IRCC’s latest inventory report till mid-march exhibits 1,844,424 people are waiting for the determination on their applications.
The applications in the inventory were submitted by individuals seeking visas for Canadian citizenship, PRs, students, workers, and visitors.
The following data depicts the rise in backlog since July 2021:
- On July 6, 2021: 1,447,474 persons
- On October 27, 2021: 1,792,404 persons
- On December 15, 2021: 1,813,144 persons
- On February 1, 2022: 1,815,628 persons
- On March 15 and 17, 2022: 1,844,424 persons
The inventory Data
The data provided by IRCC conveys the total number of individuals waiting for the processing of their applications.
The inventory data of March 15 represents the individuals for Permanent residence, and data of March 17 denotes individuals for temporary residence.
The reason for the difference in data of 15 and 17 march is because March 15 data do not contain visitor record data which was later included in the data of March 17.
IRCC progress on CEC and FSWP applications
Since last month Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Worker Program’s applications have been processed by IRCC at a higher rate.
The backlog contains nearly 10,400 persons having CEC applications, and if IRCC maintains this pace of processing, then it could bring down the backlog by this spring.
In the meantime, within the last 14 days, FSWP applications have also been processed at a remarkable speed. IRCC is dedicatedly working on CEC and FSWP applications to bring down the backlog.
It has processed more and more applications within the last two weeks than it did in the last seven months. Within 15 days of March, IRCC processed around 4,000 FSWP applications. Thus, the FSWP backlog could bring down until the end of the year with the current processing rate.
IRCC’s progress on family class inventory
IRCC progress can be seen within the family class inventory in the PGP, humanitarian and compassionate class.
Along with the above categories, the partners, spouses, children, and other categories also rise to some extent.
Minister Sean Fraser has made an announcement regarding the new applications. He expressed that the government aimed to involve a 12-month processing standard for new applications.
He further mentioned that the government is offering a tool for the candidates of spousal sponsorship programs through which they can monitor the progress made in their applications.
The programs aided the backlog to grow
The citizenship inventory stood at 453,265 when February 2022 ended, including all the applications in the mailroom, prospectives, and online applications.
And IRCC’s December 2021 report suggests that the applications for citizenship were about 448,000. With these figures, we can see a rise of 5265 in backlog can be seen to grow with clearly.
The TR2PR program also supported the backlog to grow by 5,400 applicants between May and November.
However, the IRCC spokesperson said that these applications would not be considered part of the inventory as these were saved in the cloud environment.
After that, the Global Case Management System took over the applications and added them with the inventory data.
Therefore, under the TR2PR program, IRCC received around 91,000 applications. Nearly 35,341 more persons increased in the inventory till mid-march 15.
The other programs that helped the backlog inventory grow were the paper-based PNP program, the Quebec Skilled Worker Program, and the Caring for Children Program.
Along with these, temporary residence applications were also increased.
Between the start of February till March 17, the work permit depicts a hike of 14,700 applications. The backlog inventory also rises by applications for study, work, and visitors visa permits.
Notable Changes Since 2021
Due to the increase in the application’s inventory, IRCC stopped sending the invitations through Express Entry for FSWP candidates in December 2020 as well as for CEC candidates in 2021.
Once the draws were paused, the country stopped receiving the new applications. Due to this, the department had to process the applications in the backlog.
However, IRCC has been organizing the PNP draws twice a week.
According to new IRCC records, after lowering the backlog applications, the department is planning to restart the draws for FSWP and CEC Express Entry in near 2022.
The government assigned $85 million in the 2021 budget to lower the application processing time across all programs.
The Minister of Immigration stated that the IRCC should achieve the standards by the end of the year for the processing of work permits, study permits, and PR card renewals.
In February, the government released its new Immigration Levels Plan for 2022-2024. According to it, the government sets a target to welcome many newcomers each year during the three years in succession.
Although the Express Entry target set by the government for the years 2022 and 2023 is very low, the government aims to cover up it in 2024
The government of Canada has specially organized Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program for the people of Ukraine to escape the conflict.
The program is a temporary residence pathway for Ukrain people. IRCC voiced that the processing of refugee applications will not be affected by the CUEAT program.
