IRCC speeding up processing for spousal applications

Date Announced:

September 24, 2020

Active Period:

October 1, 2020 until December 31, 2020.

Overview:

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has increased the number of decision makers on spousal applications in Canada by 66%, to process spousal applications more quickly and reduce couples’ wait times.

IRCC is leveraging new technology in a pilot to digitize paper applications so they can be processed more efficiently by IRCC employees working remotely and at various worksites. In addition to implementing facilitative biometrics measures, IRCC will be piloting, in the upcoming weeks, technology to conduct interviews with applicants remotely, in adherence with public health protocols.

With these initiatives, IRCC aims to accelerate, prioritize and finalize approximately 6,000 spousal applications each month from October until December 2020. Combined with processing to date, this rate will lead to about 49,000 decisions by the end of this year.

Departments and Agencies:

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Type of Administrative Action:

  • Programmatic Changes

    • Immigration Category:

    Family class (reunification)

    Keywords:

    spousal applications

    Source Document(s):

    https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2020/09/ircc-speeding-up-processing-for-spousal-applications.html

    Send us your feedback:

    If you have comments pertaining to this policy document, please complete this form.