Thousands of students are stuck in Canada’s immigration backlog. What’s being done?

With the start of another academic year around the corner, thousands of international students are in limbo waiting to find out if they’ll be able to enter Canada in time for in-person classes.

Nearly 169,000 students are awaiting Canadian approval of their study permit applications, as of Aug. 15, according to the latest figures from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) shared with Global News Thursday.

It is unclear how many of those applicants were due to begin classes next month.

Federal data shows that as of the end of July, 34 per cent of pending international student visa applications were taking longer to process than government standards dictate.

“Despite the prioritizing of study permit applications for students looking to begin their studies in September, it is expected that some international students may not have their application processed on time to begin their studies in person for the fall 2022 intake period,” said Nancy Caron, a spokesperson for IRCC.

More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration applications to come to Canada continue to face delays.

However, the IRCC is projecting wait times will reduce in the coming months, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser on Wednesday during a news conference in Vancouver, B.C.

The agency is hopeful it will return to normal processing times for study and work permits by the end of the year, Fraser said.

“We’re going to have a dramatically improved situation by the end of this year,” he told reporters.

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But that is not fast enough for those eager to start the academic year – and Canadian universities are urging the federal government to expedite the visa process.

At the University of British Columbia, as of August, roughly 500 out of 4,000 new international students had indicated they were experiencing visa processing delays, but that number could be higher, and it’s fluctuating daily, said UBC spokesperson Matthew Ramsey.

“We are actively working to ensure they have options, including online course materials or deferrals,” he said in an email Thursday.

The University of Toronto, which is preparing for mostly in-person classes this fall, is also granting deferrals to all eligible students who are not able to arrive in Canada due to study permit delays.

“The number of students contacting their registrars with study permit concerns is higher than usual, but an exact number of impacted students isn’t yet known,” a U of T spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The University of Manitoba has also raised concerns with the provincial and federal governments regarding processing times and eliminating the current backlog of student visa applications.

“Some of the impacted students might choose to defer their start date to the winter term or re-apply for admission next year,” Sean Moore, a U of M spokesperson said.

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While travel restrictions and other constraints brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as updating aging technology, have caused long delays, a record number of applications and the war in Ukraine this year have only added to the inventory backlog, according to the government.

So far this year, IRCC has processed almost 360,000 study visas, a 17 per cent increase over the same period in 2021.

Fraser said the immigration department is processing more study permits than ever before, and the delays are being driven by the huge increase in demand.

“We are trying to get as many people here for their start date as possible,” he told The Canadian Press in an interview Wednesday.

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Amid the uncertainty, universities are trying to offer options and support to accepted students.

“We recognize how challenging this is for these students and are working with them on an individual basis to find the best solutions based on their program of study and unique situations,” said Lise Laporte, senior director of Western International.

At the University of Waterloo, approximately 1,600 international first-year students accepted their offer this year.

Many instructors at the university will be making available a remote option for students who are unable to make it to the Canada at the start of the term because of visa delays, the university said.

“For any international student that wishes to defer their admission, we have extended the international student deferral deadline to Sept. 27, 2022,” it added. The previous deadline was Aug. 31.

At the federal level, international students studying online from abroad or who submit a study permit application no later than Aug. 31, 2022, will continue to be able to complete up to 100 per cent of their program online without affecting their post-graduation work permit eligibility, the IRCC announced Thursday.

To address the massive backlogs, the IRCC is in the midst of a hiring spree to bring 1,250 new employees on board by the end of the fall, Fraser announced on Wednesday.

To increase transparency, going forward, the department will also provide monthly updates on the number of applications in-process, completed and those that have exceeded the service standard time, Fraser said.

— With files from The Canadian Press