As per the latest announcement, IRCC will adopt new technologies for faster spousal applications. The department recently revealed that it will implement advanced analytics and automation to process all partner and spousal applications under the family class immigration.
IRCC has designed two new tools to handle different parts of the sponsorship application with the goal of improving the processing efficiency. Find more details on this below.
New Technologies for Faster Spousal Applications: To which applications will these changes apply?
According to the IRCC notice, these processing modifications will be applicable to all spousal as well as partner applications submitted under the family class.
This implies that the sponsorship applications for spouses, as well as the common-law and conjugal partners within the family class immigration, will be processed using IRCC’s two new tools.
What process will IRCC follow to utilize new processing tools?
Notably, the applications for spousal and partner sponsorship contain two sections.
- Sponsorship part: It’s the application by a Canadian citizen or PR to sponsor their spouse or partner.
- Principal Applicant Part: It’s the application for sponsorship by a Canadian partner or spouse.
As per the announcement, IRCC will utilize a new tool for each stage of the application. It will follow the rules created by IRCC officers and developed via machine learning based on previous applications.
Sponsorship part
IRCC will employ the first automation tool for the sponsorship part of the application to select the cases that can get automatic approval. This will lower the application processing times at the first stage.
Applications that can’t be approved automatically at this stage will be forwarded to IRCC officers, who will review them manually.
Principal applicant part
IRCC will employ the second tool for the principal applicant part to perform a preliminary analysis of applicant eligibility.
When the tool receives regular applications, it has the authority to check the eligibility of the principal applicant and forward it to an IRCC officer to check if the applicant is admissible.
In case the eligibility of the applicant can not be approved automatically, the tool will forward the application to an IRCC officer for manual review.
IRCC acknowledges that automated tools used at any stage of the process cannot grant the final approval for an application. Thus, an IRCC officer will continue to be responsible for the task.
Additionally, these tools are unable to refuse nor recommend refusing applications.
How would these tools affect the processing of spousal and partner sponsorship?
The IRCC reaffirmed its commitment to appropriately implement “data-driven technologies” in accordance with the privacy requirements and human rights protection. This is a part of the notice announcing the deployment of new tools.
In order to determine how these new tools would affect applications, IRCC has finished an algorithm impact assessment (AIA).
The AIA rated the impact level as “moderate,”. Also, the department promised to support additional measures to lower the potential risks.
It’s too soon to predict the effect of these new processing actions. However, IRCC adheres to the earlier application of technologies, including AI, in the processing phase. This may provide some indications.
The former immigration minister of Canada, Sean Fraser in Canada announced in 2023 that AI had been used in the application processing of spousal temporary resident visas (TRV). This results in 98% of applications being processed, and the wait time is just 30 days.
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