The Canadian Employee Relocation Council (CERC), a not-for-profit that is particularly interested in workforce mobility matters, conducted a survey during the month of June 2022. A total of 33 organizations that regularly access the International Mobility Program (IMP) responded to the survey. It is the second edition of a comparable survey from January 2021.

Between June and July, the overall backlog of applicants at IRCC grew from 2.4 million to 2.7 million, a 12% increase. Over that same time the backlog for temporary foreign workers grew by 21% from 408,733 to 493,746 applicants. The backlog is driving up processing times well in excess of IRCC’s service standards.

However, 97% of respondents’ operations will be negatively impacted by the IRCC’s processing delays in the following year. As a result of processing delays, almost 94% of organisations terminated or delayed projects. Revenue losses as a result of delays affect 55% of the firms. A number of Canadian universities took part in the poll, and 29 percent of them reported delaying or cancelling research projects in addition to educational programmes.

According to the CERC poll, it will be crucial for Canadian employers to quickly access overseas talent if they want to restore their country’s economy after a pandemic. Immigration will be a crucial tactic in weathering a potential recession, experts also concur.