Canadian Government Budget Slashes Immigration Backlog

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BREAKING NEWS

The Government of Canada announced on 29 March 2012 a plan to reduce the backlog of Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applications by returning all applications and government fees submitted prior to 27 February 2008. This will amount to a total of almost 300,000 returned applications, as well as approximately $130 million in refunded government processing fees.
Approximately 160,000 FSW applications, submitted after 28 February 2008, will remain in queue for processing.

The Announcement

This statement has been issued as part of the larger Federal Budget for 2012, which was released on 29 March. The budget includes information for reducing national deficit and creating more fiscally efficient government infrastructure, an integral part of which is tied to immigration policy and processing times. As part of this plan, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), is expected to reduce its operating costs by $179 million over the next three years.
The budget mentions that “Canada risks losing the global talent competition for the world's best and brightest as potential immigrants choose to take their skills to other countries with more responsive immigration systems rather than remain in the queue to have their applications process in Canada”.
With this in mind, the decision was reached to not only return the approximately 300,000 applications, but to focus on creating a system that would streamline processing and “reduce duplication and overlap” in the overall structure.

Government Rationale

The applications being returned are currently only from the FSW program. No additional plans have yet been announced to address backlogs in other immigration categories.
CIC hopes that reducing application numbers will allow it to streamline its programs in a way that will eliminate overhead costs currently incurred by dealing with the backlog. For instance, some visa offices devote significant amounts of time and money to processing pre-2008 applications. With these out of the way, visa officers will be free to devote time and energy to processing applications that have a higher likelihood of approval under current government standards.
The decision is also part of a larger effort by CIC to “transition to a faster and more flexible economic immigration system”. This new system will be aimed at more accurately addressing Canadian labour market needs as well as better serving those applicants still in line to be processed. Currently, Canada is facing severe labour shortages, specifically in Western provinces where skilled tradespeople are in great demand.
It is important to note that, despite widespread austerity measures being imposed on most government departments, CIC is one of only five that are being asked to reduce operating costs by less than six percent. In fact, proposed upgrades to the Canadian immigration system are likely to cost over $25 million in upcoming years.

Advice for Returned Applicants

The promise of new, streamlined immigration systems is no comfort for the thousands of individuals and their families who have now seen their hopes for Canadian immigration come to an end.
“This is such awful news for the people who have been waiting patiently in line,” says Attorney David Cohen, “Of course, they are free to submit a new application, but that will be of little solace at this time. I truly feel badly for them”.
Applicants who will see their files returned but are still keen to come to Canada are by no means excluded from re-submitting an application, either through the FSW program or one of the over 60 other available Canadian immigration programs. As the government more thoroughly outlines its plans for immigration in the future, prospective applicants should make sure to keep abreast of new developments that may be of benefit to themselves and their unique skill sets.

http://www.cicnews.com/2012/03/canadian-government-slashes-backlog-031472.html

 

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I feel sad specially those who have waited for years ...

 

[magar]

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2012/2012-03-30a.asp


News Release – Government of Canada transforms economic immigration program

Ottawa, March 30, 2012 — To create a fast and flexible immigration system that creates jobs and promotes Canada’s long term prosperity, the Government of Canada will eliminate the backlog in the main federal economic immigration program.

"“The Federal Skilled Worker Program backlog is a major roadblock to Canada’s ability to respond to rapidly changing labour market needs,”" said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. "“Having to process applications that are as many as eight years out of date reduces our ability to focus on new applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today.”"

As announced in Economic Action Plan 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is planning to refund fees and return stale applications from nearly all those applicants who applied under the dated criteria in existence before February 27, 2008.

CIC is transforming its suite of economic immigration programs to create a just-in-time system that recruits people with the right skills to meet Canada’s labour market needs, fast tracks their immigration, and gets them working in a period of months, not years. Eliminating the longstanding backlog of FSW applications will allow the Department to focus resources on facilitating the arrival of skilled immigrants who apply under the current eligibility criteria.

Under proposed legislation, CIC will close the files of FSW applicants who applied before February 27, 2008, and for whom an immigration officer has not made a decision based on selection criteria by March 29, 2012. This is expected to affect around 280,000 applicants, including their dependants. CIC will begin the process of returning the full amount of fees paid to the Department by these affected FSW applicants. For those who have passed the selection criteria stage – approximately 20,000 people – CIC will continue processing their applications until they are approved for entry into Canada or not.

Over the last decade, the number of FSW applications received has greatly exceeded the space available within the Immigration Levels Plan each year, resulting in long processing times and an increasing inventory. Under the 2008 Action Plan for Faster Immigration, CIC began to limit intake to priority occupations. The Department added caps to the number of new applications in 2010. As a result of these efforts, CIC has reduced the pre-2008 backlog by more than 50 percent, and the overall FSW inventory by over 25 percent. However, without further action, some FSW applicants might have to wait until 2017 for a decision.

"“It’s unreasonable to keep applicants waiting for another five years,”" said Minister Kenney. "“It’s also a far cry from the nimble and responsive immigration system Canada needs to remain a destination of choice.”"

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For further information (media only), please contact:

Ana Curic
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-954-1064

Media Relations
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-952-1650
CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca">CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca

 

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Notice – Questions and answers: Changes that affect Federal Skilled Worker applications

Q1. Why do you propose removing the FSW backlog?

Canada needs to select immigrants who are ready, willing and able to fully integrate into Canada’s labour market and fill gaps in our economy, particularly where we have existing skills shortages.

The large backlog of applications that has accumulated under the Federal Skilled Worker Program is impeding the responsiveness of Canada’s immigration system.

Canada risks losing the global talent competition for the world’s best and brightest as potential immigrants choose to take their skills to other countries with more responsive immigration systems rather than remain in the queue to have their application processed in Canada.

Economic Action Plan 2012 therefore proposes to return applications and refund fees paid by certain federal skilled worker applicants who applied under previous criteria established prior to February 27, 2008.

Removing the backlog of FSW applications will allow CIC to focus on bringing in skilled immigrants who apply under the current eligibility criteria and are more suited for shortages in Canada’s economy today.

Q2. Would I be affected if CIC removes the FSW backlog?

Under the proposed changes, CIC would close Federal Skilled Worker applicants’ files if they:

applied before February 27, 2008, and
have not had a decision made by an immigration officer based on selection criteria by March 29, 2012. (information on selection criteria is below)
We expect this would affect around 280,000 people including dependents.

If the proposed law is passed, CIC would begin to return the full amount of fees paid by affected FSW applicants.

Q3. Is there any reason I would not get my refund?

The proposed changes are intended to be retroactive to March 29, 2012. If an immigration officer had refused your application based on selection criteria before that date, you will not get a refund.

Q4. What does a "decision based on selection criteria" mean?

A "decision based on selection criteria" means that an immigration officer:

has assessed your FSW application against the points grid, and
has made a decision on whether or not you meet the selection criteria of the program.
Currently, the pass mark is 67 points out of a grid worth 100 points. The grid considers the person’s:

ability in English and/or French
education
work experience
age
whether they have a job already arranged in Canada (arranged employment), and
how well they might adapt to living in Canada (which awards points for things like previous work or study in Canada, spouse’s education and relatives in Canada).
If your application is successful, you would move to the next phase (i.e. admissibility). At that point you would be checked against health, security and criminality requirements before being allowed to enter Canada.

If you do not score at least 67 on the FSW points grid, your application would be refused and CIC would inform you of the decision.

Q5. How would I get my refund?

More details on the proposed change will be announced soon. Once the proposal is approved through Parliament, CIC will begin to return the fees.

Details will be available on the CIC website.

Q6. What options would I have if my application is removed from the backlog?

If your file is closed by CIC, you may re-apply under the current FSW criteria. If you have the skills Canada needs now, your application would likely be processed much faster – new FSW applications are processed within 6-12 months.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/notice-qa.asp

 

[dhnenan]

Hello Everybody,

WE need to collectively raise our voice against this injustice.
We can do it,as of now it is just a proposal at the moment.
This needs to be validated at the parliament soon... as per the below quoted lines...

We should not sit and discuss this but find ways so that our voice / cries should be felt in the parliament
and a harsh decisions should be stopped before it is imposed on us...

"
Q5. How would I get my refund?

More details on the proposed change will be announced soon. Once the proposal is approved through Parliament, CIC will begin to return the fees.

Details will be available on the CIC website"

 

[hopefulever]

Just one clarification:

Those who have filed through agents or consultants and heve even paid post landing service charges, what will happen to their fee. will agents return this amount to clients. In my view Clients have evry right to appeal in indian court against the agent and cic will definitely become a party to it. This will bering insult for cic and media will definitely exploit this situation. And I expect and hope lot of litigations will be filed in indian court and I am one of them. I have already consulted my advocate and case can be filed in india in such a scenerio and may bering relief to clients in returning money in addition adverse remarks to cic.

 

[Fresno]

HOW ABOUT THE FSW UNDER Ministerial Instructions 2 (MI2)? IT IS ALSO BE AFFECTED BY THIS ONE WHO ARE NOT YET APPROVE AND WAITING FOR PASSPORT REQUEST? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

 

[sashali78]

I wonder if there are going to be any considerations for applicants who already in Canada (by work/study permits) and still waiting for their pre-2008 applications to be processed, like in my case. From one side, being employed in Canada i am addressing the exact same concern of labor shortage they want to fill, from the other hand, logic and procedures are not following exactly the same path when it comes to governments...