IRCC has released new data showing the number applications waiting for their files to be processed remains unchanged over the past month.
New numbers from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) show that there are still 2.6 million applicants in cue. On October 14, the IRCC posted revised information on its website.
Backlog details:
- September 30, 2022: 2,600,000 applicants
- August 31, 2022: 2,583,827 applicants
- July 15-17, 2022: 2,679,031 applicants
- June 1-6, 2022: 2,387,884 applicants
- April 30-May 2, 2022: 2,130,385 applicants
- April 11-12, 2022: 2,031,589 applicants
- March 15 and 17, 2022: 1,844,424 applicants
- February 1, 2022: 1,815,628 applicants
- December 15, 2021: 1,813,144 applicants
- October 27, 2021: 1,792,404 applicants
- July 6, 2021: 1,447,474 applicants
Details of applications for citizenship, temporary residence, and permanent residence are all listed on the website. According to the IRCC, 1.11 million of these applications—less than 50%—were processed within service standards.
In January 2022, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser vowed to eliminate backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of the year. That was before Canada launched a major response to the refugee crisis sparked by the Russian/ Ukraine war and approved hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and their families to come to Canada temporarily to escape the war.
In June 2022, the prime minister of Canada announced ministers and government bodies would form a task force to deal with growing delays for immigration applications and other government services.
1.49 million applications are still deemed to be outside of service criteria. To further split it down, a total of 46% of applications for temporary residence, 47% of applications for permanent residence, and 69% of applications for citizenship met service standards.
Applications for citizenship and temporary residency have both decreased but there has been a significant increase in applications for permanent residence. This occurs at a time when 1,500 individuals were asked to apply for PR and all-program Express Entry drawings resumed on July 6. Since then, IRCC has continuously increased the number of applicants it invites for each draw, up to the most recent one, in which 4,250 applicants obtained an ITA.
IRCC’s plans to improve
IRCC has acknowledged the backlog and says it is taking the necessary measures to improve the speed at which applications are processed.
IRCC began to process the applications 100% digitaly for most permanent resident programs on September 23. This transition also includes citizenship applications, which are now 100% online for all applicants over the age of 18. IRCC is aiming to make all citizenships applications digital by the end of this year, including those for minors under 18.
