The minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the honourable Sean Fraser, announced the launch of a new digital case status tracker. This decision came after the Canadian Government’s recent announcement on modernizing Canada’s immigration system in order to improve client experience and support economic recovery. The new tracker makes it convenient for Family Class permanent residence applicants, sponsors, and their representatives to check their application status online.
In the initial phase, the tracker is launched for the permanent residence applicants in the spouse, partner, and dependent child categories. IRCC plans to introduce similar tools for other applicant groups as well. The department is continuously working towards improving and introducing multiple digital solutions for its clients.
The tracker enables applicants to stay updated with their application status and take required actions at the earliest for faster processing. It also increases transparency and answers all queries, reducing the need to contact an IRCC client service agent. Family class applicants can visit the Permanent Residence Family Class Application Tracker on the IRCC website and enter the required information associated with their file. The code to create a tracking account will be sent to the email address mentioned in the applicants’ file.
To demonstrate, this is how the tracker page appears:
The Permanent Residence Family Class Application Tracker is based on a similar tool launched by IRCC in May 2021, called the Citizenship Application Tracker. It helps clients stay on track with their application status and provide any required information faster.
IRCC has been effectively working to adjust with the situation after the pandemic started. They have introduced measures to improve the processing for permanent residence applications, including reuniting families. Other measures include digitizing files, processing applications remotely, conducting virtual interviews, using advanced analytics, launching a permanent residence portal for clients and representatives, and assigning an increased number of officers to make decisions on spousal applications.
In November 2020, a Permanent Residence Portal was introduced for Canadian applicants. This portal helped them go through the entire process without any physical interaction. Applicants can easily upload their documents from any device and IRCC can finalize their application to eventually send them a permanent resident card. The department also soft-launched an online application option in this portal for applicants and representatives of 15 permanent residence lines of business, including some pilot programs.
Their efforts have resulted in a reduced processing time for spousal sponsorship applications which has returned to the service standard of 12 months for new applications. Additionally, IRCC successfully welcomed 405,000 new permanent residents in 2021 – the greatest number of newcomers in a year in Canadian history.
Although the option to apply on paper is still available, the online option gives applicants more flexibility and comfort, especially during the Covid-19 period. Clients can also receive confirmation of their application submission on the portal immediately.
IRCC plans to launch more online application options on the portal for permanent residence clients in all programs by mid-2022.
