August 29, 2022 – Today, IRCC Minister Sean Fraser being a part of PM Justin Trudeau’s ministerial task force provided an update on IRCC’s effort to reduce wait times and backlog. This task force was created on June 25, 2022 to help improve government services, with a focus on reducing delays around passport processing, immigration services, and at Canadian airports.

With an emphasis on solving labour shortages, enhancing client experiences, and reuniting families, Minister Fraser outlined below points on how Canada is trying to enhance its immigration system and minimise application backlogs.

Hiring up to 1,250 extra personnel by the end of the fall to boost processing capacity and short-term address backlogs;
Modernising and simplifying our processes to increase the long-term sustainability of the Canadian system;
Welcoming more than 300,000 new permanent residents by August 22, surpassing the milestone earlier than in any prior year;
349,000 new work permits were issued from January 1 to July 31 this year, compared to about 112,000 during the same time in 2021;
Finalizing about 360,000 study permits between January 1 and July 31, 2022, vs roughly 306,000 for the same time in 2021;
Approving more than 216,000 requests for the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel for Ukrainians and family members seeking safety in Canada from March 17 to August 24, 2022;
Introducing application status trackers for citizenship and some types of permanent residents to provide timely information on their files; these will be made available to more customers in the upcoming year; and
Keeping Canadians informed of our efforts by posting monthly data on our website.

“Families, communities, and businesses deserve an immigration system that works for everyone. Through targeted investments, hiring 1250 employees to address the backlog, and the improvement of our online systems and processes, we will deliver on our promise to Canadians. We will reduce wait times and work hard to attract and retain skilled workers, as we continue to help communities across the country access the talent they need.”
– The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Source: ESDC Press Release