AGRI - Key IRCC Data - May 22, 2020
Supporting facts and figures
Temporary Foreign Work Permits
- As of December 31, 2019, there were approximately 848,000 valid work permits in circulation. It is not known how many of these individuals were actually in Canada at the time international travel restrictions were put in place.
- 78% of all work permits in circulation as of December 31, 2019, were open work permits, meaning that the work permit holder could work for any employer in Canada. Open work permit holders can change jobs at any time without the requirement for a new work permit.
- Close to 100,000 work permits will expire by the end of May. It is not known if these permit holders are still in the country and whether or not they have been affected by COVID-related travel restrictions (some international flights to and from Canada continue to operate).
Work Permit Application Processing Volumes
- From January 1 to March 31, 2020, a total of 69,000 work permit applications were processed, which was higher than in the two previous years (3% higher than 2019 and 1% higher than 2018) for the same period.
- In April 2020, the impact of special measures and reduced capacity was reflected in the number of processed applications: over 6,000 were processed in April 2020, compared to almost 28,000 in April 2019 and almost 21,000 in April 2018 which is a 78% decrease over the same period in 2019.
- The volumes of work permits extensions processed has remained strong year to date. Over 71,000 applications were processed from January – March 2020, a 23% increase compared to the same period in 2019 and 11% increase compared to the same period in 2018).
- In April 2020, over 28,000 applications were processed, compared to 20,000 in April 2019 and 18,000 in April 2018 (an increase of 40% and 58%, respectively).
Agricultural Work Permits
- It should be noted that 68% of the work permit applications processed in April 2020 were work permits for agricultural workers, which are one of the essential occupations that have been prioritized since the introduction of special measures on March 18, 2020.
- The number of work permits processed for agricultural workers as of the end of April 2020 was 30,000 - only slightly lower than the same period in 2019 (almost 32,000), and on par with the same period in 2018.
- Work permits confirmed in March 2020 is lower (3,000) compared to the same period in 2018 (6,000) and 2019 (6,000).
- Work permits confirmed in April 2020, is lower (11,000) compared to the same period in 2018 (11,000) and 2019 (13,000).
- Similarly, the number of arrivals of agricultural workers to Canada from January 1 to April 30, 2020, was 11,000 and tracking only slightly behind the previous years.
Applications for Study Permits and Extensions
- From January to April 2020, the Department received over 157,300 applications for new and extension study permits. This compares to almost 162,900 for the same period in 2019.
- The most significant decrease occurred in April 2020 when only 23,400 applications for new study permits and extensions were received compared to 48,900 in April 2019. This represents a decrease of 52%.
- From January 1 to March 31, 2020, a total of 75,000 student permit applications were processed (initial and extensions), a significantly higher volume compared to the same period in two previous years (25% higher than 2019 and 30% higher than 2018).
- In April 2020 however, the impact of special measures and reduced capacity was reflected in the number of new study permit applications processed: almost 4,000 new study permit applications were processed in April 2020, compared to 33,000 in April 2019 and over 18,000 in April 2018 (89% and 80% decrease, respectively).
- Conversely in April 2020, the number of study permit extension applications processed heavily exceeded the processing of new study permit applications. Almost 20,000 applications for study permit extensions were processed, compared to almost 15,000 in April 2019 and 14,000 in April 2018 (an increase of 35% and 39%, respectively).
(See Annex for Temporary Resident related HUMA Undertaking responses.)
Irregular Migration
- There have been over 2,400 claims from March 18 to April 30, 2020 (95 irregular, 65 border).
- As of April 30, 2020, 2,050 claims have been received by email since the email claim process was put in place on March 18, 2020.
- Since travel restrictions between Canada and the United States were implemented on March 21, 2020, there have been 10 irregular claims and 35 border claims as of April 30, 2020.
Permanent Residents
- From January 1 to April 30, 2020, the Department supported the landing of over 73,000 permanent residents; approximately 5,200 became permanent residents since March 18, 2020, when travel restrictions were put into place.
- Given the extent and duration of processing and travel disruptions, lower overall admissions are expected in 2020 across all permanent resident categories. The Department will not be able to achieve the target of 341,000 permanent resident admissions in 2020. The extent of the shortfall will depend on a number of factors, some of which have yet to be fully defined in order to assess impact on 2020 and potentially 2021 levels achievement.
- A number of mitigation strategies have been implemented and others are being considered to address processing challenges and try to address the gap between permanent resident admissions and targets as much as possible. Given ongoing disruptions to application processing, processing times for most new and existing clients as well as application inventories across all permanent resident lines of business will increase in the coming months due to the following factors:
- Processing capacity in Canada and at overseas offices remain limited across most Permanent Resident lines of business – this is especially the case for paper based applications;
- The Department is not finalizing most applications from clients who cannot be issued a visa to travel and/or be admitted as a permanent resident in Canada; and,
- The Department has also implemented facilitation measures for clients, including allowing them to take up to 180 days to submit documents and biometrics, which will further extend processing times.
- The Department is working to increase its processing capacity. It has equipped many employees with laptops to be able to process remotely. A large portion of the application inventory is however paper based, which contributes to the processing limitations. Application processing time is a lagging indicator and as such it may take some time for the effects of the operational limitations to be fully reflected.
Citizenship
- Citizenship events scheduled between March 14 and April 28, 2020, were cancelled which affected nearly 37,000 applicants for grant of citizenship.
- As the Citizenship Program scaled down its operations with staff working remotely where possible and curtailing their client-facing operations, only urgent proofs of citizenship have been processed; between March 16 and April 30, 2020, around 800 proofs of citizenship have been processed.
- The Citizenship Program on April 1, 2020, conducted its first virtual Citizenship ceremony for a scientist currently helping with the COVID-19 effort. The Program is exploring ways to expand the administration of ceremonies in a virtual format to groups of citizenship candidates.
Annex - HUMA Undertaking
HUMA 9.5 - Number of new work permits by skill level classification since March 15, 2020:
National Occupation Classification (NOC) | New Work Permits Issued |
---|---|
Grand Total |
2,762 |
0-Management occupations |
96 |
A-University education. |
253 |
B-College or vocational education or apprenticeship training. |
434 |
C-Secondary school and/or occupation-specific training. |
536 |
D-On-the-job training is usually provided for occupations. |
26 |
Unspecified |
1,417 |
HUMA 9.7 - Number of work permits renewed in Canada since March 15, 2020:
Office Type | Work Permit Extensions Issued |
---|---|
Total |
5,570 |
Inland |
5,542 |
Port of Entry |
5 |
Unspecified |
23 |
Data source: COGNOS (MBR) extracted as of May 11, 2020.
Please note that data more recent than March 31, 2020 have not been publicly released.
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