size, community and work-permit program; the C11-specific program delivery instructions separately require business funds to be available apart from support funds and state that support funds should equal the family-size LICO for at least 18 months, or the shorter planned stay. Start-Up Visa remains paused for new applications since June 30, 2026. Work-permit source; Start-Up Visa source.
• OpenAI plugin maintenance: current first-party guidance continues to permit a server-only fix or change to live tool results/business data without a new plugin version when the published contract is preserved. New or changed tool definitions remain subject to continuous review, while submitted plugin information or imported skills require a new reviewed version and an MCP server origin change requires a new plugin. The plugin UI changelog still lists August 21, 2026 as its latest plugin-UI update; the September 22 API model release does not change these plugin-maintenance rules.
• Maintenance defect: the live get_mak_change_ledger result still reports snapshot_rechecked and entry source_rechecked as September 3, 2026 and IRPA act_current_to as June 17, 2026. The connected Vercel team still exposes zero projects, so no backend mutation was attempted.

September 22, 2026 — Source Guide bounded official-source recheck

Status: SOURCE RECHECKED / NO NEW MATERIAL CHANGE DETECTED IN THE PUBLISHED V1.0.0 CHECKED PROPOSITIONS / LIVE TOOL VERIFICATION METADATA REMAINS STALE.

• CEC work experience: IRCC continues to require qualifying paid TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 work gained in Canada while authorized under temporary resident status; the checked remote-work rule still requires physical presence in Canada and a Canadian employer. Official IRCC source.
• Express Entry evidence: IRCC continues to list proof of work experience such as an employer reference or experience letter, and the permanent-residence system still generates a personalized document checklist after the online form is completed. Documents source; application source.
• Spousal sponsorship / relationship evidence / procedural fairness: IRPR R4(1) remains unchanged. Current IRCC family-reunification material continues to treat proof of contact, visits, photographs and other relationship records as relevant evidence, with interviews available where an officer considers one necessary. Current IRCC procedural-fairness material continues to distinguish the applicant’s evidentiary burden from an opportunity to answer adverse information or officer concerns. No new September 22 rule was found that changes the published Source Guide’s bounded relationship-evidence or PFL source-navigation propositions. IRPR R4; IRCC family-reunification source.
• IRPA 16(1): statutory text remains unchanged. Justice Laws still reports the Act current to July 21, 2026, so the live Source Guide’s older current-to metadata remains stale. Justice Laws source.
• Business / source of funds / financial evidence: general work-permit guidance still requires enough money for the applicant and family during the stay and to return home, with the amount depending on family size, community and work-permit program; the C11-specific program delivery instructions separately require business funds to be available apart from support funds and state that support funds should equal the family-size LICO for at least 18 months, or the shorter planned stay. Start-Up Visa remains paused for new applications since June 30, 2026. Work-permit source; Start-Up Visa source.
• OpenAI plugin maintenance: current first-party guidance continues to say that published plugins use continuous review for tool updates, while changes to submitted plugin information or imported skills require a new version, review and publication. The plugin UI changelog still shows August 21, 2026 as its latest listed update; no September 22 plugin-maintenance change affecting this published v1.0.0 contract was found. A bounded server-side source-data/date refresh that preserves the published tool definitions remains the appropriate maintenance target once the actual deployment source is accessible.
• Maintenance defect: the live get_mak_change_ledger result still reports snapshot_rechecked and entry source_rechecked as September 3, 2026 and IRPA act_current_to as June 17, 2026. The connected Vercel team still exposes zero projects, so no backend mutation was attempted.

September 21, 2026 — Source Guide bounded official-source recheck

Status: SOURCE RECHECKED / NO NEW MATERIAL CHANGE DETECTED IN THE PUBLISHED V1.0.0 CHECKED PROPOSITIONS / LIVE TOOL VERIFICATION METADATA REMAINS STALE.

• CEC work experience: IRCC still requires qualifying paid TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 work gained in Canada while authorized under temporary resident status; for remote work, the worker must have been physically in Canada and working for a Canadian employer. Official IRCC source.
• Express Entry evidence: IRCC still lists proof of work experience such as an employer reference or experience letter, and the PR application still generates a personalized document checklist after the online form is completed. Documents source; application source.
• Spousal sponsorship and relationship evidence: R4(1) remains unchanged and the current IRCC spouse/partner pages continue to require a genuine relationship that was not entered into primarily for immigration status. The temporary public policy for certain previously undeclared family members remains expired for applications after September 10, 2026; this is separate from the R4 genuineness test. R4; IRCC sponsorship source.
• IRPA 16(1): statutory text remains unchanged. Justice Laws continues to report the Act current to July 21, 2026, so the live Source Guide’s older current-to metadata remains stale. Justice Laws source.
• Business / financial evidence: general work-permit guidance still requires enough money for the applicant and family during the stay and to return home, with the amount depending on family size, community and work-permit program. The C11-specific program delivery instructions separately require business funds to be available apart from support funds and state that support funds should equal the family-size LICO for at least 18 months, or the shorter planned stay. Start-Up Visa remains paused for new applications since June 30, 2026 and still requires enough settlement money for eligible pending-cohort applicants. Work-permit source; Start-Up Visa source.
• OpenAI plugin maintenance: current first-party guidance continues to say published MCP tools are fetched periodically and new or changed tool definitions become available after automated checks; changes to submitted plugin information or imported skills require a new version, review and publication. No September 21 changelog item affecting the published Source Guide contract was found. A server-side verification-date/source-data refresh that does not alter the published tool definitions remains the bounded maintenance target once the actual deployment source is accessible.
• Maintenance defect: the live get_mak_change_ledger result still reports snapshot_rechecked and entry source_rechecked as September 3, 2026 and IRPA act_current_to as June 17, 2026. These do not match this public verification ledger. The connected Vercel team still exposes no projects, so no backend mutation was attempted.

September 20, 2026 — Source Guide bounded official-source recheck

Status: SOURCE RECHECKED / NO MATERIAL CHANGE DETECTED IN THE PUBLISHED V1.0.0 CHECKED PROPOSITIONS.

• CEC work experience: IRCC continues to require qualifying paid TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 work gained in Canada while authorized; the checked remote-work, NOC-duty, 1,560-hour and physician-exception propositions remain unchanged. IRCC source.
• Express Entry evidence: IRCC continues to identify employer reference or experience letters as possible proof of work experience and continues to generate a personalized document checklist after the online permanent-residence form is completed. Documents source; application source.
• IRPA 16(1): the statutory truthfulness and relevant-evidence text is unchanged. The Justice Laws source now reports the Act current to July 21, 2026, so the live Source Guide’s older current-to metadata is stale even though the legal proposition is unchanged. Justice Laws source.
• Work-permit financial support: the checked general guidance remains unchanged: applicants must show enough money for themselves and accompanying family and to return home, while the amount can depend on family size, destination and program. The C11-specific program delivery instructions separately require business funds to be available apart from support funds and state that support funds should equal the family-size LICO for at least 18 months, or the shorter planned stay. IRCC source.
• Spousal relationship evidence boundary: IRPR 4 continues to use the same bad-faith relationship test. The spousal sponsorship page was updated September 11, 2026 to reflect that the temporary public policy for certain previously undeclared family members ended September 10, 2026; that is a separate sponsorship-program change and does not change the relationship-genuineness test used by this Source Guide topic. IRPR 4; IRCC sponsorship source.
• Business/source-of-funds boundary: current Start-up Visa pages continue to show the program paused and continue to distinguish settlement/support funds from business funds where applicable. IRCC Start-up Visa source. No new September 20 rule change was detected that alters the Source Guide’s bounded general financial-support entry.

Maintenance note: the public verification ledger has been refreshed to September 20, 2026, but the published Source Guide tool output still reports September 3 verification dates. That date inconsistency remains a backend maintenance defect pending access to the actual MCP deployment source.

Future ledger entries will be added only when there is a decision-useful official-source change or a bounded verification that materially affects MAK’s published guidance. The ledger is not intended to become a daily activity feed or a substitute for the controlling official source.