Canada's immigration backlog drops to 2.4 mn people
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Nov, 2022 11:33 AM
Toronto, Nov 10 (IANS) Canada's immigration backlog has come down to just over 2.4 million from 2.6 last month, new data by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said.
The data showed a large reduction in the backlog of temporary residence applications while the permanent residence backlog registered a slight increase.
The permanent residence inventory stood at 506,421 people as of November 3, compared to 505,562 as of October 3, and the the temporary residence inventory stood at 1,537,566 people in November, compared to 1,651,649 persons last month, the CIC News reported.
The visa processing backlog has grown since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the recent immigration plan, Canada has set a target of welcoming over 400,000 new immigrants each year, between 2022-2024.
As of November 3, there are 39,589 Express Entry applications waiting in the queue. Express Entry is Canada's main way of managing skilled worker applications.
The second main way is through the Provincial Nominee Programme (PNP) -- which has an inventory of 62,073 total applications -- followed by Quebec's skilled worker programmes. According to the IRCC, there were 2.6 million applications in IRCC's inventory on September 30, out of which 1.1 million were within service standards and 1.5 million were considered backlog. This means that over the past month, IRCC has made some progress towards reducing the backlog.
Acknowledging the backlog, IRCC has said that it is taking steps to improve the speed at which applications are processed.It aims to have a less than 50 per cent backlog across all lines of business by the end of March 2023, CIC News reported.
In June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau created a taskforce to evaluate the current backlog in services and make suggestions on short-term and long-term improvements. IRCC started the transition towards 100 per cent digital applications for most permanent resident programmes on September 23, with accommodations made for those who are unable to apply online to clear the backlog on time. It also aims to make all citizenship applications digital by the end of this year, apart from investing $85 million to hire 1,250 new staff by the end of the year to increase processing capacity.
The government will likely keep the Queen on the $20 bill for a while before any changes are made, however. The Royal Canadian Mint, which manufactures and distributes Canada's coins, said the government has exclusive jurisdiction over their design.
Eighteen-year-olds Evan Smith and Emily Selwood were walking near the university student residences at the Point Grey campus early on Sept. 26, 2021, when a vehicle veered up onto the sidewalk and hit them and a parked car before stopping. Smith and Selwood died at the scene.
Darpan Cruiser In Your City brings you highlights from some incredible events that took place over the weekend. The events featured the best of what the Lower Mainland has to offer in terms of entertainment, culture, music and much more.
The fire destroyed a two-storey building that housed the church and a convenience store and threatened the seven-storey Maple Hotel, temporarily displacing vulnerable residents. Const. Tania Visintin says investigators believe each of the three knew of the arson and had time to either put out the fire or call for help.
Starting Thursday, airlines will be required to issue a full refund for cancellations and delays if passengers are not placed on a new flight within 48 hours, including for reasons outside of the airline's control. Previously, the passenger rights regime only required refunds for flight disruptions that were within the airline's control, which excluded situations ranging from weather to war.
Two federal sources familiar with the plan say it will look to double some GST payments for six months, include help for Canadians struggling to pay their rent and launch the first step of a national dental-care program.
