News release
December 6, 2023—Ottawa—Canada is a top destination for people looking for a new place to work, study, travel and build their lives with their families. As we continue to receive high volumes of applications from around the world, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is committed to reducing wait times and finding ways to better serve our clients.
Today, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced the launch of a new global operations centre in Romania. The new centre is located within the Embassy of Canada in Bucharest and will be supported by 20 new employees, including both Canada-based and locally-engaged staff.
This is IRCC’s second global operations centre outside Canada—the first one opened this past March in the Philippines. These centres complement Canada’s processing network, extend the work day over multiple time zones, and help boost IRCC’s overall processing capacity for the benefit of applicants.
Canada’s immigration system is world class; however, migration trends are changing and the world is becoming increasingly complex. Adding resources, embracing new technology and streamlining processing is part of IRCC’s work to build the next generation of Canada’s immigration system.
Quotes
“Immigration is crucial to Canada’s economic growth and prosperity. Improving immigration processing capacity and client service is key to success in the global search for talent. I am glad that we are expanding our worldwide presence by opening a second global operations centre. This new centre will help support our goal of bringing people to Canada—whether to visit, study, work or stay permanently—and doing it faster.”
– The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Quick facts
- With the 2024–2026 Immigration Levels Plan, the Government of Canada is maintaining its target of 485,000 permanent residents for 2024 and plans to increase to 500,000 in 2025. Starting in 2026, the government plans to stabilize permanent resident levels at 500,000, allowing time for the successful integration of newcomers, while continuing to augment Canada’s labour market.
- Immigration accounts for almost 100% of Canada’s labour force growth and, by 2032, it’s projected to account for 100% of Canada’s population growth. Immigrants account for 36% of physicians, 33% of business owners with paid staff, and 41% of engineers in Canada.
- In 2022, IRCC processed approximately 5.2 million applications for permanent residence, temporary residence and citizenship. That’s double the number of applications processed in 2021.
- Since its launch in March, the Global Operations Centre (GOC) in Manila has marked significant achievements, including processing over 150,000 temporary resident applications from countries as diverse as the Philippines, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
