Canada is expecting a huge turn out once the restrictions on international travel are relaxed. This information is revealed on a document released by the federal government website. The document invites vendors who can help modernize the present Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The government expects the vendors to improvise and modernize the process of immigrant applications so it can meet the expected spike of immigrants in the country once the global restrictions on travel are abrogated.

The coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the IRCC operations, declares the document and is further expected to impact the immigration system. IRCC has introduced many special measures to support application processing for foreign nationals during this time. However, IRCC has been dealing diligently with temporary foreign visitors, workers, international students, permanent residents, citizenship applicants, refugees, asylum claimants, and Canadian citizens.

In spite, many operating IRCC centers have either shut down or are operating at significantly reduced capacity owing to the pandemic which severely reduced the operations at IRCC. By developing new strategies, processes, and digital systems, IRCC seeks to proactively enhance and upgrade its functioning and fulfill its mandate.

IRCC is seeking help for the following procedures for immigration system-

• Develop tools and technologies to rapidly increase IRCC’s operational capacity to handle current manual application processing challenges and the anticipated surge in applications.
• Develop digital tools to address social distancing requirements through digital solutions (e.g., online citizenship testing, visa and citizenship applications etc.)
• Provide digital technology solutions for IRCC’s case management system
• Strengthen and upgrade cyber security
• To automate processes to deal with complex immigration applications 
• Incorporate data analytics solutions to avail insights on operational volumes and processing capacities to effectively respond to changes post pandemic

Despite the slowing down of immigration process, Canada is set to welcome about a million immigrants as per the 2020-2022 plan. In addition, Canada continues to fold express entry and Provincial Nominee Program and draws, besides processing study and work permits, and enabling entry for immediate family  in the country. 

By improvising, upgrading and modernizing the current operating processes, IRCC is set to enable itself to handle a large rush of immigrants, permanent and temporary applicants once the global situation eases in terms of health and economic front.