LANG – Quebec Processing Times – December 6, 2022

Key Messages

• Canada and Quebec recognize that immigration is key to meeting labour market needs in critical sectors like healthcare and agriculture.
• Canada has admitted 52.5K people destined to Quebec, as of September 30, 2022. We are on track to attain our Levels Plan targets - this is approximately 76% of this year’s 69,000 target while 75% of the way through the year.
• Canada has admitted 57.5K people destined to Quebec, as of October 31, 2022. We are on track to attain our Levels Plan targets - this is approximately 83.3% of this year’s 69,000 target while 83% of the way through the year.

Supplementary Messages

Asylum Seekers - Processing times

• High volumes, and delays in processing due to the pandemic, led to backlog of eligibility determinations and processing overall.
• This in turn caused delays in eligibility determination by cases being processed by the Canada Border Services Agency in Quebec – which can take up to 12 months in Quebec to process – impacting the issuance of work permits.
• We recognize that the delays in processing increase pressure on provincial and municipal social services and asylum seekers’ to access long term accommodation.
• The Department is working closely with CBSA to reduce the backlog and is working on solutions to accelerate work permit issuance.

Permanent Residence - Processing times

• The Department surpassed Quebec’s original target by achieving over 50,000 admissions in 2021. This was very close to the additional amount the province added to redress the shortfall from 2020.
• For 2022, IRCC is focusing on finalizing the aging inventory of applicants living outside of Canada, as well as newer files in the Quebec Skilled Worker category. As a result, processing times will appear to be increasing, as applications that are older will be finalized.
• However, IRCC will be able to start 2023 with more recent applications in its inventory.
• IRCC has made significant improvements in reducing the age of the Quebec Skilled Worker inventory. The department anticipates being able to get back to the processing service standard of 11 months for new Quebec Skilled Workers applicants by the end of 2022.
• In addition, IRCC is working towards making further improvements to our online processing times tool to help clients make their plans with greater confidence by publishing forward-looking estimates of how long it will take to process an application for some services, increasing predictability for applicants.

Supporting Facts And Figures

Quebec Skilled Workers

• In-Canada and overseas processing rates for 2020, 2021 and January-October 31, 2022:

  Quebec Skilled Worker Clients Processed by IRCC by Year

  In PersonsTable Footnote *					In CasesTable Footnote *
  Year	Residing in Quebec/ Canada	Residing Overseas	Total	% Residing in Quebec/Canada	Residing in Quebec/ Canada	Residing Overseas	Total	% Residing in Quebec/ Canada
  2020	5,792	3,850	9,642	60%	4,053	1,267	5,320	76%
  2021	21,999	5,165	27,164	81%	14,470	1,817	16,287	89%
  January – October 2022	26,587	16,221	42,808	62%	16,120	5,385	21,505	75%

  Data source: COGNOS (CBR) extracted as of November 18, 2022.

• IRCC’s inventory and admissions for Quebec Skilled Workers (as of October 31, 2022)

  	InventoryTable Footnote *			Admissions	Quebec levels plan
  Quebec Skilled Workers	Processing Inventory	Landing Inventory	Total (Processing + Landing Inventory)	YTD Admissions	2022
  Persons	17,472	10,523	27,995	32,443	Target: 27,400 – 28,800 plus reequilibrage 12,700 Total Target: 40,100 to 41,800

  (Data source: COGNOS (MBR) extracted as of October 31, 2022)
  Data is operational and subject to change.

• Processing times for Quebec Skilled Workers for the 6-month rolling period ending October 2022:

  	Processing TimesTable Footnote *
  Immigration Category	Quebec	Rest of Canada
  Skilled Workers	22	27
  Provincial/Territorial Nominees (paper applications)	N/A	22

  (Data source: COGNOS (MBR) extracted as of October 31, 2022)
  Data is operational and subject to change.

• Admissions for Quebec Skilled Workers since 2018, including a comparison between 2020 and 2021:

  	Admissions (principal applicant + dependents)					% Increase
  Quebec Skilled Workers	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022 (up to Oct 31)	2020 vs 2021
  Actuals	24,129	19,098	11,477	25,013	32,443	118%
  Quebec’s Immigration Plan	24,200-26,300	18,000-20,100	21,600-22,000	26,400-27,700	27,400-28,800	22%-26%

  (Actuals row data source: COGNOS (MBR) extracted as of October 31, 2022)
  Data is operational and subject to change, and may not match official admissions figures posted on the Open Data Portal.

• In 2021, as requested by Quebec, in response to the pandemic, the Department prioritized economic immigrants who were in Canada, including those skilled workers selected by Quebec.
• Every year, IRCC plans and adjusts processing operations so that the number of permanent residents to be admitted aligns as closely as possible with Quebec’s Immigration Plan overall and for each immigration category.
• Where existing inventories and new intake of permanent resident applicants destined to Quebec are not aligned with the levels space allowed under Quebec’s Immigration Plan, IRCC is not able to process all clients in the inventory. This affects the ability to maintain or improve processing times.

Asylum Seekers

• After an eligibility decision and referral to the IRB, the current service standard for work permits is 30 days, provided that a medical examination has been completed.