There’s now concern that planned staffing cuts at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) could impact the processing times of cases.
The agency confirmed to CityNews that it revealed plans to its staff to reduce its workforce by 3,300 positions.
The IRCC says it expects 80 per cent of the reductions can be made through reducing staffing commitments and its temporary workforce, while the remaining 20 per cent will affect what it calls “indeterminate employees.”
Rowan Fisher, the manager of the immigration division with the law firm Osuji and Smith, says processing times for permanent residency and sponsorship could take two years.
And with these reductions to staff, she wants to know who those 20 per cent are to understand how it will further impact processing and those employed.
“Are these people front-processing officers? Are there people who may talk on the phone with people about their issues with IRCC? Are these people who reply to web forums?” she said.
“If they are people who are in that line of communication, then absolutely it will impact processing and may have a detrimental effect on those processing delays that we are suffering at the moment.”
Watch: Canada’s immigration department cutting roughly 3,300 jobs over 3 years
Fisher says it’s unclear how those cuts will impact cases just yet, however, she adds it’s not the time for the government to cut immigration staff when there’s a backlog in the system.
“It is a system and it is a process with multiple steps and multiple people involved,” she said.
“If anyone is let go from IRCC from that 3,300 who are part of that chain of processing, not just that information officer but anyone involved in getting information to that information officer or giving that information to the deciding officer back to an applicant, that will absolutely impact the delays and processing times”
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For permanent residents, who’ve waited for years to obtain their PR status, the prospect of waiting longer than they need to apply for citizenship isn’t the most encouraging news.
“It’s difficult for citizenship, many people are stuck,” one woman told CityNews.
While IRCC did not specify to CityNews which roles would be affected, it said in a statement the reductions will affect every sector and every branch across the agency with all levels — including executives — impacted.
The agency says its staffing levels are being adjusted to reflect the reduced immigration levels the federal government is moving forward with.