Taken from : Backlog 2005 cases from pakistan. Posted yesterday-Sept 13th. It is a reply to a mail sent to Minister of Immigration by one of the applicants.
Is this good news for July 2011 -MI3 applicants? I say YES IT IS.
Hi
Some days before I mail to Minister of immigration ,today receive reply
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CIC - Ministerial Enquiries Division/CIC - Service de renseignements ministériels Ministerial.Enquiries.Division @ cic.gc.ca to me
show details 10:20 PM (11 hours ago)
Dear Mr. Hamayun:
I am replying to your e-mail of July 28, 2011, addressed to the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, concerning the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Program. I apologize for this delayed response.
All candidates who have submitted their application look forward to being granted permanent resident status within a reasonable waiting period after applying. I assure you that we make every effort to deal with the applications we receive in the most efficient and effective way. However, Canada's attractiveness to immigrants means that each year, we receive more applications than we are able to process.
With a growing backlog, particularly in the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) category, individuals with the skills and experience wanted by Canadian employers wait years to be admitted. We must have an immigration system that effectively balances Canada's own needs with its popularity as a destination. That is why the Government of Canada proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). On June 18, 2008, these changes became law.
Until these amendments to IRPA, applications in the largest backlog—federal skilled workers—used to be processed in the order they were received, regardless of whether the applicants' skills or professions would enable them to find a job in Canada.
On November 28, 2008, Minister Kenney announced an Action Plan for Faster Immigration. It included issuing instructions to visa officers reviewing new applications under the FSW Program. The first Ministerial Instructions (MI) applied to applications received on or after February 27, 2008, up to June 25, 2010. CIC introduced caps on the FSW Program as part of the second MI, effective June 26, 2010, to limit the intake of new FSW applications to better match the number CIC can actually process within the annual levels plan tabled in Parliament. The third MI, introduced in June 2011, further adjusted the intake of Economic Class applications. FSW applications under the third MI are processed on a priority basis. Further information can be found on our Web site.
CIC's goal is to make the immigration system more responsive to labour market needs. By giving priority to FSW applications received on or after July 1, 2011, we are responding to the most urgent labour market needs first. The length of time it takes to finalize an application under this program varies from one visa office to another since visa offices face different challenges. We continue to work towards global service standards and the use of departmental standard forms to minimize such regional variations as much as possible.
Since you applied before the first MI, you may wish to review the current criteria of the FSW Program and, if you feel you qualify, you may decide to apply and take advantage of the new processing standards. You may choose to either maintain your first application (in London) and submit another request with a new processing fee; or withdraw the first application and submit a new application. If an applicant chooses to withdraw their first application before processing begins, they will receive a refund for the processing fee. Should you choose to withdraw your first application, it is your responsibility to notify the visa office and request a refund.
A request by an applicant to have expedited processing is understandable. However, in the interest of fairness and program integrity, our policy is to process applications in the order in which they are received. To move one file ahead in the queue would not be fair to the many applicants in similar situations who had applied earlier.
Thank you for taking the time to write. I trust that this information is helpful.
Sincerely,
Bogdan Sultana
Ministerial Enquiries Division
This electronic address is not available for response.
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