The Government of Canada has decided to suspend applications from highly skilled immigrant workers as the Department of Immigration is unable to keep up with the processing of applications.
According to the National Post, the department has to process 76,000 applications from candidates who want to move to Canada. That’s more immigrants than the government planned to take in until 2023.
The ministry also received 207,000 applications from skilled workers, as well as those who lived in Canada and want to move to the country.
Last year, the government managed to meet immigration targets despite travel restrictions. The government issued residence permits to students, as well as to those who were in the country on temporary permits.
Next year, the government hopes to take on 110,500 qualified workers, but the ministry may only be able to process 55,000 applications due to heavy workloads. The Department of Immigration is responsible for the resettlement of refugees from Afghanistan to Canada. The government has promised to resettle 40,000 refugees, 7,000 of whom are already in Canada.
The processing time for applications for immigration under the Federal Skilled Worker Program is 20.4 months, which is three times the standard of service. It is expected that in 2022 the processing time for applications will increase to 36 months.
Canada pausing intake of highly skilled immigrant workers amid heavy backlog https://t.co/nrj48nGVQj
— National Post (@nationalpost) January 21, 2022
A study by the Business Development Bank of Canada showed that last fall, 55% of businesses in Canada faced a shortage of workers, in the hospitality sector – 80% of businesses.
New applications will open once the department has processed enough applications to open a new intake for the program. The government has proposed an allocation of $85 million in 2022-2023 to speed up the processing of applications.
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