A significant backlog in Canada’s immigration processing system is wreaking havoc on the hopes of thousands of provincial nominees, with Ontario bearing the brunt of a growing backlog that’s left skilled workers and their families in a state of suspended life.
The Ontario’s Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), designed to speed up the arrival of economic immigrants in regions of the province that need workers the most, has been hugely impacted by the federal decision to slash Canada’s permanent resident intake target, and also a ballooning application backlog at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
As of February 28, IRCC was sitting on 842,600 permanent residence applications across its programs — including Express Entry and PNP streams — with only 57 per cent being processed within standard timelines.