New immigration data from IRCC shows that the immigration backlog dropped to 2.4 million in Canada. IRCC updated the data on 3 November.
According to the inventory development across all business lines since July 2021, the following has occurred:
- As of November 3, 2022, there are 2,411,388 people and the immigration backlog dropped to 2.4 million in Canada.
- On September 30, 2022, there will be 2,600,000 people
- 2,583,827 people on 31 August 2022
- 2.679,000 people between 15-17 July 2022
- 2,387,884 people from 1-6 June 2022
- 2,130,385 people between 30 April 30-May 2, 2022
- 2 031,589 people were present on April 11-12, 2022
- 1,844,424 people between March 15 and 17, 2022
- 1 February 2022, there will be 1,815,628 people
- 1,813,144 people on December 15, 2021
- 1,792,404 people on October 27, 2021
- 1,447,474 people on July 6, 2021
Current Inventories status
The number of citizenship applications as of 31 October dropped from 351,964 on 3 October to 331,401. It is estimated that 506,421 residents in permanent residence have the right to vote, up from 505,562 on 3 October 3.
On 3 November, 1,537,566 temporary housing inventory, was the largest decrease of the three key categories.
| Migration Category | Individuals as of 3 November 2022 |
| Permanent residence | 506,421 |
| Citizenship | 331,401 |
| Temporary residence | 1,573,566 |
| Grand Total | 2,411,388 |
Inventories for Express Entry and PNP
The Express Entry backlog reached 39,589 on 3 November.
Beginning in July, IRCC will invite applicants for Express Entry from all programs. IRCC’s struggle to meet Express Entry’s service goal of processing applications within six months or less forced the draw to be restricted to participants in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) between September 21, 2021, and July 6, 2022. Having halted Express Entry invitations to CEC – (Canadian Experience Class) and FSWP (Federal Skilled Worker Program) applicants since July 6, the department has returned to its six-month service standard.
The PNP now maintains 62,073 applications (both base and enhanced combined).
Inventories of Family Class
According to the latest statistics, the number of immigrants in all family-class immigration programs has increased to 128,112 from 125,488 on October 3.
In the Spouses and Partners program, the inventory is among the highest of all business lines with 61,118 items. In contrast to 3 October, this is a slight increase.
Currently, 56,653 people are on the waiting list for Parent and Grandparent Programs (PGP), up from 53,530 in October.
Service standards
A webpage that maintains the IRCC’s application inventory reports that there were 2.6 million applications in its inventory on September 30. Besides those 1.5 million, 1.1 million had service norms meeting or exceeding service standards. The backlog has been cleared over the previous month, which indicates some progress by IRCC.
As part of its service standards, IRCC strives to process approximately 80% of all immigration applications regardless of the immigration program.
A different time frame is actually used by the IRCC to process applications than what is expected by the service standard. Applications are categorized as being in the backlog if they are not processed according to the service standard for their program.
Various service standards apply to different applications. Express Entry, for example, typically takes six months to process a permanent residence application. There is a longer waiting period for other lines of business belonging to other economic classes. Spouse and kid family sponsorship requires a minimum of twelve months of service, according to IRCC.
Service standards for temporary residence applications vary depending on whether they are submitted from within Canada or abroad, and whether they were submitted from within or abroad.
In order to reduce the backlog, IRCC is working
Application processing time is improving at the IRCC, which acknowledges the backlog.
A backlog of less than 50% across all business lines is the goal for the department by the end of March 2023. The IRCC began transitioning to 100% digital applications for the majority of permanent resident programs on September 23 to clear the backlog, while taking into account those who cannot apply online.
With this change, individuals over the age of 18 are now able to apply to become citizens completely online. In addition to citizenship applications for kids under 18, the IRCC wants all citizenship applications submitted electronically by the end of the year.
A total of 1,250 new employees will be hired by the end of the fall as part of IRCC’s commitment to increase processing capacity. The organization also claims to be streamlining and modernizing its system.
