Data from Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
shows that the backlog of applications in the inventory, across all lines of
business, is now just over 800,000.
Numbers are current as of April 30. There are 2,006,000
million applications in inventory in total.
IRCC defines its inventory as applications that have not
been completed. The department says it completed more than 5.2 million
applications in 2022, double the number it completed in 2021.
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The latest inventory data does not reflect the full period
of the recent work stoppage caused by the Public Services Alliance of Canada
(PSAC) strike that lasted 12 days between April 19 and May 1, 2023.
During the last week of the strike, Immigration Minister
Sean Fraser told reporters there were approximately 100,000 unprocessed
applications during the strike that would otherwise have been processed, but he
said it would not take long for the IRCC to get back on track. and process any
resulting delays. .
service standards
IRCC strives to process 80% of received requests, from all
lines of business, within service standards.
Service standards are the expected timeline or goal that
IRCC sets for itself in terms of how long the department should take to process
a request. The service standard is different from the actual amount of time
that IRCC takes to process requests.
A request is considered backlogged if it does not meet the
service standard for the request type.
Service standards vary by application type. For example,
applications submitted through an Express Entry program have a standard of six
months, applications for family class sponsorship are 12 months, and
applications for temporary residence can range from 60 to 120 days, depending
on whether it is of a work or study permit.
Permanent residence
Data as of April 30 shows that there were 632,000
applications in inventory for permanent residence. Of these, 51% or 322,000
were considered delayed or did not meet service standards.
The data breaks it down further, showing projected IRCC
delays vs. actual delays for different types of applications.
The total backlog of applications for Federal Highly Skilled
Workers (Express Entry) is 17%, which exceeds the IRCC goal of processing 80%
of applications within service standards.
Express Entry application backlog for Provincial Nominee
Program candidates continues to exceed the target 20% and as of April, 28% of
applications were not processed within service standards.
Applications for spouses, partners and children of
candidates for permanent residence registered a delay of 23%.
Citizenship
IRCC reports that of the 294,000 citizenship applications in
the inventory, 221,000, or 75%, have been processed within service standards.
Data from August 2022 shows that 30% of citizenship
applications did not meet service standards, and as of April 2023, IRCC has
gradually closed the gap to the current 25% who do not meet the standard of
service.
temporary residence
The portfolio of applications for temporary residence stands
at 414,000 applications, or 38%, of the 1,080,000 applications in inventory.
Data shows that 50% of temporary resident (visitor) visas
are not processed within the specific service standard. Minister Fraser has
said that this is an area that was affected by the strike and that it could
take longer than anticipated by the department to process all visitor visas.
The number of study permits processed exceeded the service
standard with 82% of applications finalized on time. Work permits fell below
20% in March, but rose back to 22% not meeting the standard in April.
It is common for there to be a higher number of temporary
residence visas in the spring and summer months. Visitors to Canada from abroad
are increasing with the warmer weather and international students apply before
starting their programs next fall.
There is also often an increase in the number of temporary
workers in Canada at this time of year who require work permits.
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