Speeding up the processing of spousal sponsorship applications

In these painful times of uncertainty, finally good news. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) have announced measures to speed up the processing of spousal sponsorship applications and thereby reduce couples' wait times, and to achieve this (IRCC) has developed the next measure:

• 66% increase in the number of decision-makers reviewing spousal sponsorship applications.
• New technology implemented to digitize paper-based applications to facilitate the processing of applications by IRCC employees working from home or other workplaces.
• Implementation of biometric facilitation measures.
• Use of technology to conduct virtual interviews with applicants.

The objective is to examine 6,000 spousal sponsorship applications per month, from October to December 2020, in addition to the processing of applications that are already in progress, which will make a total of 49,000 applications processed by the end of the year 2020.