China News Service, May 9 (Xinhua) According to Canada's "Sing Tao Daily" report, the increasing backlog of cases, long processing times and lack of communication and transparency regarding Canadian immigration applications are making those seeking to immigrate to Canada more and more difficult. Frustrated, some even considered giving up their application for permanent residence and returning to their place of origin.
The backlog of applications in all categories has grown to more than 2 million in April from 1.8 million in March, according to Immigration Canada (IRCC).
According to CTV, more than 100 people have responded to the backlog of applications, some facing visa processing delays, and some anxiously waiting to become permanent residents.
Senior lawyer Daniel Levy told CTV that the Department of Immigration closed many offices at the beginning of the epidemic, canceling interviews, naturalization ceremonies, appointments and other services, and many staff turned to work from home, but this transition to work from home is not easy. thing.
On top of that, the federal government has also introduced a number of new immigration programs during the pandemic, exacerbating the backlog, including last April offering 90,000 essential service workers and international students a new pathway to permanent residency. Wait.
Immigration lawyer Stephen Green said all of this has created a "perfect storm" for the ongoing immigration backlog, with Canada simply not equipped to handle any increase in volume.
Green said the Etobicoke Immigration Centre in Ontario currently has more than 5,000 permanent resident cards waiting to be distributed, some of whom have been waiting overseas for more than a year.
Many people miss their appointments due to the long time taken to process their permanent residence applications.
According to data recently retrieved by CTV, the current processing time for a permanent resident card is 99 days; 15 months for a spouse or common-law partner residing in Canada for family reunification, 22 months abroad; and 33 months for parents or grandparents .
Even for permanent residents who are about to obtain Canadian citizenship, the processing time is lengthy, taking an average of 27 months.
These lengthy delays mean that applicants have to put some important life events and decisions on hold while they continue to wait for a decision from immigration officials.
And for some applicants, the worst feeling in dealing with federal immigration agencies is not the long processing time, but the lack of communication with officials, the inability of applicants to know when they will get an answer, and the change in their lives. very uncertain.
Remi Lariviere, media relations adviser at the Department of Immigration, said in an emailed statement that efforts are being made to modernize immigration services and add new services, including online testing, virtual citizenship ceremonies and making it easier for applicants to keep track of their cases. An online application tracker for progress.
"Despite considerable effort, we are aware that some applicants have experienced significant wait times and we will continue to work to reduce processing times," Lariviere said.
The federal government has also pledged to allocate more resources to processing immigration applications.
In the 2021 Economic and Fiscal Update, the Department of Immigration received $85 million in additional funding to reduce waiting times for new applications and reduce the backlog of applications, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said. Will mainly be used to hire more staff.