Canadian immigration has faced many issues in the past last two years due to the Coronavirus. The pandemic postponed many applications for the immigrants as well as delayed many programs and plans for numerous people.
Due to the delays that have occurred, Canada is facing a massive backlog, which increased to more than 2 million applications across all categories in April 2022, compared to 1.8 million in March from the same year. Since the introduction of the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET), a temporary residence pathway to Canada, the inventory of temporary resident visas and work permits has increased significantly.
The people who have applied to the Canadian programs have said that the problem is not the delay as much as it is a lack of communication and transparency with the applicants. Meanwhile, IRCC struggles with large inventory backlogs while trying to clear the pending pile. According to the department, it is modernizing and expanding services for people wishing to become Canadians, such as online testing, virtual citizenship ceremonies, and an online application tracker to keep them updated.
The immigration minister Sean Fraser mentioned that “The COVID-19 pandemic delayed our immigration system in two main ways. It shut down a lot of our offices around the world…we lost a lot of our horsepower as a department”, but he sees the light at the end of the tunnel as a result of effective steps that will be taken in the next few months, including some by July.
He said the pre-pandemic service standards will be back, as he found three solutions that can solve the backlog and improve clients’ experience which are “resources, policy, and tech.”
“On the resources side, 500 people added to the staff.” as well as he pointed out the additional $85 million and another $385 million allocated in recent federal budget announcements that will go towards improving application processing.
“The number one policy is the Immigration Levels Plan. The government will not chip away at the number of cases in the inventory if they don’t expand the numbers.”
Additionally, to the third solution, technology, the minister noted that “modernizing the digital platforms will greatly increase the speed and reliability of our system.”
IRCC will introduce case trackers by the end of the summer allowing applicants to digitally monitor the status of their files, as well as resume Express Entry, draws on July 6 and start attracting international talents. Fraser announced the IRCC plans to introduce additional case trackers to allow applicants to monitor the status of their files. The Canadian government will gradually increase its annual Express Entry admissions to more than 110,000 immigrants in 2024.
The country will return to welcome newcomers regularly with a smooth process that the government is working on right now. There is no time better than now to apply for your application to reach the Canadian dream as soon as possible. You still have the opportunity to work, study and live in Canada, seize the chance.
