Canada’s spy agency is processing more immigration security screening requests than ever before, and lawyers say the mounting backlog is leaving would-be citizens and permanent residents stuck in bureaucratic limbo, sometimes for years.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) received more than 538,000 screening requests from immigration and border officials in 2024, according to its latest annual report. That’s up from over 493,000 in 2023, and far above the roughly 300,000 requests it handled annually in the previous five years.
The sharp rise, driven in part by a surge in asylum claims, has swamped a system that immigration lawyers say is already opaque and under strain.