IRCC Introduces Automation to Speed Up Spousal and Partner Sponsorship Processing

Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is implementing advanced analytics and automated technology to speed up spousal and partner sponsorship applications under family class immigration.

New Tools for Faster Processing

IRCC has developed two new tools to make the process more efficient.

Applications Affected

These new tools will apply to all spousal and partner sponsorship applications, including those for spouses, common-law partners, and conjugal partners.

How the Tools Will Work

The application process has two parts:

1. Sponsorship Application: Submitted by a Canadian permanent resident or citizen.
2. Principal Applicant Application: Submitted by the person being sponsored.
   
   

• Sponsorship Tool: This tool will automatically identify cases that can be approved quickly. If an application cannot be approved automatically, it will be reviewed manually by an IRCC officer.
• Principal Applicant Tool: This tool will preliminarily check applicant eligibility. Routine cases will be forwarded for final approval. Non-routine cases will be reviewed manually.
  
  

These tools cannot make final decisions or refuse applications. A human officer will always have the final say.

Impact on Processing

IRCC assures that these tools comply with privacy and human rights standards. An impact assessment found the risk to be moderate, and IRCC will take extra measures to manage any potential issues.

In previous trials, similar technology helped process 98% of spousal temporary resident visa applications within 30 days.

Conclusion

By using these new tools, IRCC aims to make spousal and partner sponsorship applications faster and more efficient.