Canada marks record-breaking year for processing immigration applications

On December 19, IRCC announced that the pandemic backlogs were reduced by nearly half a million applications in 4 months.

Canada has been taking steady action to strengthen its immigration system reducing wait times by hiring up to 1,250 new employees in fall 2022 and modernizing its services. Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honourable Sean Fraser, highlighted the progress that has been made this year, in reducing backlogs of applications that have been in IRCC’s inventories beyond its service standards.

Record year for processing

While backlogs have been reduced by nearly half a million applications, the department has also been processing more and more applications. At the end of November, IRCC had processed approximately 4.8 million applications—nearly twice the 2.5 million processed during the same period last year. This record has been achieved through digitalization of applications, hiring and training new employees, streamlining processes, and harnessing automation technologies to increase proccesssing efficiency.

Temporary residence increase

Study permit

IRCC is about to set a new record processing new study permits, which are now being processed within the 60-day service standard. As of November 30 this year, IRCC had processed over 670,000 study permits, compared to more than 500,000 during the same time period last year.

Work permit

Nearly 700,000 work permits processed by November 30, compared to about 223,000 during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.

Visitor visa

More and more people want to visit Canada. On a monthly basis, Canada is now processing more visitor visa applications than it did prior to the pandemic. In November alone, there were over 260,000 visitor visas processed contrasting with the monthly average in 2019 which was about 180,000 applications.

Permanent residence

Reuniting spouses and families

Although there was a record in welcoming over 405,000 new permanent residents, still Canada is aiming at reaching its new target of more than 431,000 new permanent residents.

Due to the support and the modernization of service for permanent residence programs, all new spousal sponsorship applications are now processed within the pre-pandemic service standard of 12 months and new Express Entry applications within 6 months. IRCC has also reduced its pandemic backlog of applications for card renewals by 99%.

Citizenship

IRCC expects a record number of new Canadian citizens in 2022–2023, with approximately 251,000 new citizens welcomed from April to November – surpassing the total number of new Canadian citizens for the last fiscal year.

Immigration is critical to Canada’s economy and its communities since newcomers contribute to the overall development of the country and help manage critical situations like the recent pandemic.