Canada continues to face challenges due to the inventory of over 2.7 million people in immigration applications.
As per reports, the backlog has grown by 300,000 individuals in the past six weeks.
The backlog is twice what it was in the previous year and is thrice what it used to be before the pandemic.
It has continued to progress since July last year. Here are the details of the backlog:
- The backlog grew by 2,679,031 individuals between July 15 to July 17, 2022.
- The backlog grew by 2,37,884 individuals between June 1- June 6, 2022.
- The backlog grew by 2,130,385 individuals between April 30- May 2, 2022.
- The backlog grew by 2,031,589 individuals between April 11-April 12, 2022.
- The backlog grew by 1,844,424 individuals between March 15- March 17, 2022.
- The backlog grew to 1,815,628 individuals from February 1, 2022.
- The backlog grew to 1,813,144 individuals from December 15, 2022.
- The backlog grew to 1,792,404 individuals from October 27, 2021.
- The backlog grew to 1,447,474 individuals from July 6, 2021.
There are 444,792 applicants in terms of citizenship inventory as of July 15 compared to 394,664 individuals on June 1.
There are 514,116 applicants in terms of permanent residency inventory as of July 17 compared to 522,047 individuals on June 6.
There are 1,720,123 individuals in terms of temporary residency inventory as of July 17 compared to 1,471,173 individuals, as of July 6.
A decline in backlog leads to the return of Express Entry
Over 51,616 applicants are yet to receive the final say on their immigration applications as of July 17. The last data was available until March 15 with 88,903 applicants. This reduction implies that IRCC is right in resuming the Express Entry application for all-program draws.
The all-program draws resumed on July 6 and the standard six months processing time is likely to return too.
An increase in Family Class Inventory
The family class inventory applicants rose to 118,251 individuals compared to 112,837 individuals as of June 6.
Similarly, an increase in the Spouses, Partners, and Children Program inventory is observed compared to the initial part of June. The inventory stands at 68,159 individuals in comparison to 67,929 individuals in the previous month.
July’s figure was based on the Spouses and Partners to Children and Other Family Class added for comparison purposes.
PGP (Parents and Grandparents Program) is on the rise again with 47,025 individuals compared to 41,802 individuals. Immigration, Regulation and Citizenship Canada will soon declare its plans for PGP, 2022.
The current backlog for the summer season is considered partially normal
PGP (Parents and Grandparents Program) is on the rise again with 47,025 individuals compared to 41,802 individuals. The number of applicants grew in areas including temporary resident visas, visitor records, work, and study permits.
Additionally, Post-Graduation Work Permit is a popular alternative for international students completing their studies in the spring. Many other international students apply for study permits during those months that lead to the beginning of Canada’s academic calendar. As a result, each year in September, over 200,000 new international students come here.
However, Canada Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) remains an exception with 362,664 applications submitted to IRCC from March 17 onwards, leading to a swollen backlog.
CUAET is an attempt to favor the Ukrainians with an opportunity to re-settle due to Russia’s recent invasion.
The immigration backlog has nearly tripled since the pandemic, which only implies the current challenges the Canadian immigration system faces. IRCC continued to take in fresh applications during the pandemic irrespective of its limited potential to process applications in the years 2020 and 2021.
IRCC is taking up the required initiatives to recruit more staff to balance the processing and plans to invest in improving technology.
However, the immigration challenges are being noticed by the federal government. An existing committee of the Canadian parliament started to research immigration backlogs in May. This research will be considered as a public study inviting suggestions for further improvements in the immigration system.
Canadian Prime Minister even formed a task force to confront the immigration backlog challenges. The Task Force comprises federal ministers who will continue suggesting measures to improve speed and quality of service to address immigration backlogs.
