PACP - Staffing Plan for Processing Offices Abroad - December 5, 2023

Key Facts And Figures

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) continually reviews its footprint, and has been further expanding its staffing in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2021, IRCC opened an office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Following the opening of this office, an additional 26 positions were approved for the region which are expected to be fully staffed by 2027.
Between December 2021 and 2023, IRCC has increased its decision making staff in sub-Saharan Africa by 33%.
In December 2021, there were 39 Canada-Based Staff (CBS) and 18 Locally-Engaged Staff (LES) positions staffed in sub-Saharan Africa; currently, there are 54 CBS and 22 LES positions staffed in sub-Saharan Africa, with one additional CBS to arrive in December 2023.

	Canada Based Staff	Locally engaged decision makers	Total	Increase
December 2021	39	18	57	19
December 2023	54	22	76	19

IRCC has seen unprecedented growth in the number of applications received across all lines of business in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. This includes significant growth in study permit applications, which is a priority line of business for which IRCC does not limit intake.
To respond to this demand, IRCC has taken actions to improve processing times in this region, including:
- creation and staffing of nearly 20 new Canada-based and locally-engaged decision maker positions in the region in the last two years;
- centralization of some processing out of sub-Saharan Africa to leverage capacity for work where place-based processing is not required; and
- establishment of a surge team based in Canada to provide additional decision making capacity to support overseas offices in refugee processing, given the growing pressures in this stream in particular.

In December 2021, 26 positions were approved for sub-Saharan Africa, which are expected to be fully staffed by 2027. However, during the 2022 scope of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) audit, immediate staffing ramp-up was limited due to infrastructure in the region and the time required to create and staff positions overseas—even temporarily—during the pandemic. Since December 2021, IRCC was able to create and staff 19 new Canada-based and locally-engaged decision maker positions.

The primary lever to address processing pressures overseas has been to leverage IRCC’s global capacity through centralization of some processing, wherein caseloads are moved to processing offices in Canada, or to one of our Global Operations Centres (GOCs) abroad. This has been used across temporary resident lines of business as well as most economic permanent resident lines of business from sub-Saharan Africa offices, which will allow them to focus on refugee processing where their place-based expertise is required for interviews and interactions with local resettlement partners and governments.
It is important to note that regardless of where an application is processed, all IRCC officers undergo similar training and are held to the same high standards in their decision-making.
In November 2022, IRCC launched a GOC in Manila, Philippines. The centre began operations in late March 2023 and has so far processed over 100,000 temporary resident visas for Nigerian residents.
In addition, IRCC is centralizing processing of Nigerian study permits, and temporary resident applications from Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, to further relieve temporary resident pressures in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Government of Canada regularly reviews its overseas presence, and IRCC works with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) in this regard. IRCC continuously reviews its footprint to best serve clients and migration objectives.
IRCC has opened two new offices in sub-Saharan Africa since 2021, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
In December 2021, 26 new positions were approved for staffing across the region, and these positions will continue to be created and filled until 2027. 19 of these positions are now fully staffed.
IRCC also continues to leverage short term staffing solutions in the region to supplement existing resources and increase processing capacity in the region.

In 2022, IRCC implemented a new Canada-based team with resettlement expertise to provide surge capacity and supplementary processing support to missions in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
Surge capacity officers support levels achievement in the Privately-Sponsored Refugee and Government-Assisted Refugee programs through additional decision making and provide capacity to absorb a sudden influx in priority applications.