On September 24, Minister of Immigration Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that spousal application processing will be fast-tracked to keep families together and help them build their lives together in Canada.

To make this happen IRCC as increased the number of decision makers on spousal applications in Canada by 66%, to process spousal applications more quickly and reduce wait times.

IRCC is now using technology in a pilot to digitize paper applications to enable processing applications more efficiently as many IRCC employees are working remotely and at different locations. Also, IRCC is implementing facilitative biometrics measures and will have interviews with applicants remotely, in following public health guidelines.

With these initiatives, IRCC aims to increase, prioritize, and finalize about 6,000 spousal applications every month from October to December 2020. This will lead to about 49,000 spousal application being approved by the end of this year.

As COVID-19 has created uncertainty for Canadians who are sponsoring spouses for permanent residence, IRCC continues to look for innovative and compassionate ways to reunite families.