CIMM – Top Issues – March 3, 2022
[Redacted] appears where sensitive information has been removed in accordance with the principles of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.
Afghanistan
- Canada has welcomed over 7,885 Afghan nationals with more arriving every week. We are working hard to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals as quickly and safety as possible. If this was a matter of will, they would all be here already.
- But the reality is that this is a multi-year commitment and every step of the way, there are obstacles facing us in Afghanistan that were not present in other large-scale resettlement efforts.
- We are navigating a conflict and have no military or diplomatic presence. We are working with partners in the region, in the private sector, non-profit organizations, and sending more staff to embassies, high commissions and consulates to help Afghans.
Anti-Racism
- Any sort of systemic racism or bias within any government operation is completely unacceptable. We're very proud of the work that we have under way to address discrimination and bias. Systemic racism is rooted in history and it's very complex. But we understand that we have an obligation to clients, employees and Canadians to do better, and we will.
- IRCC established a three-year anti-racism strategy, anti-racism commitments, mandatory bias training, mentoring and sponsorship programs, for underrepresented groups, racial impact assessment tools for policy development, and additional supports to create meaningful change in the workplace.
- IRCC also initiated a three-year hiring and retention strategy to address gaps in our workforce diversity to better reflect Canadian demographics.
Backlogs and Inventory
- Despite the pandemic, we were still able to make over half a million decisions and welcomed over 405,000 new permanent residents in 2021 – the greatest number of newcomers in a year in Canadian history.
- Still, we know that some applicants have experienced considerable wait times with the processing of their applications. We committed to reducing processing times. The 2021 Economic and Fiscal Update, provided new funding of $85M in 2022-23.These funds will support additional staff, allowing us to return to service standards for study and work permits and permanent resident card renewals by year’s end , and to welcome people who can help address Canada’s labour shortages.
Caregivers
- Our two pilots provide caregivers and their families with a clear, direct pathway to permanent residence. Last year we finalized close to 6,000 permanent residence applications for caregivers and their family members, fulfilling our processing target for 2021.
- In January 2022, over 850 caregiver applicants and their dependants had been processed.
- This year’s cap for the Home Child Care Provider Pilot has been reached, and IRCC is no longer accepting new applications for this year.
- Families can continue to hire caregivers who are already in Canada, including foreign nationals who have an open work permit, such as IEC participants or post-secondary graduates. They can also go through the LMIA process if a caregiver is already working in Canada.
- Eligible caregivers can still apply under the new 2022 cap for the Home Support Worker pilot.
Ukraine
- Canada is steadfast in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Since January 1st, IRCC has approved nearly 4,000 applications across all our lines of business of Ukrainian nationals and people residing in Ukraine.
- IRCC is making it easier and faster for Canadian citizens, Canadian permanent residents and their accompanying immediate family members to return to Canada.
- IRCC will implement a special family reunification sponsorship pathway for permanent residence for immediate and extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
- For those who wish to come to Canada temporarily, we are working on:
- a special temporary resident visa valid for up to two years
- measures for employers to bring Ukrainian nationals for work
- open work permits for Ukrainian visitors, workers and students currently in Canada
- IRCC is also implementing the following additional measures:
- leveraging operational readiness to continue to process applications digitally
- fee waivers for certain travel and immigration documents
- a class-based national interest exemption to allow unvaccinated Ukrainian nationals holding a temporary resident visa or permit to enter Canada, who will then be subject to all other public health requirements. This also applies to those who are vaccinated with vaccines not currently recognized by Canada.
- All visitors to Canada require a temporary resident visa, except where an exemption has been made under the guidance of our Visa Policy Framework. We are putting in place flexible and expedited temporary resident visa measures that will allow Ukrainians to travel to Canada quickly and safely, while protecting the safety, security and health of Canadians. Canada continues to closely monitor the situation. Our key migration partners (US, UK, Australia, New Zealand) have not lifted visa requirements for Ukraine.
Students
- The Government of Canada recognizes the tremendous social, cultural and economic benefits that international students bring to Canada. We are committed to a fair and non-discriminatory application of immigration laws.
- In 2021, IRCC processed over 557,700 study permit applications; this represents a 32% increase when compared to the same period in 2019 (pre-COVID-19).
- Volumes of temporary resident visa and study permit applications from Africa have tripled from 2016 to 2019 across the top 8 source countries in Africa, with the number of refusals generally increasing in relative proportion.
- While IRCC understands that applicants, as well as the schools that accepted them, are disappointed when an application is refused, there is no great difference between application approval rates for applicants from French-speaking African countries and other countries in the region, or between the approval rates for those destined to Quebec or those destined to other provinces.
- The most common reasons for refusal include applicants being unable to show officers they’re able to support themselves in Canada or that they would leave Canada if they no longer had legal status in the future.
Canada-Quebec
Compensation:
- [Redacted]
- [Redacted]
Levels:
- During the pandemic, the Department prioritized applications from candidates who are in Canada, including those under the Quebec Skilled Workers (QSW) category.
- The Department achieved 50.2K admissions to Quebec in 2021, surpassing the original Ministère de l’immigration, francisation et intégration (MIFI) target of 46K, and coming within 2.5% of the low end of the rebalanced MIFI range (51.5K to 54.5K).
- The Department is working with Quebec on innovative ways to address Quebec’s labour shortages and maintain Quebec’s demographic importance in the country.
Modernization
- IRCC is committed to modernizing how we deliver programs and services.
- Budget 2021 invested $428.9M to develop and deliver a digital platform that will replace IRCC’s current system. This secure, and flexible platform will help improve application processing and support for applicants.
- We will be introducing new tools to provide meaningful and timely information to our clients about their cases. These improvements include updating our online processing times tool to give clients more up-to-date information and expanding the online application portal for permanent residence applicants to include more clients.
- We just launched a status tracker for some family class permanent residence applicants, to allow clients, sponsors and their representatives to obtain detailed information on their cases. We have also launched a status tracker for clients to obtain updates on citizenship applications.
Chinook
- Chinook is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that draws different fields of existing information to display it on a spreadsheet, which helps IRCC officers complete routine administrative steps more quickly.
- The spreadsheet reduces the amount of time an officer spends on uploading files and clicking screen to screen. This is especially important in countries where bandwidth is low, and would otherwise slow down application processing.
- IRCC officers always make their own decisions based on the information submitted in applications. Chinook does not contain any advanced analytics or artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Processing success stories (back-pocket item)
- Last year, Canada welcomed more than 405,000 new permanent residents – the most immigrants in a single year in our history. Despite having regained many of the jobs lost during the pandemic, there are still hundreds of thousands of positions in all sectors waiting to be filled.
- Canada has reached its target and welcomed more than 401,000 new permanent residents in 2021. Surpassing the previous record from 1913, this is the most newcomers in a year in Canadian history.
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