IRCC: A stronger immigration system that better serves newcomers
Today, Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, visited an IRCC application processing centre in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, and announced new online services to help to improve client experience and reduce the backlogs.
Reducing wait times
To help further reduce wait times and hiring of 1,250 new employees to handle the backlogs and increase processing capacity, permanent and temporary residence applicants who are already in Canada and meet certain criteria are exempted from the immigration medical examination requirement (IME).
Expanding online applications for permanent residence
IRCC is also taking measures to modernize the delivery of services to applicants for various permanent residence programs. As announced in January 2022, access to the online application portal for clients has been expanded to most of the permanent residence applicants.
Providing better information to clients
In February 2022, IRCC launched a new application status tracker that allowed permanent residence applicants, sponsors and their representatives in the spouse, partner, and dependent child categories to more easily check their application status online.
Modernizing the citizenship program
Since the beginning of Covid-19, IRCC has been offering more online service options for citizenship applicants, including virtual ceremonies and online citizenship tests. A new tool was launched in August 2021 that allows most citizenship applications to be submitted online.
