Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has announced Canada’s strategies to improve the processing times of immigration applications.
Canada allocated $85 million to all IRCC lines of business in the 2021 budget, with an effort to put the immigration system back on track. In the minister’s mandate letter addressed to Fraser, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pressed on reducing the processing times of immigration applications. Minister Fraser said that by the end of the year, the budget would enable Canada to go back to its processing service standards for work permits, study permits, as well as renewals of the permanent resident cards. Moreover, the country is striving to improve the processing times for applications received for visitor visas and proof of citizenship.
In 2021, the federal department of IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) made decisions on more than 500,000 applications for permanent residence. Minister Fraser also announced that in the first quarter of this year, Canada is planning to make decisions on around 147,000 applications for permanent residence, which is twice the number of applications finalized in the same period in 2021. Also, in February 2022, Canada will launch a new Permanent Residence Application Tracker designed for spouses and dependents, which will allow the applicants to track the application status and check the required information online.
Over the last few weeks, some of the internal documents of IRCC have indicated that the actual estimated processing times taken by the IRCC for applications received under economic immigration programs are significantly longer compared to what is mentioned on the Canadian government’s website. In the next few months, Canada will make the required updates to the online processing times tool to offer more updated estimated processing times to the IRCC clients, said Fraser.
As per the November 24 memo, the immigration department was expecting processing times of 20 months for Foreign Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applications, which is far longer than the six-month standard for Express Entry-aligned immigration programs. Moreover, this memo indicated estimated processing times of around eight months for Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates.
In addition, the same memo indicated that for the first half of this year, no invitations would be issued to the FSWP and CEC candidates in the Express Entry draws. Minister Fraser said that the measures announced will work towards speeding up the processing times of immigration applications; however, Fraser did not give any particular date on resuming draws for FSWP and CEC applicants.
Currently, the IRCC has a backlog of more than 1.8 million applications from candidates under different categories, including temporary foreign workers, families, refugees, students, visitors, and citizenship applicants. Out of this total backlog, Express Entry backlogs accounted for 119,000 applications by December last year.
There are a few Express Entry candidates in Canada who may be required to leave their job and return to their home country as a result of temporary suspension of certain Express Entry draws, so for such candidates, the immigration department is still looking at options to keep them in Canada, but the department has not found an ideal solution yet, according to Fraser.
In a media release, Minister Fraser said, “I know that processing delays have been incredibly frustrating for many individuals. Helping clients come to Canada quickly, with predictable processing times and efficient communication with IRCC, remains a top priority for me”. Fraser further stated, “Immigration benefits all Canadians—it helps grow our economy and strengthens our communities across the country. Many people are choosing Canada as the place to visit and build their future, and to ensure that we stay competitive, we have introduced concrete measures to make sure those who want to come to Canada have the client experience they deserve.”
What measures IRCC has implemented to improve processing times
The pandemic has brought the attention of IRCC to the requirement of modernizing its operations. IRCC has employed about 500 more processing personnel, put digitized applications into use, and redistributed tasks and work across IRCC offices throughout the world to cope with the pandemic-related problems.
The federal department of IRCC has shifted several paper-based immigration operations online since public health measures have restricted in-person services. Moreover, the online application portal is expected to be completely implemented in the spring or summer of this year. As per the IRCC, as a result of these measures, the estimated processing of applications for spousal sponsorship has returned to the 12-month service standard for the newly-submitted applications.
IRCC has also introduced a portal that enables permanent residency candidates in Canada to complete their applications as well as obtain their permanent residency cards without having to visit the IRCC office in person. About 225,000 permanent residents utilized this portal from June until December 2021.
In a recent media release, IRCC said the department is putting advanced data analytics into use to improve the processing of Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) applications. IRCC further said that the system does not recommend any refusals of immigration applications or reject any, as only immigration officers can do that. In 2018, this system was first implemented, and it enables faster assessment of applications by 87 percent.
Furthermore, the IRCC has also launched online testing, designed an online application tracker, and introduced virtual citizenship ceremonies for citizenship candidates. Canada is leveraging virtual ceremonies, and the country has sworn in 170,000 new citizens since April last year.
In the near future, Canada also plans to enable citizenship candidates to self-administer their oath by signing and then celebrating their citizenship at a future date. For candidates who are at the last step of completing their citizenship process, this would significantly reduce the waiting time.
