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A backlog in immigration applications forced 2 million applicants to wait for years to receive updates regarding their cases.

A backlog in immigration applications forced 2 million applicants to wait for years to receive updates regarding their cases.

By Arab Canada News

Published: February 18, 2022

The Immigration and Citizenship Department announced on Monday of this week a new plan to increase work to process more of the backlog of applications accumulated over the years, despite some calls to freeze newly submitted applications temporarily while they seek other solutions related to old applications.

When Aryan Goubadi applied to come to Canada through the Canadian Federal Skilled Worker Program in 2019, he did not expect to wait long for his visa, which normally takes about six to nine months. But after nearly three years since submitting his application, his application has only been updated four times.

Goubadi graduated from the University of Manitoba as an international student in 2013, and since then returned to Tehran, but he hopes to return to Canada. He said it has been two years since he received any update on the status of his application. The response came after he contacted Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requesting more additional supporting documents and updated medical examinations.

He is now in the process of hiring a lawyer to submit a petition, which is a legal remedy that would authorize a government agency to resolve his case as soon as possible.

The ongoing delays in the processing of immigration cases have left many forgotten in Canada and abroad.

These refugees are in desperate need to access Canada. But for some, waiting nearly 4 years leaves them unstable and unsure how long the waiting period will be to get an answer.

Nearly 2 million applications accumulated

According to data provided by IRCC, Canada has a total backlog of about 1.8 million immigration applications.

It is divided into about 448,000 citizenship applications, 519,030 permanent residence applications, and 848,598 temporary residence applications.

Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said the backlog is due to a combination of a larger influx of immigration applications, lack of equipment and necessary facilities as a direct result of the virus hindering our work."

For his part, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced a new multi-year plan that would welcome nearly 432,000 immigrants to Canada this year, and more than 1.3 million new immigrants over the next three years.

He said: "Due to the closure of our borders because of the spread of COVID-19 in our communities, we made a government decision to direct our strategy through resettling more permanent residents who were already in Canada."

"At the same time, we had a huge number of people who applied to come to Canada from abroad, doubling the challenge for the number of people coming from abroad."

The minister says COVID-19 may have lasting effects on how Canada handles immigration.

Fraser said he works "hard every day" to make the immigration process easier to handle.

He added, "From my perspective, we need to welcome as many qualified people as possible to Canada."

To address this, Fraser pointed to the new multi-year immigration plan announced on Monday.

According to the plan, Canada expects to receive nearly 432,000 immigrants this year, and more than 1.3 million new immigrants over the next three years. In addition, IRCC has hired more than 500 employees and invested $85 million to target five key areas that represent bottlenecks in the immigration system.

One of the new upcoming changes to IRCC will update and digitize the application process, such as the new personal case tracking for family reunification cases.

"So today, if you are applying to reunite with your partner in Canada, for example, you can log into your file through a new feature in our digital system to get a real-time update on your status."

Fraser said allowing people to access their applications and personal information will enable staff to process more applications. He added that work is underway to add more modern procedures and applications to other immigration departments.

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