There are many visa processing offices in Canada that help out foreign nations with their visas. They help speed up the Canadian immigration visa process, but sometimes a disparity arises in office locations regarding how long the processing time takes.
Standards Of Service & Processing Time
IRCC has different service standards depending on the application type they receive. For instance, the Express Entry applications received after July 2022 have a specific service standard of six months, while the temporary resident visas have a standard of service between 60-120 days.
Moreover, this standard of service is different from the actual time that IRCC takes for Canadian immigration visa processing. Applications that are not processed with the standards of service of their program are categorized as backlogs.
Thus, IRCC aims to process at least 80% of the applications they receive.
Differences Between Processing Offices
IRCC asserts that visa offices have numerous operating challenges based on the country and region.
In addition, the department emphasizes that it may take longer to process an application if it is unclear. If such a situation arises, additional time will be required, and numerous kinds of discrepancies might arise.
Factors Contributing To Regional Disparity
Resource allocation plays a significant role in the regional disparity.
If you look at the workforce demographic data of 2022, we’ll see that over 2% of the employees are located internationally. In addition, over 55% of the employees are at IRCC’s international headquarters in Ottawa. This implies that capacity in Canadian immigration visa processing is limited compared to those in Canada.
Moreover, IRCC opened a new visa processing center in the Philippines. In addition, the immigration minister declared that this department invests in a new processing Center in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Furthermore, when the center was opened in Manilla, IRCC asserted that adding processing capacity helps to accommodate the higher volumes of visa applications. Along with that, Client services are also improved, thus making it easier for more people to immigrate to Canada.
Another reason why Canadian immigration visa processing takes time is the kind of application received. Some applications need longer to process than others.
How Did The Strike Impact Canadian Immigration Visa Processing?
The recent strike by the PSAC, i.e., the Public Service Alliance of Canada, included 155,000 federal workers taking strike action from April 19 until May 3. During the strike, IRCC reported that there would be delays in the Canadian immigration visa process.
Sean Fraser said that he estimated that over 100,000 applications were not processed because of the strike. Moreover, he expects it will not take more than a few months to return to the track of service standards.
In order to get back on track, IRCC extended application digitization and hired over 1000 more people. In addition, the immigration minister said that IRCC had gotten back to the pre-pandemic standards of service for PR, federal economic streams, and family reunification through the express entry system.
Moreover, the only stream where the minister said there was a significant backlog was for temporary resident visas, like visitor visas. Furthermore, Sean Fraser said that before the disruption, the department was on track to return to the service standards within 30 days.