How iCARE reporting works for settlement agencies

What iCARE is

iCARE, the Immigration Contribution Agreement Reporting Environment, is IRCC’s reporting system for the Settlement Program. It collects service-level data: who received a service, which service, when, where, in what format and with which supports. Language training providers also report attendance and Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) results.

An agency reports in one of two ways. Staff can type each record into iCARE’s online forms, or the agency can fill IRCC’s Excel bulk-upload templates from its own system and upload them, typically month by month.

iCARE holds service data. It isn’t the whole of your reporting. Outcome surveys and year-end narrative reports are separate, and your contribution agreement sets what you owe IRCC.

Who reports

Organizations delivering services under an IRCC Settlement Program contribution agreement report those services in iCARE. The agreement sets the obligations, so read it alongside this guide.

Every service record belongs to an agreement, so keep each agreement’s records in their own files when you prepare an upload.

The modules and their templates

The current set has 28 bulk-upload templates. Each activity type has its own template, so choosing the template is the same as answering the long form’s “type of activity” question.

• Information and Orientation: 1 template, for group or individual and family sessions.
• Needs and Assets Assessment and Referrals (NAARS): 2 templates, the assessment and the formal follow-up.
• Case Management: 5 templates, for eligibility assessment, direct services, referrals and accompaniment, ongoing assessment and exit assessment.
• Community Connections: 6 templates, one per activity type, such as matching activities, community activities and informal language learning.
• Employment-related Services: 5 templates, including individual employment counselling, workshops, mentorship and work experience.
• Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS): 3 templates, for intake, school-oriented services and settlement-oriented services.
• Language Training: 6 templates, for course setup, client enrolment, client attendance, client edit, client exit and course close-out.
• Language Assessment: no bulk template. Assessments are entered through iCARE’s online form.

How a template works

Each template is a workbook with one visible sheet. A hidden row holds the machine column codes, the next row holds the English labels, and data starts underneath. Hidden sheets hold the dropdown values. One file holds at most 2,500 rows.

One row is one client and one activity. A group session becomes one row for each client who attended. Language Training is different: one row per course for setup, one per enrolment, and one per client per class day for attendance.

iCARE looks clients up; it doesn’t create them. There’s no separate client profile template in the current set. Instead every client row carries:

• one IRCC identifier: the FOSS/GCMS client ID (the UCI), a Temporary Resident or Minister’s Permit number, or an IMM5292, IMM5509 or IMM1000 number;
• the client’s date of birth;
• an email address, or [email protected] when the client has none;
• the preferred official language: English, French, Both or Neither.

The details most service rows share

Most service templates repeat the same block, so capture it once on the service record.

• Date and duration: a start date inside the reporting month, and hours from 0.5 to 160 in half-hour steps.
• Location: the service location’s postal code and the client’s, written A1A1A1 without a space.
• Language used during the service, from iCARE’s list.
• Format: in person, remote staff-led, remote self-directed, or remote by email, text or phone. At least one is required.
• Support services received: childcare, transportation, provisions for disabilities, written translation, oral interpretation, short-term counselling, digital equipment and digital skills.
• Target population, where the template asks: up to three groups, describing the activity rather than the client.

Why rows get rejected: what to check before upload

The template enforces its dropdowns and nothing else. Date and postal code formats are only stated in the column labels and checked by iCARE on upload, and some rules come from the long forms, not the file. These are the places to look when a row comes back.

• The identifier and date of birth don’t lead iCARE to a client IRCC already has.
• A date typed as an Excel date instead of text in YYYY-MM-DD form, or a start date outside the reporting month.
• A postal code with a space, or a duration that isn’t a half-hour step.
• Text that almost matches a dropdown value. Values must match exactly, including em-dashes, curly apostrophes and, in a few lists, a trailing space.
• A parent question answered No while one of its sub-items is Yes, for example “support services received” set to No with childcare set to Yes.
• No format selected, more than three target groups, or more than four employment topics.
• An out-of-date template. IRCC versions each template separately and reissues them; the Language Training Client Exit template changed in September 2026.

A checklist for each reporting month

Adjust the order to the deadlines in your own agreement.

• Confirm which agreements you hold and which modules each one funds.
• Download the current version of every template you’ll use.
• Check each client’s identifier, date of birth, email and preferred official language, and every postal code.
• Close out the month’s activities: durations entered, group attendance recorded, formats and supports ticked.
• Split files by agreement and template, keeping each under 2,500 rows.
• Leave the Processing Details and Update record ID columns blank for new records.
• Fix rejected rows at the source record, not only in the spreadsheet, so next month’s file is right too.
• Enter language assessments, which have no template, through the online form.

Where Cairn fits

Cairn prepares the IRCC iCARE templates from the cases, sessions and classes staff record, and flags missing details before export. See iCARE reporting in Cairn.

Want to see it with your own programs? Book a demo.

Sources

• IRCC: Settlement Program terms and conditions
• IRCC: Settlement and resettlement data, research and reports