Sean Fraser, Canada’s Immigration Minister, addressed today in Vancouver on IRCC’s ongoing efforts to minimize application backlogs, enhance client satisfaction, and manage labour shortages.
As an immediate solution, the IRCC has declared that it will have hired up to 1,250 more staff members by late fall in an effort to increase processing capacity, decrease the backlog, and work toward long-term system efficiency. According to IRCC, the new personnel will shorten application processing timelines and enable processing of new applications at pre-pandemic levels, including the six-month service requirement for Express Entry programs.
Record numbers processed between January to July 2022
- According to the Canada Immigration Levels Plan, IRCC set a target of 431,000 new permanent residents for Canada in 2022 and welcomed 405,000 new ones in 2021.
- Between January 1 and July 31, 2022, a total of 275,000 new permanent residents have immigrated to Canada. 349,000 new work permits, including 220,000 open work permits, had been issued throughout the same time period (OWP). Holders of an OWP are able to work in most occupations across Canada.
- Applications for study permits increased as well; 360,000 permits have been issued so far in 2022. This represents a 31% increase over the overall number of research permits given during the same period in 2021.
- According to the IRCC, processing delays have been exacerbated by Canada’s reaction to humanitarian crises and the update of aging technology to keep up with demand. According to their analysis, all business lines combined had about 54% of applications in the system that were older than the service standard as of the end of July. Right now, its current goal is to handle 80% of fresh applications in accordance with service standards.
- In response to the backlog, the IRCC said that it will post monthly data on its website and provide further details about additional measures being taken to enhance the system in the coming weeks.
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