Canada welcomes 108,000 permanent residents; surpasses goal for Q1 2022

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced that a record number of PR applications – more than the original goal of 147,000 – were processed in the first quarter of this year. The result? Canada welcomed more than 108000 permanent residents by March 31, 2022.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser also announced updates to IRCC’s online processing times tool to provide realistic and up-to-date information for clients as well as reflect the volumes of applications being processed and the operational realities. Most permanent residence and citizenship services are set to use dynamic processing times, with updated calculations posted weekly, based on data from the previous 6 months. Dynamic processing times for temporary residence services are already in place, based on data from the past 8 or 16 weeks.

To reduce application inventories accumulated during the pandemic and reduce wait times, several other steps have been taken such as hiring new processing staff, digitizing applications, and reallocating work among the offices around the world. These efforts might bring respite to those individuals whose applications have been pending since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canada also outshines its citizenship goals!

IRCC has given thumbs up to over 210,000 new Canadian citizens and exceeded its citizenship goals for 2021–2022. Online testing, virtual citizenship ceremonies, and an online application tracker have helped in keeping citizenship applications on track during the times of COVID-19.

Permanent Residence application fees to increase soon

Canada is increasing all permanent residence application fees, effective April 30, 2022. The increase, announced by IRCC, includes economic, permit holder, family and humanitarian classes.

In 2020, the PR fees were increased to account for inflation for the first time since 2002. At that time, it was announced that fees would increase every two years to adjust for inflation.

Take a look at the current and new fees here.

Canadian passport renewal process simplified

Canadians in the country and abroad no longer need to have a guarantor or provide their original documents, such as proof of citizenship or photo identification to renew their expired passports. Applicants are now only required to submit two photos, two references, their completed form, and the applicable fees.

The simplified passport renewal process is available to individuals whose passports were issued within the last 15 years, and also to those who had their passports lost, stolen or damaged.

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