Thank you very much, Mr. Tilson.
Good morning. Thank you for the invitation to the Canadian Migration Institute to address immigration application backlogs in light of the action plan for faster immigration.
The Canadian Migration Institute was incorporated in 2007 to provide a platform for authorized immigration representatives--immigration consultants and lawyers--to work collaboratively to educate practitioners and to advocate for the public interest in the formation of immigration policy and procedures.
I have three themes that I would like to touch on this morning. One is the recent legislative effort to reform immigration management. The second is the phenomenon of new immigration backlogs and their impact on immigration program resources. Finally, I would like to address a few comments to immigration operational policy consultations and the opportunities for new ideas.
First, the Canadian Migration Institute strongly supports the legislative steps taken by the current government and Minister Kenney to bring in new legislation to address a Canadian immigration system that is stifled by lengthy processing queues, inflexible core programs, and slow bureaucratic immigration systems that have led to a backlog of nearly a million persons who are waiting for immigration to Canada.
The government has embarked on a series of legislative measures. These measures are to be commended. The government has begun a modernization process for the Canadian immigration system and has put in place strong measures to boost integrity and compliance.
The reality is that backlogs and bottlenecks within the Canadian immigration system are a result of years of accumulated applications. From a personal perspective, I recall a conversation I had nine years ago with an ADM of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. He identified the growing backlog of federal skilled workers as a pressing challenge facing the system. Clearly we have been slow to react to a problem that has been perceived and understood for some time.
It is unrealistic to expect that backlogs will disappear of their own volition or that even bold legislative efforts by the minister can provide instantaneous solutions. We are now on the correct path, but more needs to be done in policy and operational innovation if the problem of excessive demand for a scarce resource--a Canadian immigrant visa--is to be overcome.
I would like to talk a bit about a phenomenon we're seeing, which is the phenomenon of new backlogs and their impact on immigration program resources.
We are not, unfortunately, facing a static situation as we bring forward the action plan for faster immigration. The reality is that there are new backlogs developing even as we speak, as a result of two phenomena: the expansion of new and existing immigration programs, and the ongoing challenge of allocating scarce immigration program resources.
Backlogs are currently developing in the federal processing of applicants nominated under the provincial nomination programs; the Quebec immigration program, notably the Quebec investor program; and the family class sponsorship of spouses and partners under the FC1 program. Notably, the slow processing of FC1 family class spouses and partners is partially a result of the recent legislative modification of regulation 4.
The strong recent growth of the provincial nomination program has resulted in an influx of provincial nomination program nominated applications and a notable slowing of PNP class processing times to more than one year, even at efficient visa offices, such as the ones in Buffalo and London.
Our CMI fellows have also commented on the differential global processing times for family class spouse and partner processing. They range from six months at some visa posts to over 27 months at others for a program that is a high priority for family reunification and that also has a very high profile in the community.
In addition to permanent residence processing, visa offices also face backlogs in non-immigrant processing, notably in the live-in caregiver program. They are facing ongoing challenges matching resources to demand for non-immigrant services during peak periods.
Government personnel and other resources available for processing are a critical issue in these times of governmental resource restraints. CMI wishes to suggest that the time may be propitious to examine special operating agency status for immigration program delivery.
The principle in the operation of a special operating agency is that service provision should be supported by fees from applicants, not from taxpayers. Special operating agency status might provide increased autonomy and flexibility to manage the immigration program delivery system, while adhering to demanding performance standards.
CMI would also suggest that the time is right for the government to have a serious look at immigration processing fees in the economic immigration program, including an evaluation of the actual and real costs of processing.
As one example, the application fee for a federal investor application is currently $1,050. The fee for a similar application in Australia is more than $4,000; in the U.S., $4,000; and more than $3,500 in New Zealand. Even the British Columbia provincial nomination program charges a business application fee of $3,000. It is difficult to believe that our current federal economic immigration processing fees are reflecting the actual costs of our detailed application review and decision-making processes in this complex world.
A special operating agency, combined with fair fees for economic applications, might generate the management efficiency and financial and personnel resources to result in more effective and rapid processing, contributing to the action plan for faster immigration.
Finally, I'd like to talk a little bit about immigration operational and policy consultations.