“Backlogs and delays prevent Canada from attracting the best and brightest from around the world and ensuring that our immigration system is contributing to economic growth and long-term prosperity,” said Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. “For too long, we accepted far more applications than we could process each year. That led to backlogs increasing every year and processing times of eight to ten years in some cases, which discouraged talented, dynamic people from coming to Canada.”

The backlog was reduced in a number of ways. For instance, the government placed a temporary pause on parent and grandparent sponsorship, while processing already submitted applications as fast as possible. A pause was also placed on Immigrant Investor applications, and old Federal Skilled Worker applications were returned to senders without processing. It is anticipated that as the backlog continues to be cut down, applicants will receive faster responses and more efficient processing overall.