Canada is planning to make the spousal sponsorship application processing swifter

Canada is planning to process and finalize 6,000 spousal sponsorship applications every month between the months of October and December 2020. This goal will help Canada increase the speed of spousal sponsorship application processing, which has taken a hit because of the pandemic.

Measures taken:

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) just made this announcement, and they are looking to achieve this goal efficiently. They have increased the number of staff members who review spousal sponsorship applications by 66%, and this will help reduce the waiting time. The faster the applications are processed, the easier it will be to meet their goals.

Moreover, IRCC is planning to use new technology in a pilot in order to digitize paper applications. In light of the pandemic, this will be an excellent move because IRCC employees will be able to work remotely. They can work from various work settings and process applications faster. IRCC has also said that they will implement facilitative biometrics measures and use pilot technology to conduct remote interviews with applicants soon.

Why is IRCC taking these measures?

These initiatives taken by IRCC are meant to accelerate, prioritize and finalize 6,000 spousal applications every month until the end of 2020. If IRCC is successful, it will mean that 49,000 applications will be receiving decisions by the end of 2020. IRCC acknowledges that the coronavirus pandemic has made it tough for Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their spouses. They are constantly trying to find innovative and compassionate ways by which they can increase family reunification.

Since spousal sponsorship application processing has been badly affected by the pandemic, protests have flared up all over the country. Hence, immigration minister Marco Mendicino has taken on the responsibility of accelerating the process of approval of spousal applications.