From: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
mmigration is critical to Canada’s economy and our communities, and it is a large part of our identity as Canadians. Newcomers helped build our country, were on the front lines as we battled the pandemic, and remain key to our success. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been taking steady action to strengthen Canada’s immigration system—reducing wait times, and modernizing its services so they work better for everyone.
December 19, 2022—Ottawa—Immigration is critical to Canada’s economy and our communities, and it is a large part of our identity as Canadians. Newcomers helped build our country, were on the front lines as we battled the pandemic, and remain key to our success. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been taking steady action to strengthen Canada’s immigration system—reducing wait times, and modernizing its services so they work better for everyone.
Today, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honourable Sean Fraser, highlighted progress that has been made this year, in reducing backlogs of applications that have been in IRCC’s inventories beyond its service standards.
Record year for processing
Since August, IRCC has reduced its overall inventory by nearly half a million applications. The department has also been setting the bar higher and higher for processing. At the end of November, IRCC had processed approximately 4.8 million applications—nearly twice the 2.5 million processed during the same period last year.
To help strengthen our immigration system, IRCC has digitized applications, hired and trained new employees, streamlined processes, and harnessed automation technologies to increase processing efficiency while protecting the safety and security of Canadians. The department remains on track to meet its goal to process 80% of new applications within service standards for most programs and continues to make strides in improving processing, resulting in shorter wait times for our clients.
Temporary residence: bringing more visitors, students and workers to Canada
For study permit processing, Canada is on pace to set a new record this year. As of November 30 this year, IRCC had processed over 670,000 study permits, compared to more than 500,000 during the same time period last year. As a result of these efforts, most new study permits are now being processed within the 60-day service standard.
Work permit processing also saw vast improvements, with nearly 700,000 work permits processed by November 30, compared to about 223,000 during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.
IRCC continues to reduce backlogs and process visitor visas more quickly to respond to the growing number of people who want to visit Canada. On a monthly basis, Canada is now processing more visitor visa applications than it did prior to the pandemic. In November alone, over 260,000 visitor visas were processed. By contrast, the monthly average in 2019 was about 180,000 applications.
Permanent residence: improving service and reuniting spouses and families
Canada welcomed a record-breaking 405,000 new permanent residents in 2021, surpassing the previous record from 1913. After another record year in 2022, Canada remains on track to reach its target of more than 431,000 new permanent residents.
IRCC has also been modernizing services and adding support for permanent residence programs to better serve our clients. Thanks to these efforts, all new spousal sponsorship applications are now processed within the pre-pandemic service standard of 12 months and new Express Entry applications within 6 months. Permanent residents can also expect shorter wait times when renewing their permanent resident cards as IRCC has reduced its pandemic backlog of applications for card renewals by 99%.
Citizenship
Canada is proud to have one of the highest naturalization rates in the world and encourages all newcomers to complete their journey by becoming Canadian citizens. IRCC expects a record number of new Canadian citizens in 2022–2023, with approximately 251,000 new citizens welcomed from April to November—surpassing the total number of new Canadian citizens for the last fiscal year. As a result, more than 70% of applications in the citizenship inventory are now within service standards.
Using immigration to address labour shortages
Canada embraces immigration as a strategy to help businesses find workers with the required skills in key sectors—including health care, skilled trades, manufacturing, transportation, and technology—to manage the social and economic challenges we will face in the decades ahead. The Government of Canada has been putting in place measures to help harness the full labour market potential of temporary and permanent newcomers to Canada, including:
The Government of Canada will continue to provide monthly updates on our progress in reducing backlogs, as well as the steps being taken to improve client experience, reunite families and address labour shortages in Canada. We know there is still more work to do, and we are focused on building an immigration system that works well for newcomers, visitors, our businesses, and all Canadians.
“Our government has reduced its pandemic backlogs by nearly half a million, while also processing a record-breaking number of immigration applications this year. Our actions are ensuring that we can continue to welcome and support newcomers who come to Canada to work, study, visit, or settle here. It is through the dedication and hard work of those who administer our immigration system, and our willingness to modernize and adapt, that we are able to uphold Canada’s reputation as a welcoming and inclusive country.”
– The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
On August 24, 2022, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship highlighted IRCC’s plan to strengthen Canada’s immigration system and reduce application backlogs, with a focus on addressing labour shortages, improving client experience, and reuniting families.
To keep Canadians up to date on progress toward reducing backlogs, IRCC publishes monthly data on its website.
Through the EMPP, partner organizations help skilled refugees overseas connect with employers who need to fill critical labour shortages. Once candidates receive a job offer, they can apply to immigrate to Canada through existing economic programs, using EMPP measures that remove barriers refugees may experience due to their displacement.
The Atlantic Immigration Program—which became a permanent program in early 2022—is a pathway to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers and international graduates from a Canadian institution who want to work and live in 1 of Canada’s 4 Atlantic provinces. The program helps employers hire qualified candidates for jobs they have not been able to fill locally.
The International Mobility Program Plus, launched in May 2022, is a new work permit option for Quebec-selected permanent residence candidates. With a permit from this program, an applicant who has been selected for permanent residence by Quebec, but who currently lives elsewhere, will be able to move to the province to begin working and getting settled earlier.
The Foreign Credential Recognition Program, led by Employment and Social Development Canada, invests approximately $27.1 million annually in contribution agreements with provinces and territories, regulatory bodies and other stakeholders to help support the labour market integration of skilled newcomers. On December 5, 2022, the Government of Canada launched a call for proposals under the program for $90 million to be invested in projects that will help remove barriers preventing qualified and skilled newcomers from gaining Canadian work experience in their own profession or field of study.
Contacts for media only:
Bahoz Dara Aziz
Press Secretary
Minister’s Office
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Bahoz.DaraAziz@cic.gc.ca
Media Relations
Communications Branch
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
613-952-1650
media@cic.gc.ca
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