Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) have just announced that in order to shorten wait time and accelerate the process of reviewing spousal sponsorship applications, they have increased the number of staff overseeing the spousal sponsorship application by almost 66%.
Around 6000 applications are decided to be reviewed and processed each month from October to December 2020.
IRCC has not offered any specifics but has claimed that they are making use of the technological advancements and are using new technology to convert the paper applications to a digitalized medium that will enable IRCC employees to quickly review the applications while working from home amidst the pandemic.
IRCC will also implement certain biometric measures and will be using technology to get in touch with several applicants applying for the spousal sponsorship.
These steps are in motion to facilitate the processing of around 6000 spousal sponsorship applications per month till December 2020 that will result in almost about 49,000 spousal sponsorships applicants receiving the decision by IRCC by the end of this year.
These new steps are the result of the aftermath of recent protests which took place in Canada and were caused due to the delay in spousal and family sponsorship, this created uncertainty and doubts in the minds of Canadian Citizens or Permanent residents of Canada who are waiting for their spousal sponsorship applications to be reviewed as soon as possible so that they can unite with their loved ones. IRCC has also claimed that it will keep working on new measures to accelerate the approval of spousal sponsorship as much as possible, and the Canadian government will do their best to keep families together in such tough times.
Before the pandemic, Canada had planned to sponsor about 70,000 spouses, partners, and children among other immigrants in the year 2020 under its Immigration levels plan 2020-2022.
Quote:
“We understand that the last few months have not been easy for those who are far from their loved ones in these difficult times. This is why we are accelerating the approval of spousal applications as much as possible. Our government will continue to find new ways to keep families together.”
– The Honorable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Canada.
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