Recognizing that “processing times [des demandes] have been incredibly frustrating for many people,” federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser promised Monday to return to the standards by the end of the year.
$85 million will be invested to speed up the processing of immigration applications and thus reduce the pending inventory. Despite a record number of immigrants welcomed in 2021, more than 1.8 million files are awaiting processing, due to factors related to the pandemic, according to the minister.
The sum invested for this catch-up had already been announced in the economic and budgetary update last December. Additional resources, especially staff, will be added for study permits, temporary work permits and renewals of permanent resident cards, this time detailed Mr. Fraser. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will also make an online portal accessible “to a greater number of clients” next summer, in order to hasten the shift from paper to digital.
The work permits of “essential workers” will also be given priority, in order to reduce the labor shortage. The agricultural sector in particular said it was very worried about the next growing season, computer failures putting “the entire food chain at risk”, according to the Union of Agricultural Producers of Quebec.
An “advanced data analytics” system will also be more widely used to triage visitor visa applications, Minister Fraser continued during Monday’s announcement. This type of computer tool has accelerated the evaluation of files by 87%, he says, but it is strongly criticized by associations of lawyers and immigrants.
It is the lack of transparency on its implementation and its worrying legal oversight. Responding to these criticisms, Mr. Fraser assured that “the final decision [sur un dossier] will always be taken by an IRCC officer”.
Foreign students
The so-called “Chinook” system has notably been implicated in the increase in the refusal rates for foreign student files. The duty revealed last November that these rates were particularly high and rising for French-speaking students from Africa. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had promised a “detailed examination” of this issue.
Mr. Fraser said he was “not particularly concerned” about these IT tools, emphasizing their efficiency gains. The data presented to the minister did not confirm these concerns, he said, data which however has not yet been brought to public attention. “Foreign students make excellent permanent residents,” he reiterated.
The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration will examine this issue this week, at the initiative of Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe.
Unable to track own record
The Information Commissioner blamed IRCC last May for the “dramatic” increase in access to information requests in this department. This growth stems “directly from the fact that requesters are unable to obtain the information they seek by other means,” concluded Commissioner Caroline Maynard after an investigation.
To address this issue, a case tracking system that provides application status updates will be launched in February for the Family Reunification Program. The “long-term vision” is to extend this type of follow-up to other permanent immigration programs, said Minister Fraser, without giving a more precise timetable.
He also acknowledged that the processing times displayed online “do not correspond perfectly to the actual performance”, which will be absorbed, he assures. Permanent residents in particular wait up to six months for their card proving their status, revealed The duty last July, when the deadlines indicated online were 60 to 70 days.
An internal note dated November 24, 2021, and obtained by English-language media, also showed that the deadlines for skilled workers were 20 months. The standard registered online is however six months for this program also called “express entry”.
Finally, after having made these announcements exclusively in English, Mr. Fraser expressed his difficulty in understanding the questions in French from the journalists, arguing that he takes French lessons “every week” to improve.