(OTTAWA) Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says the government will be back on track by the end of the year after COVID-19 caused a significant backlog in processing applications.
Posted at 11:18 a.m.
The Liberal government announced last year that it would spend $85 million to process the many applications pending at the Department of Immigration. These sums must mainly be used to hire more civil servants, indicated the Minister.
Fraser says these additional officials will help the government reduce its processing times for work and study permits, permanent residence renewals, visitor visas and applications for proof of citizenship.
The minister also promises to post more accurate processing times on the government’s website, so people have a good idea of how long their application will wait. It is not yet known when these estimates will be available online.
At the same time, the federal government plans to expand recent February changes to the immigration system, allowing permanent residents to track their citizenship applications online.
Officials should also use data analytics to sort and process visitor visas to speed up the process, he said.