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By Jessica Thakur
August 28, 2023
Canada – The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has come under scrutiny for its application processing system as the nation grapples with a mounting backlog of immigration applications. Immigration Minister Marc Miller has candidly admitted that the current operational framework has not adapted to the demands of the 21st century.
Miller's acknowledgment of this challenge comes in the wake of growing concerns regarding the efficiency and timeliness of immigration application processing. In a recent interview with CBC, he expressed a desire to overhaul the system, modernize its practices, and expedite processing times to tackle the existing backlog of immigration applications.
Contrary to popular belief, the backlog issue isn't primarily due to a shortage of immigration staff. A comprehensive report by Canadian parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux revealed that IRCC already possesses an adequate number of personnel to meet application processing targets for the next three years.
Giroux's report delved into the direct costs of processing applications for various economic immigration streams, including the Express Entry system, Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, Canadian Experience Class (CEC), and Federal Skilled Trades (FST) program. He highlighted that the staffing levels at IRCC exceed the required numbers for processing goals.
However, despite having ample personnel, IRCC is struggling to manage its substantial application inventories. The department is tasked with overseeing over one million applications concurrently. Of the total 2,264,000 applications in IRCC inventories, a staggering 801,000 are currently caught in the backlog.
Acknowledging the challenge, IRCC has taken steps to address the backlog issue, with a commitment to process 80% of applications within its defined service standards. While the department initially succeeded in maintaining its ideal backlog percentage of 20%, recent trends show a resurgence in the backlog figures.
The challenge isn't uniform across all application types. Study permits exhibit a relatively lower backlog of 15% as of June 2023. In contrast, temporary resident visa backlogs exceed 45%, while work permits, initially meeting and surpassing the 20% target, have plateaued at 27%.
Highlighting the discrepancy, citizenship applications appear to fare better, with 76% of 302,000 applications for citizenship processing within service standards. However, the situation is less promising for permanent residence applications, as only 53% of the 644,000 applications are within service standards.
The journey of immigration in recent years has been marked by significant fluctuations. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to a substantial 45.9% drop in immigration levels, with new permanent residents declining from 341,175 to 184,595 due to travel and health restrictions.
However, as borders reopened and pandemic measures eased, immigration numbers resurged. In 2021, Canada welcomed a record-breaking 406,040 new permanent residents. This trend continued in 2022, witnessing a further 7.7% increase to reach 437,120 new permanent residents.
Nonetheless, the rapid influx led to IRCC struggling to process applications in a timely manner, leading to the accumulation of a backlog. Even with an additional $85 million injected into IRCC in 2021 to reduce processing times, the department faced a significant backlog of 2.5 million applications by October of the same year.
As Canada navigates the challenges of immigration and strives for efficient application processing, Minister Miller's acknowledgment of the need for modernization signals a commitment to creating a system capable of adapting to the demands of the 21st century.
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