The immigration minister of Canada reportedly stated proper and concrete steps are being taken toward resuming the immigration system like earlier.
Application system to get normal in the latter part of 2022
Mr. Fraser stated that the pandemic had affected the immigration system in two significant ways. Many were closed and IRCC was compelled to balance the situation by converting those in Canada to permanent residents due to travel restrictions limiting people to enter Canada from abroad.
This change was made because the number of new applications kept coming in, causing inventory accumulation. In August 2021, Canada committed to bringing in Afghan refugees for resettlement, with the Taliban taking back control and power of Afghanistan. From February 2022 onwards, Canada started assisting the victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukrainians. It is also stated that almost all businesses will get back to normal as far as the virtual service standards are concerned. However, according to Mr. Fraser, the Canadian citizenship applications might remain behind because of the increasing inventory of applications from the beginning of the pandemic when physical citizenship ceremonies were unavailable.
Effective solutions to provide a better experience to clients and face backlogs
According to the immigration minister, Mr. Fraser, there are three leading solutions to better the immigration system: the tech, resources, and policy.
He also stated that there were about 500 staff members added to the resources. As per the latest announcements of the federal budget, about $85 million and $385 million were allocated for the improvement in the processing of the applications. Fraser is also of the view that there is a higher level of need for immigration to meet the increasing permanent residence demand.
He further stated that the Immigration Levels Plans will serve as the number one policy and they will in no way do away with the inventory cases in case of non-expansion of numbers.
Fraser also announced in February that Canada would be welcoming more than 430,000 immigrants annually. The trend will begin this year with the highest levels in the entire history of Canada. He even claimed to announce the Immigration Level Plan 2023 to 2025 in November 2022, increasing the Canadian targets.
The measures have already started showing results effectively, with 200,000 permanent residents landing in Canada. Consequently, the previous record was broken by 1.5 months.
The results also show an increase in work permits of 250% compared to the previous year.
IRCC faced an acute backlog with over 2.4 million people when the pandemic broke out. It also failed to meet its own standard of processing applications within timeframes.
The department has been discussing addressing backlogs and improving the processing times to provide complete satisfaction and certainty to the clients.
In the latter part of January, Mr. Fraser in a press conference even talked about the essential goals of processing applications, the various steps to enhance staff, and modernizing the technology and its processes. Mr. Fraser also stated that the all-program draws of Express Entry will resume on July 6. He also reported that they would get back to the normal processing time and service standard post-July, within six months.
IRCC has also introduced case trackers to permit applicants to review the status of applications and files. 17 business lines will have access to case trackers which will help applicants track and monitor their applications digitally.
Lastly, he concluded by saying that people with their applications will not remain in an uncertain situation and will either face a timeframe of 60 days, six months, or even twelve months.
