Last Updated On 5 May 2023, 11:27 AM EDT (Toronto Time)
Canada immigration minister Sean Fraser on May 2 said that approximately 100,000 immigration cases went unprocessed during the IRCC strike.
IRCC strike started on April 19 and ended on May 1 with all the employees returning to work.
Minister stated that the strike made it more difficult to return to pre-pandemic IRCC service standards.
However, he anticipates that the department will have an easier time clearing the backlog due to recent reforms that have increased employee efficiency.
Fraser said, “My expectation is we’re going to be, over the course of the next few months, in a very good position.”
Good News For Pakistani New Visitor Visa Applicants
IRCC latest processing time update on May 2 states that average processing time for 80% of the visitor visa applications from Pakistan is 802 days.
On May 3, MP for Scarborough Centre Salma Zahid met Sean Fraser and raised the concern of long wait times for visitor visa from Pakistan.
On May 4, Minister Fraser shared that IRCC is currently processing complete TRV applications from Pakistan within 60 days.
Furthermore, he said they are working on improving this processing time to 30 days in “the near future.”
Visitor visa long processing times for Nigeria and UAE
It is good that Minister provided explanation for visitor visa applicants from Pakistan.
However, there is similar situation for visitor visa applicants from other countries.
It took IRCC 762 days to process 80% of the visitor visa applications from Nigeria in last 6 months.
Similarly, 716 days for United Arab Emirates (UAE).
| Country | Change From Last Week |
|---|---|
| Nigeria: 762 Days Pakistan: 802 Days UAE: 716 Days | – 128 Days for Nigeria – 164 Days for Pakistan + 355 Days for UAE |
So, if a citizen of Nigeria or UAE wants to visit Canada, then they should expect wait time of more than 2 years to hear a decision; approval or denial.
No explanation or commentary from IRCC or immigration minister on these delayed processing times.
