Immigration and Refugee Processing Update
Published: Feb 19, 2021
This is a follow up to our September 28, 2020 news item.
Immigration to Canada dropped 46% in 2020. There were 184,370 new permanent residents in 2020 compared to 341,175 in 2019.
The 2021 target is 401,000 new permanent residents. The intake target for 2022 is 411,000 and 421,000 for 2023.
To boost the numbers, on February 13, 2021 IRCC issued over 27,000 Invitations To Apply to applicants under the Express Entry system. All were to candidates under the Canadian Experience Class. The minimum pass mark under the Express Entry system dropped to 75! IRCC will have difficulty processing so many cases.
The Refugee Protection Division has developed a multi-year backlog:
| Year |
New Applications |
Applications Finalized |
Applications waiting for a Hearing or Decision |
| 2013 |
10,465 |
5,651 |
4,987 |
| 2014 |
13,800 |
11,813 |
6,916 |
| 2015 |
16,592 |
13,459 |
9,999 |
| 2016 |
23,350 |
15,761 |
17,537 |
| 2017 |
47,425 |
21,513 |
43,250 |
| 2018 |
55,388 |
26,805 |
71,675 |
| 2019 |
58,378 |
42,491 |
87,270 |
| 2020* |
16,469 |
17,720 |
85,893 |
| *As of September 30, 2020 |
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