Canada has a huge immigration backlog with millions of people who have been waiting for over a year for their applications to be processed by the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). 

This endless wait puts PR applicants in limbo where they cannot make important life decisions. Some of the people on the backlog are away from their families for years, waiting for their applications to be finalized to be with their loved ones. This service delays cause extreme suffering for people on the backlog.

The IRCC has been presenting COVID and capacity restrictions as the main cause of this backlog. On the other hand, some groups of applicants have been prioritized. During the COVID, due to the travel restrictions, they prioritized Express Entry Canada Experience Class applications because most of them were already within Canada. Although it's not well-managed, this was understandable. After the travel restrictions were lifted, the IRCC Minister, Mr. Sean Fraser promised that the immigration backlogs will be addressed with increased resources. However, the IRCC keeps processing and finalizing newer PR applications made in the last quarter of 2021 and in 2022 while applications from 2019 and 2020 are still desperately waiting to be finalized. Some of the applications waited with no officer even touching them for durations exceeding a year while the newer applications were being processed within 2-3 months. The backlogs have never been addressed as a priority. 

Meanwhile, the Express Entry draws have been resumed on July 6, 2022, to accept more Express Entry PR applications. Unfortunately, Mr. Sean Fraser announced that these new applications will be processed at the IRCC's pre-COVID service standard of 6 months. This announcement has created further frustration for the PR applicants waiting in the backlog for years with the concern and anxiety that these newer applications will also be prioritized over the backlogs! Making such a promise for 6-month processing time for the newer applicants is not realistic, and definitely unfair to the people who have been waiting.

Processing the applications in consideration with the date of application is a must for the IRCC to regain the trust of these suffering people. It is now time to treat the prospective residents and citizens of this country as human beings with dignity rather than just numbers and statistics. 

Therefore, we, as the people suffering in the backlog and trying to live in limbo for years, urge the IRCC to stop prioritizing newer applications over the backlog and clear the backlogs before starting to process the most recent applications.