My PR card will expire in March. I was looking at the renewal process and wondering what method everyone is using these days? Paper application or online using
https://prson-srpel.apps.cic.gc.ca/en/login. Which is faster? Any advise is highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I have no advice to offer. Anecdotal reporting suggests many are still making a paper application, while many others are now making an online application.
One potentially big difference depends on whether or not IRCC has implemented full automated processing of some online applications. And the prospect being issued a new card significantly sooner if the application meets the criteria for automated decision-making and the triage criteria for low complexity processing.
Current processing timeline for PR cards is 63 days. This is roughly the timeline for IRCC to actually open and process PR card applications, which is perhaps the time to open plus just a few days, recognizing that most PR card applications are approved and a new card issued when the application is opened or very soon thereafter.
In contrast, some of the recent anecdotal reporting indicates it is likely IRCC has in fact implemented automated decision-making, employing advanced analytics, machine learning, and other components of AI (and it is probably derivative of, if not quite similar to the automated decision-making in processing certain visa applications implemented in pilot project programs back in 2018). This is in part indicated by anecdotal reporting of a decision made, card approved, in much less time than the currently posted timeline . . . in effect, weeks BEFORE applications are being opened. Not a lot reports of this, but enough to suggest they are reliable, and thus indicating these applications have been processed differently, and indeed processed on a timeline indicating the likelihood IRCC has implemented automated decision-making of online PR card applications.
If so, some online applications will be machine processed including approval, which takes almost no time, no waiting in queue for an IRCC official to open the file. In the 2018 pilot projects, for example, visa applications were approved, visas issued, with NO review by an IRCC officer.
There's a catch. Always. Probably a couple. For online PR card applications we know of one catch for sure, and that is the application needs to technically be near perfect, otherwise it is returned or will not qualify for automated decision-making. Another catch is the threshold for low complexity. We have almost no idea what differentiates what is a low complex application versus a medium or moderate (I forget the precise terminology used) complex application. In the pilot projects only low complex applications went through the automated decision-making process. Medium complex applications basically went into the same processing stream as paper applications.
If the current process roughly follows a similar work flow, what that means (likely) is that an online application that meets the criteria for automated decision-making, and the triage criteria for low complexity processing, can potentially result in being approved very soon after the application is made, and then it is just how long it takes for IRCC to actually issue the new card and mail it, just logistics. If the online application does not meet the low complexity triage criteria, it then (likely) goes into a queue to be opened and reviewed by an IRCC official, probably in the same order or queue as mailed in paper applications.
That is, if it does get automated processing, a card may be approved within a few days of when the online application was made, and it will then arrive in whatever time period IRCC is currently taking to actually issue and mail new cards. If it does not qualify for an automated decision, under current timelines it would likely be opened and reviewed by IRCC around 60 days or so from when it was made, and if like most (but not high complex cases) it is then approved, then again it will arrive in the mail AFTER that based on whatever time period IRCC is currently taking to actually issue and mail new cards.
Obviously, any complicating element in the application (like cutting-it-close) will mean it is at least medium complexity, and it will take the 60 days to process plus the time period IRCC is currently taking to actually issue and mail new cards. High complexity (such as indications PR is not settled and living in Canada currently, or indications PR has not complied with the RO) means some level of non-routine processing, which varies widely and can range from taking several weeks longer to many months (not all that long ago applications referred for Secondary review were taking up to a year longer).
