CIMM – Q-657 – IRCC Response – February 8, 2023
Inquiry of Ministry
Prepare in English and French marking "original text" or "translation"
Question No. : Q-657
By: Ms. Kwan (Vancouver East)
Date: June 16. 2022
Reply by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Print name of Signatory: Marie-France Lalonde, M.P.
Signature, Minister or Parliamentary Secretary
Question
With regard to the Afghans who were validated by the Department of National Defence (DND) or Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and referred to Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), in response to the 2021 crisis in Afghanistan, broken down by the department that referred the file: (a) how many of these referrals have been received by IRCC; (b) how many referrals resulted in the creation of an IRCC application; (c) how many of these applications (i) have been accepted, (ii) have been rejected, (iii) are still being processed, (iv) have been put on hold; (d) how many of the applicants have landed in Canada; (e) how many individual applicants are there in the applications; (f) how many, if any, Afghans referred to IRCC by DND and GAC were identified as duplicates resulting in the creation of only one application; (g) what is the average processing time for the applications that have been (i) accepted, (ii) refused, broken down by stream; and (h) what is the average length of time that unapproved or declined files have been in the system, broken down by stream?
Reply
Insofar as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is concerned:
- IRCC received and retained 2,638 referrals, meaning that the principal applicant was invited to submit an application. This includes 1,613 referrals from the Department of National Defence (DND) and 1,025 referrals from Global Affairs Canada (GAC). The two other special pathways for Afghans including the humanitarian program and the extended family members of former interpreters pathway did not operate on the basis of referrals from government departments.
- As of June 20th, 2022: 1,835 referrals resulted in at least one application (755 GAC referrals and 1,080 DND referrals). Multiple applications may be associated to a single referral to account for the inclusion of all eligible family and household members of referred persons. In total, 4,695 applications have been created under the SIM program, with 1,960 of those applications associated with GAC referrals and 2,735 of those applications associated with DND referrals.
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- As of June 20th, 2022, there have been 3,400 applications approved and/or arrivals in Canada, 1,510 of these applications, associated with GAC referrals, and 1,890 applications, associated with DND referrals.
* Above includes those with either an approved Temporary Resident Permit or Permanent resident application.
- As of June 20th 2002, 8 applications were refused.
- As of June 20th, there are 1,255 applications in process; including 430 associated with GAC referrals and 825 associated with DND referrals.
- As of June 20th 2022, there were 45 applications on hold; with 20 associated with GAC referrals, and 25 associated with DND referrals.
- As of June 20th, 7,165 applicants (persons) have arrived in Canada; with 3,050 associated with GAC referrals, and 4,115 associated with DND referrals.
- As of June 20th, 2022, there are a total of 14,950 applicants (including those who have already arrived in Canada): 5,450 are associated with GAC referrals and 9,505 are associated with DND referrals.
- If an application was already received for an individual, IRCC did not invite them to apply again. DND and GAC made distinct referrals.
- Average processing time is complex for these files. From the outset, there are obstacles facing us in Afghanistan that impacts our processing times, and that were not present in any other resettlement efforts, given the significant number of applicants who are located in Afghanistan. We are navigating a constantly evolving situation in which the Government of Canada has no military or diplomatic presence. Movement out of Afghanistan both by air and by land continues to be very difficult and dangerous.
It is important to acknowledge that documentation requirements can also be imposed by Afghan authorities for exit controls, or by third countries for entry and exit requirements. As such, the Government of Canada continues to pursue every option to mitigate these challenges and to facilitate the safe passage of Afghans to Canada.
We continue to process applications as quickly as possible.
- 80% of files had TRPs approved within 256 days of the application received date. For PR applications approved, 80% of files had been approved within 323 days from the application received date for all applications approved since beginning of SIMs initiative in 2021.
- As there have been fewer than 10 applications refused under the Special Immigration Measures, there is not sufficient data for processing times calculation.
- For applications still in process (pending final decisions), 80% of applications associated with a GAC referral have been in processing for 310 days, and 80% of applications associated with a DND referral have been in processing for 311 days.
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