Budget 2021 invested $827.4M over five years to develop and deliver a digital platform. This secure, modern, and flexible platform will help improve application processing and support for applicants.
IRCC recently updated its online processing times tool to give clients more accurate estimates of how long it will take to process their application.
We also launched a new digital case status tracker in February 2022 that allows some family class permanent residence applicants, sponsors and their representatives to more easily access application information online.
This is similar to the tracker we launched for citizenship applications in May 2021, which allows clients to stay up to date on their applications and next steps.
Processing and Inventory
Despite the pandemic, we made 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.
We also surpassed our goal of making 147,000 permanent residence final decisions in the first quarter of 2022 – doubling the number of final decisions in the same period in 2021.
Through these efforts, Canada welcomed over 113,000 new permanent residents in the first quarter of 2022.
With additional funding of $85M, we are building on the work that has already been done to reduce wait times, such as hiring new processing staff, digitizing applications, and reallocating work through our global network.
Budget 2022 has also committed $2.1B over five years and $317.6M ongoing in to support Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan.
Ukraine CUAET and PR Pathways
The Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET) is available to Ukrainians and their family members fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. It offers them an extended stay in Canada, as well as free work and study permits.
The CUAET is the fastest and most efficient way for Ukrainians to come to Canada. It streamlines current visa and travel requirements, eliminates most application and processing fees, and offers accelerated, prioritized processing.
For families in Canada, IRCC is also implementing a special family reunification sponsorship pathway for permanent residence. Details on this program are coming soon.
Ukraine Travel
On May 11th, we announced 3 federal charter flights to Canada for Ukrainians and their family members. The flights will be available to people approved through the CUAET program on a first come, first served basis from Poland:
to Winnipeg on May 23
to Montréal on May 29
to Halifax on June 2
Once in Canada, we will provide temporary accommodations for up to 14 nights to people on the charter flights who do not already have suitable accommodations in place.
In the coming days, Ukrainians who have received their visas to come to Canada through the CUAET will be contacted by email with information on how to register.
Ukraine Settlement Support
We are offering temporary federal support to help Ukrainians settle in their new communities, such as language training and enrolling children in school.
Federally funded settlement services are normally only available to permanent residents. This is an extraordinary measure aimed at supporting Ukrainians arriving under CUAET.
We are also working to implement transitional financial support to cover basic needs, and to organize temporary accommodations for Ukrainians arriving in Canada who do not already have suitable accommodation in place.
Client Services for Ukrainians
We are working around the clock to help Ukrainians and their families get to Canada as quickly and safely as possible. We are prioritizing all applications.
We made the process easier for families by exempting certain cohorts from providing biometrics:
17 years old or younger
applicants 61 years old or older
applicants who were previously approved for a Canadian visa in the past 10 years.
For those providing biometrics, we recently opened Canadian Biometric Collection Centres in Warsaw and Berlin. We continue to add biometric capacity to the VAC network, as well as to Canadian missions in Poland, Austria, Romania and Germany.
Ukrainian clients both in Canada and abroad can call us at 613-321-4243, with collect calls accepted or use IRCC’s crisis web form keyword “Ukraine2022” and their enquiry and it will be prioritized.
Ukraine Impact on Processing Times
The Government of Canada is investing an additional $117M to implement Canada’s new immigration measures to welcome those fleeing the war in Ukraine.
This funding has helped set up new immigration pathways, including the CUAET, expedite the processing of applications and provide support to newcomers once they arrive in Canada. It will also allow IRCC to procure additional resources to support Ukrainians while continuing to deliver on other important priorities and processing commitments.
Ukraine Compared to Other Situations
We hear the concerns of perceived racism in how the government responds to different situations and delays in bringing people to Canada, particularly family members.
These frustrations are real and we understand the sensitivities.
Any delays are a result of various challenges that are unique to each circumstance. Whatever the challenge, we are committed to doing everything we can to help those in need.
We set up an emergency, temporary program for Ukrainians because those fleeing eventually want to return home. They want to come to Canada as a temporary safe harbour, not as refugees.
These Ukrainian pathways will not impact the processing of refugees, as they are completely separate immigration streams.
Afghanistan
Our goal of bringing at least 40,000 Afghan nationals to Canada places us amongst the top countries in the world when it comes to resettling Afghan refugees.
We are working hard to welcome Afghans as quickly and safely as possible and, so far, over 12,650 Afghan refugees now call Canada home.
We made a commitment to some individuals and their families on the basis of their work with Canada, and we will not turn our backs on them.
We continue working to secure safe passage for those in Afghanistan, but the reality is that every step of the way, there are obstacles facing us in Afghanistan that were not present in other large-scale resettlement efforts:
By far, the biggest challenge is that many of the individuals selected under the Special Immigration Program are still in Afghanistan, a country controlled by a terrorist organization in which the Government has no military or diplomatic presence.
Our ability to move people is also impacted by whether and how quickly we get exit permits and the availability of flights to Canada.
We will continue to ensure we have the necessary resources to bring vulnerable Afghans to Canada. This has not changed as a result of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Client Service for Afghanistan
We are working to process applications across our network of migration officers. Our goal is to provide clarity to everyone who has inquired about these programs.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be communicating directly with individuals newly eligible for our program, as well as those who are not eligible at this time.
IRCC recognizes that there are many Afghans nationals whose applications have been accepted, but they have not yet been able to travel to Canada. We remain in close contact with these individuals who are still in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries.
Processing Refugees
We remain committed to the refugee resettlement program and to welcoming refugees to Canada.
We will continue to look for additional ways to adjust to evolving needs and to improve the process.
In 2021, Canada resettled over 20,400 refugees and in the first two months of this year, we’ve resettled over 3,800 refugees through our existing refugee programs.
Through the 2022-2024 Immigration Levels Plan, the Government of Canada remains firm in its global humanitarian commitments, including the resettlement of between 34,600 and 59,100 refugees from all over the world through our three resettlement streams: Government-Assisted Refugees, Privately Sponsored Refugees, and the Blended Visa-Office Referred Program this year.
Anti-Racism
Systemic racism in any form is completely unacceptable. We take this seriously and are very proud of the work we have under way to address discrimination and bias. However, we know we have an obligation to clients, employees and Canadians to do better.
IRCC established a three-year anti-racism strategy, anti-racism commitments, mandatory unconscious 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.
Unconscious bias training is now mandatory for all managers at IRCC before they can make any financial or staffing decisions.
IRCC also initiated a three year hiring and retention strategy to address gaps in our workforce diversity to better reflect Canada and the Canadians we serve.
Chinook
Chinook is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that draws different fields of existing information to more easily display it to help 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, which 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.
International Students (African students)
We are committed to a fair and non-discriminatory application of immigration laws. Temporary resident visa and study permit applications from Africa have tripled from 2016 to 2019 across the top 8 source countries in Africa.
We understand that applicants and schools are disappointed when an application is refused. However, the approval rates for applicants from French-speaking African countries are mostly the same as the rates from other countries in the region. This is also true for the approval rates for those destined to Quebec compared with 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 - 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 provincial target of 46K. We also came within 2.5% of the low end of the rebalanced MIFI range (51.5K to 54.5K).
The Department is working with Quebec on new ways to address Quebec’s labour shortages and maintain Quebec’s demographic importance in the country.
Canada-Quebec Compensation
Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, the federal government provides annual compensation to enable Quebec to provide settlement and integration services in the province. Quebec received $697M for 2021-2022 under the terms set out in the Accord.
Visa Application Centres
Visa Application Centres (VACs) provide administrative support and biometric collection services for applicants in local language.
VACs do not play a role in the decision-making process and are expressly forbidden to provide any visa-related advice to applicants. All decision-making is done by highly trained IRCC officers.
The Government of Canada performed its due diligence in vetting the contractor “VFS Global” during the procurement of the VAC contract.
IRCC has migration offices in 59 countries across the world, and 164 VACs in 108 countries. That means 94% of applicants have a VAC in their country of residence.
Ministerial Centre for Members of Parliament and Senators
The Ministerial Centre for Members of Parliament and Senators is within its service standards for telephone and email support.
The average speed of the telephone response is under 20 minutes and we respond to emails within 10 business days.
We changed the service standard for emails to 10 business days to allow for continued support to clients affected by recent humanitarian crises (Afghanistan and Ukraine).
