Canada fails to process immigration applications

Canada fails to process immigration applications

The queue of waiting candidates is only growing.

The queue of applicants waiting to process their immigration applications exceeded 2 million for all immigration categories. The number of applications for temporary and permanent residence in Canada has increased. The backlog has been growing for a long time, despite the Department of Immigration's attempts to return to normal processing times. In July 2021, there were 1,447,474 people on the waiting list, and 2,031,589 in April 2022.

Temporary residence in Canada

As of April 2022, more than 1.1 million applications are on the waiting list from applicants for temporary residence in Canada. These are those who have applied for work or study permits. The picture is as follows:

Request type Number of applications in the queue as of April 11, 2022
Study permit 122 145
Renewal of a study permit 34 242
Temporary resident visa 558 498
Visitor visa extension 73 450
Work permit 172 796
Extension of work permit 141 244
Total 1 102 375

According to Immigration and Citizenship Canada, the number of applications in this category has increased significantly since the launch of the Canada-Ukraine Emergency Entry Permit (CUAET).

The CUAET program allows Ukrainians fleeing the war to live and work in Canada for 3 years. Applications are accepted in unlimited numbers. As of April 29, 180,903 Ukrainian citizens have requested permission to enter.

Permanent residency in Canada

Among people applying for immigration to Canada, or permanent residency, the increase is small. Since March 2022, the waiting list has increased by about 20,000 applications. Meanwhile, the number of applications for immigration through the federal Express Entry system has declined in this category. Earlier, Immigration Secretary Sean Fraser said selections in the system will resume in July 2022 after a long hiatus. The programs that run through Express Entry have the most applications from qualified people, a category for which there have been no selections since late 2020.

The total number of applications for permanent residence in Canada is about 530,000, distributed as follows:

Category and program of immigration Number of applications in the queue as of April 11, 2022
Economic immigration 236 443
Canadian Experience Class 8 363
— Federal Skilled Worker Program 36 281
— Federal Skilled Trades Program 537
Caregivers Programs 20 988
Business immigration 5 156
— Temporary immigration programs 5 625
Provincial and territorial programs 70 975
— Business immigration to Quebec 13 295
— Quebec program for skilled workers 34 320
— Programs for temporary foreign workers 40 903
Family sponsorship 107 094
— Immigration for compassionate relatives 3 308
Parents and grandparents 37 338
Spouses, partners, and children 66 448
Humanitarian immigration 27 672
Immigration by work or study permit 20
Persons in Need of Protection and Refugees 158 402
Total 529 631

Reducing the queue

Immigration and Citizenship Canada has allocated $85 million CAD to speed up the processing of immigration applications and is hiring additional staff and digitizing the processing. Despite this, many applicants are still encountering difficulties and delays. The department has set a goal of returning to normal processing times by the end of this year.

Source
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