Less than three weeks ago I commented on the increased delay in processing PR Card Renewals. The processing time had gone from roughly 40 days in January, to 80 days in April, to 171 days on July 16th.
The situation is not improving. According to CIC’s website, the current wait time is 193 days. CIC is currently processing applications that were received on February 8, 2010.
In Ming Pao I suggested that this might be due to an increase in the amount of people applying for PR Card renewals, as well as staffing changes at CIC.
Using data recently provided by CIC, I have come to the conclusion that the first explanation might not be true.
| Application Type | CALENDAR YEAR | ||||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Existing PRs | 50,602 | 28,704 | 20,206 | 16,699 | 12,242 |
| Renewal PRs | 1,200 | 1,597 | 28,639 | 204,355 | 168,511 |
| Replacement Card | 4,171 | 5,858 | 6,969 | 9,053 | 8,316 |
| Applications Returned by Client** | 58,112 | 21,765 | 24,609 | 65,042 | 76,288 |
This table shows a huge explosion in the number of applications to renew PR Cards in 2008. There is then a substantial decline in 2009.
| Application Type | YEAR TO DATE | ||
| 2009 (Jan-Mar) | 2010 (Jan-Mar) | % Change | |
| Existing PRs | 3,673 | 2,861 | -22% |
| Renewal PRs | 55,814 | 38,747 | -31% |
| Replacement Card | 2,190 | 2,057 | -6% |
| Applications Returned by Client** | 28,074 | 19,142 | -32% |
This second table shows that the decline is continuing in 2010. The number of applications to renew PR Cards that were received by CIC from Jan-March 2010 is 31% lower than during the same period in 2009. This data therefore suggests that the number of applications being received by CIC does not explain the huge increase in processing wait times.
Possible remaining explanations for the increased processing times include that the files are becoming increasingly complex as people develop increasingly complicated methods to fraud the system (such as through the creation of fake Canadian companies), or staffing issues at CIC (as suggested by Ming Pao).
[UPDATE]Also worth noting today is the fact that there has been an increased number of cases involving issues with people failing to properly sign a “use of representative” agreement. This was noted in Ming Pao, where I said that:
移民律師辛湉王(Steven Meurrens)指出，申請人說不清楚所委託代辦的律師或是顧問是誰，很可能讓移民官進一步對申請內容懷疑，因此申請人最好能提供委託代辦人的表格 (Use of A Representative)，並且應對代辦人的資料有清楚掌握，以免讓移民官產生不必要的懷疑。
辛湉王說，以中國王先生的個案來看，雖然他可能只是剛好無法說出代辦人的姓名，但移民官卻可以懷疑，如果申請人不知代辦人是誰，又未與代辦人見過面、說過話，要如何相信代辦人所填寫的資料屬實？