Court documents show that federal immigration officials warned that the government risks undermining the temporary immigration system by designing an emergency visa program for Ukrainians displaced by the war.

Immigration officials raised these concerns in a memo to Sean Fraser, the Minister of Immigration at the time, shortly after the program was announced.

The documents were revealed as part of a lawsuit against the federal government filed by two Afghan Canadians, who alleged that Canada is discriminating against Afghan refugees by treating them differently than Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.

The memos outline the design of the Ukraine visa program, which allowed an unlimited number of Ukrainians and their family members to come to Canada to wait for the war to end.

The policy also waived the requirement for fleeing Ukrainians to leave when their visas expired, contrary to the advice of department officials.

Fraser ultimately agreed to the department's recommendation not to publicize the policy, given the "exceptional and unprecedented nature" of this approach.