The IRCC inventory backlog applications across the business have reached over 800,000. These numbers have been current since April 30.
Moreover, there are a total of 2,006,000 applications in the IRCC inventory. The IRCC defines its inventory as applications that haven’t been finalized. The department asserts that they finalized over 5.2 million applications in 2022, which is double as compared to the applications in 2021.
However, the latest data of IRCC inventory does not show the labor disruption that caused the PSAC strike that lasted for 12 days, i.e., from April 9 to May 1, 2023.
During the strike’s final week, the immigration minister told reporters that almost 10,000 applications were not processed throughout the strike. In addition, Sean Fraser asserted that it would not take long for IRCC to get back on track & process the backlog.
The Service Standards
IRCC strives to process almost 80% of the applications they receive from every line of business, provided they are within the service standards.
However, there is an expected timeline for the same. IRCC sets this limit to process the applications. Moreover, the service standard differs from the time IRCC takes to process applications.
However, an application is a backlog if it doesn’t meet the service standards.
Furthermore, these service standards depend upon the type of applications. For instance, the Express Entry program applications have a standard service time of six months, the family class sponsorship has a time frame of 12 months, & temporary resident applications are for 60-120 days, depending on work/ study permit.
Permanent Residence
The recent data on April 30 shows that there were 6,32,000 applications in IRCC inventory for permanent accommodation. Out of these, over 51% were backlogs that didn’t meet the service standards.
The data breaks down and shows the projected backlogs of IRCC v/s the actual backlogs. However, the total backlog of Express Entry stands at 17%, thus exceeding the IRCC’s goal of processing 80% of the applications.
The Express Entry backlog application for PNP applicants is higher than 20%. As of April, over 28% of applications were not processed within the service standards. Spouses, partners, & children application backlog for PR was at 23%.
Citizenship
IRCC reports that out of 294,000 citizenship applications, only 221,000 applications have been processed in inventory.
Moreover, August 2022 data shows that 30% of applications for citizenship did not meet service standards as of April. Thus, IRCC has been closing this gap steadily.
Temporary Residence
The temporary resident backlog applications stand at 414,000 in IRCC inventory.
The data represents that 50% of the temporary resident visas aren’t being processed within the targeted standards of service. The minister asserted that this was the only area impacted by the strike. Thus, it can take longer to process all visitor visas.
The number of processed study permits has exceeded the number of service standards by 82%. In addition, work permits dropped below 20% in March. However, it rose to 22%, but it didn’t meet the service standards in April.
Interestingly, it is usual for there to be a higher number of temporary resident visas in the summer as well as spring months. The warm weather increases the number of visitors coming to Canada. As a result, this enables foreign students to submit their applications before beginning their programs in autumn.
This also increases the number of seasonal workers in Canada who require work permits.