CIMM - COVID Impact on Permanent Resident Processing - Dec 2, 2020
Key messages
Since mid-March 2020, critical operations provided by IRCC employees have been maintained both remotely and in our offices. While IRCC’s in-Canada processing centres have remained open at reduced capacity, most visa application centres and IRCC offices temporarily closed. Many have since reopened to the public or have restarted limited processing.
IRCC is adapting to these challenging circumstances and continues to deliver timely services to our clients. We have ensured priority processing for vulnerable people, those seeking to reunite with their family, and people who perform or support critical services.
We’ve given permanent resident applicants more time to complete all the steps in the process, such as giving their biometrics. We are also making great strides in processing more applications virtually, while emphasizing health and safety.
Permanent residence applicants who have a valid confirmation of their permanent residence status on or before March 18, 2020, are eligible to travel to Canada, provided they are coming to settle permanently in Canada.
Those who have received a confirmation of permanent residence status after March 18, 2020 may also be eligible to travel to Canada if they are coming from the United States and seeking to enter Canada for a non-discretionary reasons. They may also be eligible to enter if they are immediate or extended family members of a Canadian citizen or a Canadian permanent resident.
Supplementary messages
COVID impact on processing, volumes and inventory
The Department has an agile and nimble workforce, which has quickly adjusted in the face of COVID-19 processing challenges. In March 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the Department responded by prioritizing delivery of critical services:
Temporary residence including in-Canada extensions, seasonal agricultural workers, essential and vulnerable workers
Permanent residence including Express Entry (Canada Experience Class and Provincial Nominee Program), spousal (in-Canada and those who are travel ban exempt), Permanent Resident Travel Document and Humanitarian and Compassionate
Refugee/asylum including asylum claims received by email, privately sponsored refugees and Urgent Protection Program
Citizenship including urgent proofs of citizenship and the implementation of virtual ceremonies.
Passport including urgent travel documents.
Over the spring and summer months, IRCC equipped its officers with tools to support remote processing where possible, partially reinstating our operational capacity both in Canada and abroad.
As of October 2020, while continuing to follow the Public Health Agency of Canada’s recommendations and guidelines issued by provincial and local public health authorities, the Department has moved forward with business reintegration efforts in all lines of business by gradually increasing access to worksites for employees whose work cannot be done remotely, and to support file distribution to remote workers. We are also offering limited in-person services for citizenship, permanent residence, and asylum lines of business (as of October 2020).
We have implemented adaptive measures to extend submission deadlines for clients who face delays due to COVID-19 restrictions. In other words, no application in progress will be closed or refused as a result of ongoing service disruptions related to COVID-19.
While an important step in supporting our clients, this measure will further extend our processing times.
We are catching up to pre-COVID processing rates. In October, we completed 28,000 final decisions across all business lines, compared to 31,000 in February 2020. However, many factors remain beyond IRCC’s control. To address some of these, we have extended deadlines for clients facing delays in providing information, to ensure no application is refused due to COVID-19 restrictions.
We have taken steps to provide virtual services where possible and will continue to explore ways to do so. For services that cannot be delivered virtually, IRCC is piloting the gradual resumption of in-person services by appointment at certain offices. However, the recent changes in provincial directives mean that we are adapting to the evolving situation.
Economic Class
IRCC maintains a dynamic approach to economic immigration programming by adapting to a constantly changing economic landscape. This is done through a suite of core economic immigration programs, as well as several pilot programs aimed at attracting and retaining immigrants within certain regions, industries, and occupations.
A continued focus on immigration will be key to Canada’s economic recovery and growth. Attracting and retaining new permanent residents through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class, and Federal Skilled Trades Program will ensure that Canadian employers have access to highly skilled newcomers to fill their labour market needs and to thrive in this current context.
IRCC understands the importance the Provincial Nominee Program will play in the recovery of provincial and territorial economies. Recently, the Department has provided provinces and territories with the ability to request that IRCC provide flexibilities to applicants impacted by COVID-19, where applicants are filling labour market needs that will support economic recovery.
IRCC is committed to actively engaging our provincial and territorial counterparts on this program.
Economic immigration pilots and innovative initiatives, including the Atlantic Immigration Pilot and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot maintain a level of flexibility that allows provinces and communities, respectively, to prioritize the sectors that they identify as being most important to meet their labour market needs, which will support efforts fill labour gaps resulting from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Family Class
The government knows how important it is for families to be together, particularly during difficult times.
As announced, IRCC has been focusing on spousal application processing to ensure immediate families can remain together in Canada or be reunited as soon as possible. IRCC aims to accelerate, prioritize and finalize approximately 6,000 spousal application decisions each month from October until December 2020. Combined with processing to date, this rate could lead to about 49,000 decisions by the end of this year.
The launch of the 2020 Parents and Grandparents Program was delayed (open from October 13 to November 3) to allow the Government to prioritize its efforts to contribute to the whole-of-government response to the global pandemic. The random selection intake process randomizes all interest to sponsor submissions received in 2020 and invites a number of potential sponsors to apply, for a maximum of 10,000 applications. In 2021, IRCC will open a new intake of interest to sponsor forms and accept a total of 30,000 new applications.
The parent and grandparent super visa continues to be a popular option for parents and grandparents. Super visa holders can stay in Canada for up to two years at a time, with the possibility of an extension to remain in Canada without having to leave the country.
Document submission/file processing challenges
Since March 13, 2020, most visa offices located outside of Canada have been affected to a certain degree by the global pandemic, and have undergone an interruption in service, which has limited IRCC’s capacity to conduct client interviews and to validate supporting documents and identity to support the finalization of applications.
Capacity for Immigration Medical Exams was limited due to the closure of missions and reduced capacity of some panel physician clinics. Currently over 95% of panel physicians across are open to receive clients.
The Department is working closely with Service Canada to increase biometrics collection services by appointment across the country. As of November 2020, we are now completing over 900 biometrics enrollments per day across 55 Service Canada locations.
International travel restrictions and inability on the part of clients to obtain documentation such as passports and education credentials due to COVID has created additional blockers within the processing continuum and hindered IRCC’s ability to finalize applications and to land clients.
Mitigation measures actions taken
IRCC has given permanent resident applicants more time to complete all the steps in the process, such as giving their biometrics and providing supporting documentation, such as passports and education credentials.
A public policy was introduced to allow permanent residents with a previous biometric enrolment on file from the last ten years to re-use that enrollment in support of their permanent residency application. The new public policy took effect on September 10, 2020.
Enrollment deadlines have been extended for all clients until after biometrics collection points reopen.
As for immigration medical exams, our panel physician network is operating at 95% capacity and there are no delays for applicants to complete immigration medical exams. Our regional medical offices are prepared to maintain their service standards.
Partner service disruption and resumption
As of November 16, 2020 118 out of 161 visa application centres are open to the public (73%). As our visa application centres reopen gradually in different regions of the world, we’ll be able to make final decisions on applications in progress as people complete all the steps in the process.
Biometric collection through Service Canada Centres in Canada, U.S. Application Support Centres, and visa application centres overseas were closed as a result of the pandemic. This resulted in an inventory backlog of applications for applicants without valid biometrics on file.
ASCs reopened in July 2020, by appointment only, to biometric collection for IRCC applicants. The San Francisco and Seattle temporary visa application centres are on track to open in November 19, 2020 for 1 year to meet the biometric enrolment demand in the US resulting from visa application centre and Application Support Center closures due to COVID-19.
The majority of visa application centres have resumed biometric collection for IRCC applicants in a limited capacity, subject to opening and closure fluctuations.
43 visa application centres are temporarily closed, of which 26 have resumed back-office work. Among the closed centres, 7 are pending contractor reopening checklists, 6 are undergoing analysis and 16 are scheduled to reopen.
Expired Confirmations of Permanent Residence and expired immigration medical exams
An alternative approach has been developed to allow clients to travel to Canada using their expired Confirmation of Permanent Residence document along with an authorization letter from IRCC. The letter advises that the Confirmation’s validity has been extended in the Global Case Management System, but not reprinted.
Since March 2020, IRCC has extended Immigration Medical Exam results for straightforward cases for 6 or 12 months, depending on the country of residence and the prevalence of tuberculosis therein, to enable extensions to the validity of the expired Confirmations.
Background
The Government of Canada offers a suite of economic immigration programs to support the development of a strong and prosperous economy.
Canada’s core pathways to permanent residence for skilled workers include: the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and the Canadian Experience Class. Of these, the Canadian Experience Class provides a pathway for skilled applicants with work experience in Canada; many also have previous study experience in Canada.
Since January 2015, these programs have be administered through the Express Entry application management system. This system helps us to select skilled workers who are most likely to succeed in the Canadian economy and society over the long-term (based on factors such as work experience, education, age, and official language proficiency).
Provincial Nominee Program
The Provincial Nominee Program enables provinces and territories to create immigration streams to nominate immigrants who meet local labour market and economic needs and who have skills and experiences that will increase their likelihood of residing and economically establishing in their region.
Currently, 11 jurisdictions have Provincial Nominee agreements in place with over 70 different immigration streams targeting workers, graduates, and entrepreneurs. As of 2019, the Program was the second largest economic immigration program stream.
COVID-19 has affected some Provincial Nominee Program candidates’ ability to demonstrate that they can economically establish in Canada (i.e., with job offers, or without relying on social assistance), notably when they have experienced a material change in their work status. Given that a large number of nominations are made on the basis of a job offer, provinces and territories have asked the Department to clarify how any job loss, lay off or reduction in hours of work might affect a candidate’s permanent residence application, and where this could have led to a refusal pre-COVID, are seeking guidance on what could be done given the exceptional situation.
To mitigate these impacts on PNP applicants, the Department has extended two operational initiatives for paper-based applicants: (1) in cases where the applicant has experienced a job loss, provinces and territories will be able to request that the Department place the application on hold so the applicant has time to find another job; and (2) in cases where the applicant has had their working hours reduced in their primary occupation or job, IRCC officers will be more flexible, within current authorities, in assessing economic establishment.
Regional Economic Pilots and Initiatives
While admissions under regional economic immigration pilots are growing through levels spaces, but remain small relative to IRCC’s overall annual admissions, these innovative initiatives are invaluable tools to test new approaches to immigration which influence future program design and existing programs.
For programs with paper based applications such as the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, as a result of office closures and health and safety measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, processing of the pilot’s permanent residence paper applications has been interrupted. Stakeholders continue to raise this as an issue.
Since its launch in 2017, participating employers in the Atlantic Immigration Pilot have made over 7,500 job offers in key sectors including accommodations and food services, manufacturing and health care. This has resulted in over 6,900 approved permanent residents in the Atlantic region.
From January to October 2020, 1,521 newcomers have been admitted through the pilot, as compared to 3,510 over the same time period in 2019. Under the pilot, the established processing standard is 6 months in 80% of the cases, however, service disruptions and restrictions due to COVID-19, as well as more flexibility around submission of supporting documents, will all have an impact on processing times.
Through a community-based economic development approach, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot partners IRCC with 11 community organizations who will recommend immigrants based on local economic development and labour market needs.
10 of 11 community partners have launched the Pilot, including processes to recommend candidates for permanent residence.