STRONGER IMMIGRATION SYSTEM TO BETTER SERVE NEWCOMERS

Canada continues to be a destination of choice for people looking for a new place to work, study, and build their lives. That’s why Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is striving toward a modernized and digitalized immigration system to further expedite processing and give newcomers the experience they expect and deserve.

Steps considered to reduce wait times

1250 new IRCC employees hired to increase processing capacity

Exempt medicals for Temp and Permanent residence applicants already in Canada*

Simplifying this process in the coming weeks will impact approximately 180,000 clients by helping them save time and money on the medical examination process and reducing wait times on their applications.

To quickly process family reunification applications during the pandemic, IRCC began conducting telephone and video interviews with sponsors and applicants.

New Spousal sponsorship applications are now processed in 12months 

IRCC will begin transitioning to 100% digital applications for most of our permanent residence programs on September 23, with alternative formats available for people who require accommodations.

IRCC is making further improvements to our online processing times tool to provide more accurate information. Starting this fall, IRCC will publish forward-looking estimates of how long it will take to process an application, increasing predictability for applicants.

For Citizenship applicants IRCC intends to expand this tool to offer online applications for minors under the age of 18 by the end of the year

Quotes

“Immigration is about people. It’s about starting a new job, reuniting a family and creating a new life in this beautiful country we call home. As we look to strengthen our immigration system by updating our technology, people—our clients—must be at the centre of all that we do. By adding resources where they are needed, and leveraging technology to make processing faster and applying easier for our clients, we can give newcomers and new citizens the welcoming experience they deserve.”

– The Honourable Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Quick facts

• In 2021, IRCC set a historic record by admitting more than 405,000 new permanent residents to Canada. Our target for 2022 is to welcome 431,000 permanent residents, and we are well on our way to achieving it. As of August 22, we have welcomed over 300,000 permanent residents to Canada, surpassing the milestone earlier than in any previous year.
• Canada also exceeded its citizenship goals for 2021–2022, with over 217,000 new Canadian citizens. So far, this fiscal year (from April 1 to July 31), Canada has welcomed over 116,000 new citizens, compared to 35,000 in the same period last fiscal year.
• On November 26, 2020, Canada became one of the first countries in the world to offer citizenship testing online. By July 31, 2022, over 406,000 people had taken virtual citizenship tests, and we are able to invite about 5,000 applicants per week to complete the test.

Source: IRCC Newsroom - Sep 01, 2022