Canada’s immigration backlog grows to 2.4 million; includes 30% Indians

Indian students looking to study in Canadian universities might be in for troubling times ahead. As per CIC news, one of Canada’s most trusted sources of immigration-related updates, Canada is facing a total immigration backlog of 2.4 million as of June 2022. They say temporary residents applications are the main causes behind the backlog.

The backlog has increased significantly over the past year ballooning from roughly 1.45 million in July 2021 to the number as it currently stands today. In the past month itself, around 260,000 people have been added to the list.

India remains to be one of the worst-affected countries by this backlog with nearly 700,000 applications pending with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This makes up for a staggering 30% of pending cases from India itself.

Hindustan Times, a leading Indian daily has reported several cases of not only common citizens and students but also PSU executives and other working professionals being affected by the current situation.

While appearing before a parliamentary committee last month, Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser expressed hope that IRCC will be able to return to standard processing times by the end of 2022.

As a part of its efforts, IRCC is adding more staff to its existing number of 11,000 employees. It is also working on modernizing the current system. The Minister suggests through digitization of the current system, they hope to transform immigration in Canada.

Some of the solutions suggested by CIC Canada to clear the immigration backlog include aligning intake with processing capacity, expediting digitization and aligning intake with processing capacity.