Fraser announces new measures to modernize Canada’s immigration system

For immigrants to Canada, exemptions from medical examinations, online immigration applications, and additional application status monitors are on the horizon. In an effort to enhance customer satisfaction and eliminate backlogs, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser unveiled new online services on September 1.

The pandemic made clear how outdated the immigration system is. Fraser provided the most recent information on how digitization is influencing IRCC operations from the processing facility in New Waterford, Nova Scotia (IRCC).

Here are the most recent developments for immigrants and potential citizens.

- Some Canadian applicants are excluded from medical examinations

Fraser is waiving the necessity for an immigration medical check for people applying for permanent and temporary residents who are already in Canada in an effort to cut down on wait periods. Those who fit particular requirements are the only ones to receive this measure. The criteria and the effective date of the measure were not stated in the media release. About 180,000 new immigrants will be affected, according to IRCC.

Canada formerly exempted the period from June 2021 to March 2022 from the need for a medical check. According to the press release, the initiative aims to further cut wait times and build on the hiring of 1,250 new workers to help boost processing capacity.

- 100% digital submissions for immigration applications 23 September

On September 23, IRCC will start converting all applications for permanent residence to digital only. People who need accommodations will have access to alternative formats.

This past January, the immigration agency made the commitment to accept digital immigration applications. In a recent email to CIC News, IRCC stated that it anticipated completing the implementation of the online application gateway in the spring or summer of 2022.

- Application status monitors will be included in more programs

Application status trackers, similar to the one introduced in February for applicants for spousal, partner, and dependent child sponsorship, will be available by the spring of 2023 for seven additional permanent residence and temporary residency programs. Client access to the citizenship application status tracker, which became live in May 2021, will be added at some point this month.

Additionally, IRCC is updating its online processing times tool to give more precise data. Starting in the fall, the IRCC will release estimates of the processing times for applications.

- Modernizing citizenship in Canada

A technology that would enable some citizenship applications to be submitted online was introduced by the IRCC in August 2021. Adults must be at least 18 years old to use the application tool. By the end of the year, IRCC plans to expand this capability to include online applications for children under the age of 18.

With the admission of more than 217,000 new citizens so far in 2018, Canada has surpassed its goals for citizenship for 2021–2022. Between April 1 and July 31 of this fiscal year, more than 116,000 new citizens have joined Canada, compared to 35,000 during the same time period in 2021.

- As of 2022, there have been more than 300,000 new permanent residents

With the admission of more than 405,000 new permanent residents to Canada in 2021, IRCC broke previous records. Our goal is to welcome 431,000 permanent residents by 2022, and we are on track to do so. By August 22, we had welcomed almost 300,000 permanent residents, breaking the previous record earlier than before.

Immigration is a human issue. The release quoted Fraser as saying, "It's about starting a new job, reuniting a family, and making a new life in this lovely land we call home. "People, or more specifically, our clients, must be at the center of all we do as we try to better our immigration system by modernizing our technology.

We can provide newcomers and citizens with the warm welcome they deserve by allocating resources where they are required and utilizing technology to speed up processing and make applying simpler for our clients.

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