Canadian Immigration News

Canadian Government Launching a Digital Platform for Permanent Residency Applications

2.25 minute read
"The Canadian government has recently announced that it plans to make a digital platform for users to facilitate faster processing of immigration applications. For this purpose, the government has allocated $428.9 million over the next 5 years to develop a digital platform that would gradually replace the existing Case Management System. "
Written by My Visa Source Team
Published on:  Jun 21, 2021
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The Canadian government has recently announced that it plans to make a digital platform for users to facilitate faster processing of immigration applications. For this purpose, the government has allocated $428.9 million over the next 5 years to develop a digital platform that would gradually replace the existing Case Management System. 

According to the government, this platform will be launched in 2023 and will greatly increase the application processing rate and create a more user-friendly experience to support the applicants. This platform is essentially part of a larger shift of Canadian immigration departments and programs to the digital platform.

Why Is There a Need for a Digital Platform?

Based on the analysis of government data by Robert Falconer, a researcher at the University of Calgary School of Policy, this new platform will ensure better efficiency in the functioning of the immigration system and reduce processing time. There has been a steady decline in processing times over the past 6 years. Last year, the number of permanent residency applications received was 34% higher than the number of applications finalized. In 2019, that number was 21%.

The government analysis also reflects a significant increase in the intake of applications over the last few years. Therefore, only a premeditated number of applications are processed based on Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan. The government body of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has already launched an online portal for certain permanent residence programs and applicants. It is expected that this online portal will expand to include all other permanent residence programs offered by the IRCC.

However, currently more than half of the over 100 immigration programs require applicants to file paper-based applications. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, it became increasingly hard for applicants to do this.

The Canadian government had also launched several new immigration pathways for temporary foreign workers and international graduates. Using paper-based applications for economic immigration programs puts a lot of pressure on immigration officers to ensure all the required criteria are met. Therefore, a digital platform is required to ensure the efficient processing of these applications.

It is also necessary to bring the various Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) operated by each province or territory on board to the new platform to improve integration between the federal and provincial immigration systems. There are 9 different provinces and 2 territories, each with their electronic or paper-based applications system. The province of Alberta used the paper-based system for a long time, but in the past couple of years, they integrated their provincial nominee system with the federal government’s system. PNPs need to go digital as half of the economic immigration takes place through enhanced PNP streams linked with Express Entry

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