Even though Canada is one of the most targeted countries for immigration, its increasing backlogs is causing much frustration among those who seek to become Canadian Citizens. These latter are enclined to express a lack of communication and transparency from the Canadian Government.
Take a number
Data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has shown an increase of the delays relating to immigration applications, whether in visa processing times or to become permanent residents and now exceeds 2 million people.
In some cases, discouraged fellows even plan to return to their native country when they realize all the years that have gone by since their initial application to become a Canadian Citizen. Their experience with the Canadian immigration system was too frustrating and they even considered giving up on their application despite having already bought a house in Canada hoping to be reunited with their family and living the canadian dream. Others had to put off visiting family members struggling with health issues. Some have to face the exorbitant international tuition fees if they want to go to university or college because the family hasn’t gotten their permanent residency yet.
Covid’s fault?
Moreover, new immigration programs have only added to the already backlogged immigration system which complicated the situation when COVID-19 first hit, causing IRCC to close many in-person offices and cancel interviews, citizenship ceremonies, and other appointments, while its staff shifted to working from home.
The canadian government introducing special programs to resettle for example the Afghan refugees (after the collapse of the Afghan government and takeover by the Taliban) and introducing the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travail – allowing an unlimited number of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion also has an impact on the backlogs.
Communication and transparency
According to the opinion of some, part of the problem would not be linked to the long processing times, but rather a lack of communication from immigration officials on when they can expect an answer and reaching an agent rapidly.
IRCC’s media relations think the backlogs are partly due to closures at various processing offices and visa application centres during the pandemic. Those closures led to longer processing times for applicants, and in part were due to growing inventory and the number of applications received every year.
IRCC says it is modernizing and increasing its services for people who want to become Canadians, and this includes online testing, virtual citizenship ceremonies, and an online application tracker to stay updated on their files.