Canada's immigration backlog drops to 2.4 mn people
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Nov, 2022 11:33 AM
Toronto, Nov 10 (IANS) Canada's immigration backlog has come down to just over 2.4 million from 2.6 last month, new data by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said.
The data showed a large reduction in the backlog of temporary residence applications while the permanent residence backlog registered a slight increase.
The permanent residence inventory stood at 506,421 people as of November 3, compared to 505,562 as of October 3, and the the temporary residence inventory stood at 1,537,566 people in November, compared to 1,651,649 persons last month, the CIC News reported.
The visa processing backlog has grown since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the recent immigration plan, Canada has set a target of welcoming over 400,000 new immigrants each year, between 2022-2024.
As of November 3, there are 39,589 Express Entry applications waiting in the queue. Express Entry is Canada's main way of managing skilled worker applications.
The second main way is through the Provincial Nominee Programme (PNP) -- which has an inventory of 62,073 total applications -- followed by Quebec's skilled worker programmes. According to the IRCC, there were 2.6 million applications in IRCC's inventory on September 30, out of which 1.1 million were within service standards and 1.5 million were considered backlog. This means that over the past month, IRCC has made some progress towards reducing the backlog.
Acknowledging the backlog, IRCC has said that it is taking steps to improve the speed at which applications are processed.It aims to have a less than 50 per cent backlog across all lines of business by the end of March 2023, CIC News reported.
In June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau created a taskforce to evaluate the current backlog in services and make suggestions on short-term and long-term improvements. IRCC started the transition towards 100 per cent digital applications for most permanent resident programmes on September 23, with accommodations made for those who are unable to apply online to clear the backlog on time. It also aims to make all citizenship applications digital by the end of this year, apart from investing $85 million to hire 1,250 new staff by the end of the year to increase processing capacity.
The Medical Advisory Committee was created to facilitate full representation across all the departments of the hospital, so that we can tap into the wisdom and expertise of all those voices. Essentially, we’re creating an advocacy group amongst the physicians practising in SMH.
The decline in homeownership rates between 2011 and 2021 was the largest for younger Canadians, with the rate falling to 36.5 from 44.1 for those between the ages of 25 and 29. Canadians between the ages of 30 and 34 experienced a similar but slightly smaller decline in homeownership, falling to 52.3 per cent from 59.2 per cent.
Homicide investigators say 27-year-old Richard Ofosuhene of Edmonton was found Tuesday, injured and unconscious, in the driver's seat of a running vehicle on a Surrey street. Police say Ofosuhene was known to police and had ties to drug trafficking in Alberta but they believe his homicide is an isolated incident.
The poll shows support for the Liberals fell a dramatic five points since early August, while the Tories gained six points. The NDP also rose by two and the People's Party of Canada fell by two. The poll suggests the Liberals' popularity has declined since one year ago, when Trudeau was re-elected for a second time to form a minority government.
Sixteen people were killed and 13 were injured when an inexperienced truck driver went through a stop sign and into the path of the junior hockey team's bus at a rural intersection near Tisdale, Sask., on April 6, 2018. Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, the trucker who caused the crash, was sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving charges. In July, he was granted day parole for six months.
Any sparks that may fly between Poilievre and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have to wait for Thursday, when Trudeau returns to the House following the United Nations General Assembly. On Tuesday, the Liberals wasted no time introducing legislation to offer some brief respite to lower-income Canadians struggling to pay their bills amid soaring costs.
