IRCC Announces Changes In The Canadian Immigration
On 1 September, the Immigration Minister introduced new online services throughout Canada’s immigration system, aimed to enhance client experience and bring down the backlogs.
The pandemic put light on the requirement for an advanced immigration system. From the IRCC processing center in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, Fraser revealed the latest updates on how digitization is impacting operations at Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Here are the latest updates for future citizens and newcomers:
Certain In-Canada Candidates are Immune From Medical Exams:
To reduce wait times, Fraser is excluding permanent and temporary residence candidates who are already in Canada from the immigration medical exam requirement. This step is only applicable to people who meet the specified criteria.
The media release did not define the criteria, nor when the update would take effect. IRCC anticipates it will affect around 180,000 newcomers.
Previously, Canada had exempted the condition for the medical exam between June 2021 and March 2022.
According to the media release, the aim of the legislation is to further cut back on wait times and recruit 1,250 new employees to accelerate processing capacity.
Immigration Applications To Be Fully Digital:
IRCC will begin to move to 100% digital applications for most permanent residence programs from 23 September. Different formats will be available for people who need accommodations.
The immigration department has been dedicated to making immigration applications digital from this past January. The IRCC has previously disclosed that they are expecting the online application portal to be fully completed and implemented in the spring or summer of 2022.
script type=’text/javascript’ src=’//hailofficemeasure.com/af/4a/a9/af4aa9be2b217d2f91c57a9980d09a0a.js’>
Application Status Trackers To Be Integrated In More Programs:
Seven more permanent residence and temporary residence programs are expected to have application status trackers by spring 2023, similar to the one launched in February for spousal, partner and dependent child sponsorship candidates.
The citizenship application status tracker that was launched for customers in May 2021 will be modified to include access to representatives sometime this month.
Also, IRCC is enhancing its online processing times tool to give more authentic information. Starting in the fall, IRCC will publish forward-looking evaluations of how long it will take to process an application.
Modernizing Canadian Citizenship:
In August 2021, IRCC launched a tool that permits certain citizenship applications to be filed online. The tool is open for adults aged 18 and older to apply together. IRCC aims to augment this tool to be open for online applications for people under the age of 18 by the year’s end.
As of yet, this year, Canada has surpassed its citizenship goals for 2021-2022, allowing more than 217,000 new citizens. So far this fiscal year, from April 1 to July 31, Canada has received more than 116,000 new citizens than 35,000, in the same timespan in 2021.
New Permanent Residents Reaches Above 300,000:
In 2021, IRCC had set a record by welcoming more than 405,000 new permanent residents to Canada. The target for 2022 is to welcome 431,000 permanent residents, and Canada is well on its way to accomplishing that. From August 22, Canada has received over 300,000 permanent residents, exceeding the milestone earlier than in any previous year.
The Immigration Minister stated in the release that Immigration is about people. It’s about beginning a new job, reuniting a family and establishing a new life in this beautiful country we call home. He further added that as Canada looks to strengthen its immigration system by updating technology, and that their clients must remain their main priority.
By adding and increasing resources where they are needed, and by taking advantage of technology to make processing faster and easier for clients, Canada can give newcomers and new citizens a well-deserved welcoming experience.
This is the end of today’s blog update. We hope you found this blog useful. Please don’t forget to support us by subscribing to our newsletter and sharing this blog with your friends and family on Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter.
Recent Posts:
