- IRCC sent procedural fairness letters to hundreds of Iranian families over possible IRGC ties.
- Recipients got 30 days to respond and prove they are not active IRGC members.
- By late August 2026, Canada found 48 people inadmissible and nine had left Canada.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has sent procedural fairness letters to hundreds of Iranian families, warning that past mandatory military service in Iran may connect them to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and make them inadmissible to Canada. The letters arrived fast.
IRCC says it is not treating conscription as an automatic bar. Not automatically.
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“IRCC has not adopted a blanket approach to individuals who completed compulsory military service. We recognize that some individuals may have served because of conscription. Each case is assessed on its individual facts and circumstances, and compulsory service alone does not necessarily result in inadmissibility.”
Anahita Beladi said the letters are not final decisions. She described them as part of routine decision-making.
More than 30 affected people received the same letters on the same date. Each got 30 days to prove they are not active IRGC members. That is the bind.
Many Iranian men must complete military service, and some are assigned to the Guard Corps without a real choice. The department is now asking them to prove the opposite.
On September 14, 2026, one of the letters spelled out the concern in direct language. The warning was specific.
“I am therefore concerned that you served in the IRGC and that you may be inadmissible to Canada per paragraph 34(1)(f) for being a member of an organization … engaging in terrorism.”
Canada listed the Guard Corps as a terrorist entity in 2024. In Iran, proof of service can be required to work or obtain a passport. Paperwork follows people.
The court said compulsion does not end the inquiry
A Federal Court decision, Vadiati v. Canada, 2025 FC 1859, examined whether mandatory IRGC conscription automatically blocks a finding of membership for inadmissibility purposes. It did not create a rule that every conscript is inadmissible. The court still said compulsion does not end the analysis.
That leaves officers with a narrower task. They still have to look at the facts.
A February letter cited Canada Border Services Agency vice-president Aaron McCrorie saying the 2024 designation made “anyone that had served in the Guard Corps inadmissible to Canada,” while also saying cases are “reviewed, assessed, and decided on an individual basis.” That split is the problem.
The agency has already moved some files to the end of the road. By late August 2026, it had found 48 people inadmissible because of IRGC membership, and 9 of them had left Canada.
As of September 18, 2026, many families were still waiting for officer decisions after a short response window. The clock is still running.
