As part of the recently released strategy – An Immigration System For Canada’s Future, IRCC is working to realign application intake to get application times back to service standards. Part of this will involve aligning the intake of applications with available admission spaces.
The strategy says that IRCC is working to realign application intake with available admission spaces in order to prevent year-long waits that applicants might experience when demand for a program exceeds available spaces.
It notes that reducing wait times through admissions intake management will enable candidates & their support networks to better plan for their arrival, thus making it easier for them to settle & integrate in Canada.
A Lot Of Applications For Specific Programs
The PGP, i.e., parents & grandparents program, deals with the backlog of applications that goes back three years to the onset of the pandemic.
IRCC continued to accept applications for the program throughout the pandemic when the department was dealing with border closures, travel restrictions, & inability to process applications due to temporary office closures.
This was despite a limited number of visas issued via the program yearly. A recent IRCC memo showed that there is presently an inventory of around 100,000 people for the PGP & as of this year, IRCC is still working through the 2020 pool of applicants.
The PGP enables permanent residents as well as Canadian citizens to sponsor their parents & grandparents so that they are able to reside in Canada.
Immigration Levels Plan 2024-2026
IRCC sets immigration targets/ objectives for up to three years in its yearly Immigration Levels Plan. The most recent plan was released on November 1 & sets targets for the number of permanent residents the nation plans to admit in 2024, 2025, & 2026.
Marc Miller asserted that the present plan aims to strengthen the economy & workforce of Canada via sustainable population growth. This is another consideration in the process of intaking the applications.
Most permanent resident programs, like PGP or PNP, have a cap on the number of candidates & this is evident in the Levels Plan target.
Temporary resident programs, like study/ work permits or visitor visas, do not limit the number of applications submitted every year, which can result in a backlog of applications & slower processing.
About a limit on the number of study permits issued, the Minister has asserted that he is not in favor of caps on the number of foreign students in Canada.
Auditor General Report
IRCC is working to realign application intake, but it is just one of IRCC’s strategies to improve processing times. It builds on OAG that also examined the processing times of IRCC & found that they were often too long. Further, it suggests that IRCC must create attainable & reliable service standards for all permanent residency programs.
It also recommended that the IRCC evaluate backlogged applications to recognize & act on processing delays within its control. It asserts that IRCC must prioritize the finalization of older backlogged applications.
Moreover, the Strategy explains that IRCC plans to embrace digital tools, allowing officers to process global office requests. In addition, the OAG rapport suggests that workload in regional offices to reflect capacity will also play a part.
Lastly, the IRCC Strategy says it will increase the use of Advanced Analytics to automate some determinations for routine cases while ensuring that there is no built-in bias.
This part of the Strategy is already in motion. In September, IRCC announced that it would increase the use of Advanced Analytics in processing Work Permit Extensions & PGWPs.
The tools are meant to take on ‘clerical & repetitive tasks’ involved in sorting applications by priority, which could make the application intake relatively easier to deal with. Moreover, these tools should give immigration officers more time to devote to applications which are deemed urgent or more complicated.
Present Backlog
IRCC aims to process around 80% of the applications within service standards or the time the department believes it should take to process an application.
The service standard varies depending on the application type. For instance, Express Entry applications should take no more than six months to process. On the other hand, family class sponsorship applications can take up to a year.
The recent data from IRCC shows that, as of September 30, there were 2,194,900 applications in inventory, with 928,000 considered to be a backlog. This is a slight decrease from 2,198,000 in inventory at the end of August.
The highest number of backlogged applications in September was for temporary residence visas, like work permits, study visas, & visitor visas. The number represents an 18% increase over the August data.