Canada marks a record-breaking year for processing immigration applications

In just four months, the backlog for pandemic applications was decreased by nearly half a million.

Immigration is vital to Canada's economy, and our communities, and a significant component of our national character. Newcomers played a crucial role in our achievement in building our nation and fighting the epidemic on the front lines. As part of its ongoing efforts to improve the effectiveness of the immigration system in Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has lowered wait times and modernized its services.

The Honourable Sean Fraser, Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, today emphasized the strides that have been achieved this year in lowering the backlogs of applications that have exceeded the IRCC's service requirements in its inventory.

Since August, IRCC has removed approximately 500,000 applications from its total inventory. Additionally, the agency has been raising the threshold for processing. Nearly twice as many applications—4.8 million—as opposed to 2.5 million—had been handled by the end of November by the IRCC.

The IRCC has digitized applications, hired and educated additional staff, streamlined procedures, and tapped into automation technology to boost processing efficiency while safeguarding Canadians' safety and security. This has helped to strengthen our immigration system. The department continues to make progress in processing, resulting in decreased wait times for our clients and is on target to fulfill its objective of processing 80% of new applications within service standards for the majority of programs.

Canada is on track to break its own record for the processing of study permits this year. IRCC has processed more than 670,000 study permits as of November 30 this year, compared to more than 500,000 at the same time the previous year. As a consequence of these initiatives, the majority of new study permits are now handled within the required 60 days.

With approximately 700,000 work permits completed by November 30 compared to around 223,000 during the same period in 2019, before the epidemic, there were also significant advances in the processing of work permits.

In order to accommodate the rising demand for visitor visas to Canada, IRCC continues to cut back on backlogs and process visas more swiftly. Canada currently processes more tourist visa applications each month than it did before the outbreak. More than 260,000 visitor permits were processed in November alone. In comparison, there were around 180,000 applications each month on average in 2019.

405,000 new permanent residents arrived in Canada in 2021, exceeding the previous high of 1913. Canada is still on track to meet its goal of adding more than 431,000 new permanent residents after another record year in 2022.

To better serve our clients, IRCC has also been updating its services and extending assistance for programs granting permanent residency. All new applications for spousal sponsorship and Express Entry are now handled within the pre-pandemic service norm of 12 months and 6 months, respectively. Due to IRCC's reduction of the pandemic backlog of applications for card renewals by 99%, permanent residents may likewise anticipate lower wait times when renewing their permanent residence cards.

With one of the highest naturalization rates in the world, Canada is happy to welcome all immigrants and encourages them to finish their journey by obtaining Canadian citizenship. Approximately 251,000 new citizens will be welcomed from April to November, according to the IRCC, setting a record for new Canadian citizens and surpassing the previous fiscal year's total. As a consequence, more than 70% of citizenship inventory applications already meet service criteria.

In order to address the social and economic issues we will face in the next decades, Canada supports immigration as a strategy to assist companies in finding individuals with the necessary skills in important industries, such as health care, skilled crafts, manufacturing, transportation, and technology. The Canadian government has been implementing policies, such as standards, to enable temporary and permanent immigrants to Canada to realize their full labor market potential.

• granting work permits to all skill levels of temporary foreign workers' wives and dependents who are of legal working age. By making it easier for companies to obtain the personnel they require, extending the eligibility for work permits to family members who are traveling to Canada with the primary application would help alleviate the labor shortage.

• the restriction that only qualifying post-secondary students may work 20 hours per week while classes are in session will temporarily be lifted. This interim amendment recognizes the significant contribution that the more than 640,000 international students already studying in Canada can make to meet our labor needs while also pursuing their academic goals.

• putting into action measures that will give foreign nationals with post-graduation work permits that have expired or are about to expire between September 20, 2021, and December 31, 2022, the chance to work in Canada for an additional 18 months by either applying for a new work permit or having their current one extended.

• pioneering the creation of economic routes for refugees and their families to find a secure and long-term solution in addition to conventional resettlement. The Canadian Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP) was expanded to include more skilled refugees thanks to additional financing from IRCC. To make it simpler for eligible candidates to apply, IRCC is also implementing a new, more flexible application procedure with reliable partners.

• reducing the 20-month wait period for Canadian asylum seekers to receive a work permit to one month.

• Using our economic immigration initiatives, including as the new permanent Atlantic Immigration Program, the enlarged Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, and the new work permit stream for Quebec-selected skilled migrants, to assist in bringing people to the parts of Canada that need them the most.

• Exempting doctors who cooperate with public health authorities on a fee-for-service approach from the present rules. With this move, it will be simpler for doctors who were born outside of Canada to remain there and continue their medical careers, which will benefit our country's healthcare system.

• Announce $30 million in continuing funding and an additional $115 million in Budget 2022 to extend the Foreign Credential Recognition Program, with an emphasis on assisting skilled immigrants' transition into the labor market in the health sector.

• implementing the National Occupational Classification 2021 for Express Entry-managed immigration programs. As a result, 16 new professions are now accepted into the Express Entry programs.

• Adjust the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act by choosing immigrants based on essential characteristics that support specified economic goals, such as educational qualifications, professional experience, or proficiency in an official language. In the spring of 2023, Express Entry's new category-based selection authorities are anticipated to start live.

The Canadian government will continue to give monthly updates on the efforts being taken to enhance client satisfaction, reunite families, and solve the labor shortage in Canada, as well as our success in decreasing backlogs. We are committed to creating an immigration system that benefits immigrants, visitors, our companies, and all Canadians even though we are aware that there is still more to be done.

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