For all those who point at the unfairness/randomness with which IRCC gives out AOR, here are my two cents.
People are pointing out that it's kind of unfair if post-Oct 11 ("old") people get AOR although there are pre-Oct 11 ("new") people who haven't received it yet.
Apart from the fact that one could argue if FIFO (first in first out) is the central measure of fairness (a discussion which I want to avoid because discussing it in this forum wouldn't be productive) please keep in mind that even if FIFO were usually the central principle, IRCC currently has to retrain their staff to handle the new applications.
In a very simplified way, IRCC had the following two options and after you read them I think it should be obvious that option B is the only reasonable one to pick:
Option A
- Let all of Sydney staff only work on the AOR for old applications.
- Once all those applications received AOR/were sent back to the applicants, start training all staff for the new applications.
- Then start issuing AOR to the new applicants.
Option B
- Say, for the sake of example (this is not the actual number of course), there are 100 people in Sydney that do completeness checks/AORs for applications.
- In week 1, 90 of them do old applications and 10 of them are trained to handle the new applications.
- In week 2, 80 of them do old applications, 10 of them are trained to handle the new applications, and the 10 who were trained the previous week can now handle new applications.
- In week 3, 70 of them do old applications, 20 of them are trained to handle the new applications, and another 10 are being trained
- and so on
Anyone who has ever studied organizational/management theory can confirm that it is way more effective and efficient to "phase in" processes like in Option B. It's like step by step amping up a power plant. Or step by step installing new fare gates at the TTC. Or step by step introducing customers to the new online banking interface. Or beta testing an App before releasing it to all users...
So, Option B is the only reasonable thing to do. And If you look at option B it should be pretty apparent why it is totally fine, fair and productive that some new applicants already have AOR while some old applicants didn't receive it yet.
Note: I am not advocating that IRCC is well-managed. I couldn't agree more that everyone who pays $630 Dollars should expect better service from an agency that on top of that fee is funded by the very taxes we all pay. There are many things IRCC should do differently.
All I am trying to do is to shed some light on why sometimes, if you look at it from your individual perspective, doesn't make sense but if you look at the broader picture it in fact does.