The Toronto Star reports that, despite controversial measures introduced two years ago to speed up Canada’s immigration process, a backlog of pending federal skilled worker permanent residence applications appears to be re-emerging.

On November 28, 2008, Immigration Minister issued Ministerial Instructions regarding the processing of federal skilled worker cases filed on or after February 27, 2008. Federal skilled worker applications submitted on or after this date were required to meet specific criteria before they would be accepted. Subject to certain exceptions, only cases filed by applicants falling under one of the 38 listed occupations were eligible to apply. These Ministerial Instructions were considered controversial but were deemed necessary to eliminate the excessive backlog of pending cases.

According to an analysis of data provided by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”), the average processing time from all visa posts is 7-1/2 years, with 600,000 people in the queue for the 80,055 skilled immigrant visas granted in 2010. The problem, immigration critics say, is twofold: (a) longer waits as the government slowly sifts through the old backlog of applications that still runs in the hundreds of thousands, and (b) a glut of applications to the 38 specific job categories introduced in 2008.

“We have a growing inventory because we have an oversupply of eager candidates,” said Richard Kurland, a Vancouver-based immigrant lawyer and policy analyst who obtained the data. “The processing time is going to balloon. This is an early warning of a backlog returning.”

To reduce the volume of applications, Kurland said Ottawa needs to trim the occupation list and install a warning system that alerts officials to remove a job category when it generates too many applications. “It may be unpopular politically, but the immigration minister needs to fix this,” Kurland said. CIC just announced this month plans to review labour market needs to update the occupation list.

CIC spokesperson Kelli Fraser acknowledged this week that between March 2008 and now, the department has received 327,843 skilled immigrant applications for the 38 occupations, everything from geologists and specialist physicians to chefs and plumbers. But she said 80% of decisions have been made within seven months or less.

Visa offices facing high workloads include Damascus in Syria, Guatemala, Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, and Kingston, Jamaica. The old backlog has been reduced by 40 per cent from 640,000 to roughly 400,000 applicants, she said. Under the old rules, a skilled immigrant application took four to five years to process; “given the size of the backlog, it cannot be reduced overnight,” said Fraser.

The full article appears here.

According to the Globe and Mail, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is kicking off a major overhaul of the country’s refugee system by increasing the number of people Canada accepts from UN-designated refugee camps overseas. Mr. Kenney said Canada is now prepared to accept 2,500 extra refugees selected by the United Nations, bringing its annual total to 14,500 coming from refugee camps and urban slums.

“Millions of people have fled violence and persecution to seek refuge outside their home countries and we would like to do more to provide them with protection in Canada,” Mr. Kenney said in a statement. The government will sponsor 500 of the new places. The other 2000 will be under the Private Sponsorhip of Refugees Program, which allows church and community groups as well as individuals to bring in designated refugees.

Ottawa will also increase funding to resettle this group, adding $9-million a year to an existing budget of $45-million. This would be the first permanent funding increase in a decade.

Mr. Kenney said he will follow up the announcement by tabling far-reaching legislation on Tuesday, targeted mainly at people claiming refugee status after they arrive in Canada. That package aims to speed up the approval system for refugee claimants who come to Canada looking for asylum by efficiently sorting out legitimate refugees from those who are trying to abuse Canada’s system.

Under the new legislation, refugee claimants would be sorted into two groups — those from democratic countries deemed safe, and those from more dangerous spots. The safe-country people would be fast-tracked, but would still have access to a full hearing. Bureaucrats, rather than political appointees, would handle the initial decisions. The bill would also set up a new, more robust appeals system, allowing those who are turned down to introduce new evidence before they are ejected from Canada.

Mr. Kenney wants to get rid of the huge backlog of refugee claimants who often have to wait up to two years before their legal limbo is cleared up. He also wants to close loopholes in the system that allow posers to play the system and stay in Canada for years.

He announced the increase in UN-designated refugees as a way to “balance” the crackdown on refugee claimants within Canada. “We have been clear that Parliament enacting balanced reforms to our asylum system will be met by more government help for refugees living in desperate circumstances around the world and in urgent need of resettlement,” Mr. Kenney said.

The federal government says there are about 10.5 million UN-designated refugees living in camps and urban slums around the world. Canada is responsible for settling about one in 10 of these refugees, and is the world’s second-largest provider of such protection, after the United States.

The full article is available here.