PACP - Inventories for the Permanent Resident (PR) Program - December 5, 2023

Key Facts And Figures

IRCC’s target for 2023 is to welcome 465,000 permanent residents. As of October 31, 2023, IRCC has processed approximately 476,000 applications and already welcomed 405,000 Permanent Residents (PR) to Canada, accounting for 87% of the 2023 Cabinet-approved target.
While output is constrained by Levels, PR application intake continues to grow. Total PR intake for January 1 to October 31, 2023 was 336,269, representing an increase of 54,672 (19.4%) over the same period in 2022.
PR admissions are 4% higher this year compared to the same period in 2022 (405,000 versus 388,000, between January 1- October 31).
As of October 31, 2023, our Permanent Resident inventory was 639,000, which is considerably less than the 715,000 in July of 2022.

IRCC continues to work to reduce inventories and improve processing times for PR lines of business – one of the key recommendations of the Auditor General 2023 Report on Immigration Processing – while balancing its response to ongoing international crises.
Processing is however constrained by the admission targets set in the Cabinet approved annual Levels plan. As demand is greater than the designated annual targets for multiple of our lines of business, this leads to an accumulation of inventory and longer wait times for clients.
Despite constraints, IRCC continues to improve client service and reduce wait times by streamlining processes and leveraging technology to meet demand where possible.
As a result of our ongoing efforts, as of October 31, 2023, 55% of total Permanent Resident applications in our inventories are now within service standards, compared to 40% at the end of July 2022.
In fact, we have reached 80% within services standards in key lines of business including Spouses, Partners and children (outside Quebec) and Federal High Skilled.

The Government of Canada is continuing to invest in innovations and digital modernization, and ensure sufficient processing capacity to eliminate backlogs and process applications as quickly as possible.
The recent introduction of automation (e.g., , Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to support real-time digital intake of applications, call-centre enhancements and improved client self-serve tools) has allowed IRCC to increase its productivity and redirect staff to value-added processing.
Over the longer term, the Government’s investment in IRCC’s Digital Platform Modernization (DPM) is expected to result in more comprehensive and sustained service and operational improvements.

As of October 31, 2023, the inventory was at approximately 18,400 applications, which is a decrease from the inventory at the end of July 2022 which was 25,800 applications.
Processing times have decreased from 17 months in July 2022 to 8 months as of October 31, 2023, and are expected to further decrease in upcoming months.

The inventory has increased from 60,900 in July 2022 to 64,200 as of October 31, 2023.
We are meeting our Service Standard objective, 84% of the current inventory is now within the service standard as of October 31, 2023. This represents an increase versus 73% that were within the service standard at the end of July 2022.

As of October 31, 2023, there are 41,600 applications in the FHS inventory, equating to 87% within the service standard.
Processing times have also been reduced so that 80% of applications processed in the last 6 months (from April 30, 2023) have been finalized in 6 months or less.