Canada continues to be one of the top countries attracting people from around the world and remains steady in its need for a robust labour force. In the era of globalization, people are highly mobile; they come to Canada to work, study or start a new life. This process takes place through forms that are submitted by hopeful applicants. These forms are reviewed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which eventually makes a determination. Unfortunately, the number of applications has far outpaced processing capacity, while the transition to a digital processing environment has faced major challenges, forming a seemingly insurmountable backlog.

This report follows a study by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on application backlogs and processing times conducted from 5 May 2022 to 1 November 2022.

The report is divided into three Parts: Part I explores the problems that are affecting all streams of immigration processing, from small backlogs like the citizenship inventory to the largest backlog, that of temporary residents, and how these backlogs have caused massive hardships for millions of workers, students, refugees and asylum claimants in Canada and those waiting abroad. Part II examines the root causes to these application backlogs and processing delays, touching on capacity management and circumstantial impacts such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Part III discusses what witnesses before the Committee viewed as requirements and solutions for how to improve Canada’s immigration system in the interest of equity and transparency, and how these proposals can be implemented.