Introduction

Background

9.1 Canada welcomes permanent residents with the aims of driving economic growth, reuniting families, and upholding humanitarian values. There are 3 broad categories of permanent resident programs:

• Economic Class—for people who have the skills and experience to meet Canada’s current economic and labour needs
• Family Class—for the sponsorship of spouses, common‑law and conjugal partners, dependent and adoptive children, parents, grandparents, and other eligible relatives
• Refugee and Humanitarian Class—for people seeking protection from violence or fleeing precarious or unsafe environments and for people in exceptional circumstances applying on humanitarian and compassionate grounds

9.2 Each year, Canada sets numerical targets for new permanent resident admissions under the Immigration Levels Plan. Since 2018, these numbers have been climbing (Exhibit 9.1), and every year except 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has met this target. In 2022, the department met the admission target of 431,645 new permanent residents, surpassing its previous record in 2021. In 2025, it expects to welcome 500,000.

9.3 The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act sets out objectives for consistent standards, prompt processing, and fair and efficient procedures for Canada’s immigration programs. However, the department has publicly reported that prospective immigrants can experience long processing times.

9.4 The coronavirus disease (COVID‑19)^{Definition 1} pandemic significantly affected Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s processing operations. In 2020, the department temporarily closed its processing centres in Canada and abroad. Applicants faced global travel restrictions and limited access to visa application centres, immigration medical exams, biometrics collection, and the documents required to support their applications. At the end of 2021, the department reported processing delays in all of its permanent resident programs and an accumulation of more than 800,000 applications across these programs.

9.5 In the 2021–22 fiscal year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spent approximately $254 million to deliver its permanent resident programs. To support its growing admission targets, address ongoing application backlogs, and speed up processing, the government allocated separate funding in each of the following years:

• $62 million over 5 years starting in the 2020–21 fiscal year and $15 million ongoing
• $183 million over 5 years starting in the 2021–22 fiscal year and $36 million ongoing
• $430 million over 5 years starting in the 2022–23 fiscal year and $101 million ongoing

In addition, in the 2022–23 fiscal year, the government allocated another $28 million to reduce application backlogs and processing times.

9.6 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The department is responsible for overseeing the efficiency and integrity of Canada’s immigration system. It receives applications for permanent residence, verifies documents, makes eligibility and admissibility decisions, and communicates with applicants about their applications. The department also develops and implements policies and procedures related to immigration.

Focus of the audit

9.7 This audit focused on whether Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada processed applications for permanent residence efficiently and promptly to support Canada’s economic, family reunification, and humanitarian goals. We looked at how efficiently the department processed applications in 8 permanent resident programs. This included examining how the department managed its inventory of applications and what strategies it used to address processing delays, including those resulting from the COVID‑19 pandemic.

9.8 We also examined the department’s processing capacity and workload distribution across its offices and programs and its ongoing transition to online processing.

9.9 Efficiently and promptly processing permanent resident applications supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 10—Reduced Inequalities—specifically target 10.3, which relates to equal opportunities and outcomes, and target 10.7, which relates to the orderly, safe, regular, and responsible migration and mobility of people.

9.10 More details about the audit objective, scope, approach, and criteria are in About the Audit at the end of this report.

Findings and Recommendations

Processing times improved but not for all applicants

9.11 This finding matters because Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has committed to reducing long wait times and backlogs for applicants to permanent resident programs. Prompt processing supports the government’s priorities of economic growth, family reunification, and refugee resettlement—a humanitarian value.

9.12 In addition, people who apply to Canada’s permanent resident programs should benefit from the government’s efforts to improve processing speeds regardless of their country of citizenship or the office where their application is sent for processing.

9.13 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada administers about 50 permanent resident programs across the economic, family, and refugee and humanitarian classes. We examined 8 programs that account for the majority of the permanent resident applications that Canada finalizes each year in each class (Exhibit 9.2).

9.14 The Immigration Levels Plan sets out admission targets across permanent resident programs, which thereby helps to determine the total number of applications that can be finalized each year. The size of the department’s application inventory^{Definition 2} depends on admission targets and on the number of new applications submitted. Select economic class programs limit the number of applications that can be submitted, but most family class and refugee and humanitarian class programs do not. This can cause the number of applications in the inventory to far exceed the annual admission targets, which affects processing times and backlog^{Definition 3} sizes, particularly for refugees.

9.15 As a general operating principle, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada aims to process applications in each permanent resident program on a first‑in‑first‑out basis, meaning that cases should be processed in the order that applications are submitted. This principle may not be applied in certain circumstances, such as in the case of special measures programs that prioritize certain applications; for example, the Special Immigration Measures Program for Afghan nationals.

9.16 The department has also established service standards^{Definition 4} for several programs, which are meant to give applicants a realistic estimate of when to expect a decision after they submit an application. The department aims to meet its service standards for 80% of submitted applications and considers an application to be backlogged if its processing time does not meet the standard. For programs without service standards, the department uses an expected processing time of 12 months for analysis and reporting.

9.17 Exhibit 9.3 provides a simplified view of the application process for permanent resident programs. Processing time starts as soon as a completed application is received and ends once the final decision is made.

Service standards not met across programs

9.18 We found that in 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada improved its processing times for most of the permanent resident programs we examined. Economic class applicants experienced the greatest improvement among all 3 immigration classes. Family class applicants also experienced improved processing times, with newer applications making up the majority of the applications processed. However, processing times remained long in refugee and humanitarian programs, with applicants waiting almost 3 years for a decision at the end of 2022 (Exhibit 9.4).

9.19 Despite meeting the overall admission target and improved processing times in its economic class and family class programs, we found that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not meet its service standards for the majority of applications in 2022 for the programs we examined (Exhibit 9.5).

9.20 We also found that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not consistently process applications on a first‑in‑first‑out basis contrary to its operating principle. In 2022, newer applications were finalized ahead of older ones in all 8 programs we examined. For example, in the family class, more than 21,000 applications were finalized within 6 months of being received, ahead of at least 25,000 older applications that remained in the inventory at the end of the year. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s own analysis also found that the lack of adherence to this principle occurred across programs, and it identified operational pressure to finalize large volumes of applications to meet the Immigration Levels Plan as a key contributing factor.

9.21 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has experienced long‑standing challenges in meeting its service standards for its permanent resident programs. When the department last reviewed its service standards for processing applications in 2019, it identified that some needed to be updated considering the increased application volumes. However, we found that none had been reviewed or updated.

9.22 Service standards for processing times were not in place for refugee applications, contrary to Treasury Board directives that require any identified service to have a service standard. The department identifies both of the refugee programs we examined as services, but it had no plan to set service standards as required.

9.23 The department’s ability to meet service standards is also affected by the size of the application inventory relative to admission targets. From March 2020 through 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada continued to accept applications to its permanent resident programs. But with office closures and travel restrictions, the volume of applications in its inventory grew. At the start of 2022, the volume of applications in the inventory for the majority of programs we examined already exceeded the number of applications that could be processed to meet admission targets (Exhibit 9.6).

9.24 The minister has authority to apply intake controls^{Definition 5} through the issuance of Ministerial Instructions for permanent resident programs (excluding overseas refugees). During 2022, no instructions were issued to apply intake controls under this authority for the programs we examined. Recent legislative amendments (as of June 2023) also allow the use of Ministerial Instructions to limit intake of private sponsorship of refugee applications. Also, for its Express Entry programs, the department has the authority to limit the number of applications submitted through intake controls. For example, during 2022, the department applied intake controls for the Federal Skilled Worker Program to reduce inventories and backlogs and position its return to meeting its service standard for new applicants.

9.25 In addition to its service standards, in March 2022, the department began providing the expected processing times online for many of its permanent resident programs. However, this information was calculated using the wait times experienced by applicants whose files had been finalized within the preceding 6 months. It did not consider the volumes of applications that had been received or were backlogged, both of which significantly influence expected processing times.

9.26 To provide applicants with clear expectations of the likely timelines for a decision, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada should establish achievable and reliable service standards for the processing of permanent resident applications, including for its refugee programs. In addition, online information on expected processing times should be provided for all permanent resident applications and consider the volume and age of applications already in its inventories.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

Persistent backlogs, particularly for refugee programs

9.27 We found that in 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada succeeded in reducing the number of backlogged applications in both its economic class and family class programs. For example, in the Federal Skilled Worker Program (an economic class program), the number of backlogged applications fell to 8,200 in December 2022 from 57,500 in January 2022 (Exhibit 9.7).

9.28 Although the department reduced the number of backlogged applications, we found that a substantial number of applications across all programs remained backlogged at the end of 2022. The department aims to process 80% of applications within its service standards. However, the volume of applications that remained backlogged at the end of 2022 far exceeded 20% in all programs. For example, for the Provincial Nominee Program (Express Entry), Exhibit 9.7 shows that at the start of 2022, 83% of applications were backlogged, and at the end of the year, 50% were backlogged.

9.29 We also found that the age of backlogged applications increased across all programs, indicating that the department finalized many newer applications over older ones. For example, in the Provincial Nominee program (Express Entry), the age of applications remaining in the backlog had increased from 12 to 20 months, while in the Sponsored Spouse or Common‑Law Partner in Canada Program, the age rose from 27 to 47 months.

9.30 Furthermore, we found that the department made little progress in reducing its aging backlogs in the refugee programs we examined. Refugees continued to face the longest average wait times among all 3 permanent resident classes. At the end of 2022, about 99,000 refugee applications were still waiting to be processed, and many applicants will wait years for a decision in the current processing environment. The department’s ability to reduce backlogs in these programs is limited by the number of refugee program admissions allowed under the Immigration Levels Plan. For example, at the beginning of 2022, the number of applications to the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program waiting to be processed was already 3 times higher than the number of refugees the department could admit that year, and it received 20,000 new applications. The combined effect limits the department’s ability to reduce its aging backlog (see Exhibit 9.6).

9.31 We also found differences in the size and age of application backlogs by country of citizenship in 7 of the 8 permanent resident programs we examined. These differences were most prevalent in the Government‑Assisted Refugees Program, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, and the Overseas Sponsored Spouse or Common‑Law Partner Program.

9.32 For example, in the Government‑Assisted Refugees Program, more than half of the applications submitted by citizens of Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were backlogged. In comparison, only one third of the applications submitted by citizens from Syria were backlogged. These 3 countries had the highest volumes of applications submitted under the Government‑Assisted Refugees Program. The limited capacity in offices tasked with processing these applications was a contributing factor. (See paragraphs 9.44 to 9.53 for further details).

9.33 Because refugee applicants reside outside their countries of citizenship, the conditions in the countries where they reside also affect the processing of their applications. Department officials told us that processing time can be longer for some applicants because of conditions unique to their country of residence—for example, an officer’s inability to conduct interviews in remote or dangerous locations. Applicants may also encounter delays in obtaining the necessary documents, such as a medical exam, to support their application. We noted that some offices developed solutions to help overcome these challenges, such as screening tools to determine whether interviews were actually required or arranging for virtual interviews (when Internet and interpretation services were available).

9.34 We also found that the department did not track or analyze application processing times or backlogs by country of citizenship. It used a gender‑based analysis plus^{Definition 6} assessment to understand the gender composition of new admissions, but this analysis did not look for differential outcomes in processing times on the basis of gender or other intersecting identity factors, such as race or citizenship or country of residence.

9.35 In 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada committed to identifying and addressing systemic discrimination and barriers in its policies, programs, and initiatives. Its Anti‑Racism Strategy 2.0 (2021–2024) outlined its commitment to identify and address differential outcomes for applicants, including the use of race‑based and ethnocultural information to assess disparities in processing times. We found that the department does not collect information from applicants in a manner that allows it to identify such disparities. Furthermore, the department had no plans or timelines in place to do so, despite its Anti‑Racism Strategy commitment to monitor for differential outcomes by 31 March 2024.

9.36 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada should take immediate steps to identify and address differential wait times to support timely processing for all applicants across permanent resident programs, as it works within the annual admission targets set by the Immigration Levels Plan. Furthermore, it should develop and implement a plan to collect race‑based and ethnocultural information from applicants directly in order to address any racial disparities in wait times.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

Frequently stalled applications

9.37 We found that backlogged applications often experienced multiple delays with long periods of inactivity from the time they were submitted. Applications were frequently delayed for a number of reasons (Exhibit 9.8). Although some of these were under applicants’ control (such as taking a long time to submit requested information or documents), we found that 4 of the 5 most frequent reasons for delays stemmed from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s inventory management practices. On average, each delay stalled applications by 4 months to a year or more.

9.38 Across all programs, applications frequently waited in the queue before the initial processing even began. This caused the longest delays for refugee applicants: We found that these applications sat untouched for 15 to 20 months (on average) before being prepared for an initial eligibility assessment. Application delays in economic and family class programs ranged from 4 to 10 months (on average).

9.39 We also found that delays occurred frequently throughout 2022, even after backlogged applications were opened to assess eligibility. We found that at this stage, officers were often slow to request required information from applicants and to assess what had been received.

9.40 Under permanent resident admission targets, officers finalize a fixed number of applications each year. Additionally, officers may be reassigned to other programs or priorities, resulting in delays for some applications in progress. We note that a delay increased the likelihood that documentation would be needed to process an application, causing further delays. For example, in more than one third of the backlogged applications we examined, we found that applicants’ immigration medical exams had expired. (This problem was particularly prevalent in family class programs for overseas family members.)

9.41 Some delays occurred for reasons outside the department’s control, such as the need to wait for information from applicants or decisions from security partners. Security‑related delays occurred in about 5% of the applications in our sample.

9.42 To direct applications through processing, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada uses a series of electronic file codes, including the identification codes of former employees. We examined nearly 6,000 applications for permanent residence and found that 57 (about 1%) were assigned to codes of former employees. All were delayed as a result, with delays ranging from 4 to 22 months. We brought these applications to the department’s attention, and all were reassigned by the end of our audit. We did not find that the department’s use of other electronic file codes caused other delays.

9.43 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada should examine backlogged applications to identify and action processing delays within its control, including waiting for officer actions or follow‑up. The department should also prioritize the finalization of older backlogged applications while working to achieve the annual admission targets set by the Immigration Levels Plan.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

Despite increased resources, backlogs persisted in some offices

9.44 This finding matters because Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s efforts to improve processing and reduce backlogs should benefit program applicants regardless of the office where their application is sent for processing.

9.45 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has approximately 2,600 staff processing applications for permanent residence in 87 offices located in Canada and abroad. Each office is assigned a target number of applications to process each year on the basis of the volume of applications submitted in its assigned geographic region. Under the department’s resourcing plan, office capacity is meant to match assigned processing volumes. An applicant’s location at the time of submission determines the office where their application is sent for processing. All offices are subject to the same service standards for processing applications. The department relies on short‑term measures, like temporary assignments and overtime work, to supplement capacity when needed.

Different processing capacities in different offices

9.46 We found that some applicants experienced longer wait times than others because of the office where their application was sent for processing. In 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada received additional funding to improve processing times and reduce backlogs, and it hired nearly 1,000 new employees across its processing offices. However, we still found large variations in processing times and backlogs by office.

9.47 We found that backlogs accumulated in some offices in Canada and abroad that had fewer staff to process applications. For example, almost half of the backlogged applications to the Government‑Assisted Refugees Program and the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program were in the Nairobi (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) offices. However, even with additional temporary officers in 2022, the Nairobi office had about half the staff but almost double the assigned workload of the Ankara (Turkey) office. Similarly, the Dar es Salaam office had a comparable number of staff but 5 times the assigned workload of the Rome (Italy) office.

9.48 The department recognized that its offices in sub‑Saharan Africa were chronically under‑resourced. Nevertheless, it continued to assign its sub‑Saharan African offices some of the highest processing volumes for family and refugee programs, and it had no immediate plan to resolve the high levels of backlogged applications and longer wait times for these applicants.

9.49 With digital applications, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada can redistribute aging applications to offices with available capacity to facilitate timelier processing. However, we found family class and refugee class applications were not transferred out of the Dar es Salaam or Nairobi offices—which both have high workload and application backlogs. Furthermore, department officials told us that they had no plans to transfer backlogged applications to other offices with available capacity, leaving these applicants to wait even longer.

9.50 We also found that offices in sub‑Saharan Africa were unable to meet some of their assigned targets for family and refugee programs in 2022, further disadvantaging applicants directed to those offices for processing. For example, in the Government‑Assisted Refugees Program, officials told us that other, better‑resourced offices, such as those in the Middle East, were asked to exceed their assigned targets with their own application workloads, in order to meet the Immigration Levels Plan.

9.51 In 2016, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced its transition to capacity‑based processing—whereby application workloads would be moved according to available capacity across its offices. The department identified this change as key to alleviating excess demand on some offices, decreasing regional disparities in processing times, and reducing backlogs. We found that the department did not transition to capacity‑based processing and continued to assign workloads to offices based on application volumes in their assigned geographical region, without regard to their available capacity to process these applications. As a result, regional backlogs continued to accumulate in the overseas family and refugee classes in some offices with limited capacity.

9.52 In addition, we found fundamental gaps in the department’s information about the processing capacity within its offices: The department did not know whether these offices had the resources they needed to process the volumes of applications assigned to them. In our opinion, the department cannot move to effective capacity‑based processing without reliable information on where capacity exists. At the time of our audit, the department was still exploring options to track capacity by office to better support timely processing. It expected to begin this tracking in 2026—10 years after the department said that it had shifted to capacity‑based processing.

9.53 To improve consistency of application processing times across its offices, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada should match assigned workloads with available resources, and it should support these decisions with reliable information on the available capacity within its offices. It should act immediately to address application backlogs that have accumulated in certain offices with limited capacity.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

New digital tools did not benefit programs or applicants evenly

9.54 This finding matters because new digital tools are meant to increase processing efficiency and reduce wait times for all program applicants. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada should know whether its tools are working as intended, monitor for unintended negative effects on applicants, and reduce these effects when they arise.

9.55 Because of the COVID‑19 pandemic, the department moved to a digital processing environment more quickly than anticipated. Its Digital Platform Modernization initiative—meant to help the department shift from paper‑based applications to using online portals and digital processing for all permanent resident applications—was planned for implementation by 2026. The closure of processing offices at the onset of the pandemic created the need to rapidly shift to online application submissions and processing. At the time, permanent resident programs outside of the Express Entry system were largely paper‑based.

9.56 In April 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada launched the Permanent Residence Portal—an interim solution to allow applicants to submit their applications and documents electronically. The portal opened in select economic class and family class programs first. By October 2022, digital submission was mandatory for all applicants to all programs in these classes (with exceptions made for applicants unable to submit digitally). The department also converted most incoming paper applications and some existing paper‑based inventories to digital formats for processing. It had digitized more than 180,000 paper applications by early 2023.

9.57 To reduce processing times and backlogs, the department introduced an automated eligibility‑assessment tool in the Sponsored Spouse or Common‑Law Partner in Canada Program in April 2021. This tool uses established criteria to assess applicants’ and sponsors’ eligibility and triage applications into 2 categories. Applications that meet these criteria receive an automatic pass on the eligibility assessment and are moved forward for further processing. Those that do not meet the criteria are passed to an officer who conducts the eligibility assessment manually. In both cases, applications are reviewed manually for admissibility and final decisions are made by an officer.

9.58 The tool’s stated purpose is to allocate some of the time saved through automation to applications that require manual assessment to reduce overall wait times for all applicants. The department had already begun expanding the use of similar tools across other permanent resident programs, including the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program toward the end of our audit period in December 2022.

Differential wait times

9.59 In developing the automated eligibility‑assessment tool for the Sponsored Spouse or Common‑Law Partner in Canada Program, we found that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada assessed the results of the tool as required by Treasury Board’s Directive on Automated Decision‑Making. The department also conducted required impact mitigation exercises, including a peer review and a gender‑based analysis plus assessment, and established a quality assurance plan to verify that the tool produced the same decision that an officer would.

9.60 Using the tool to triage applicants into 2 groups—1 that automatically passed the eligibility assessment and 1 that would need an officer to conduct a manual eligibility assessment—was intended to not significantly or disproportionately affect applicants, as long as resources were reallocated to maintain roughly equal processing times across the 2 groups. However, once implemented, the department did not monitor whether the tool succeeded in reducing overall processing times for all applicants as intended.

9.61 We found that applications that received an automated eligibility decision were finalized, on average, about 2 months faster than those that did not (Exhibit 9.9). The department was aware that, in order to meet increased admission targets, applications automatically deemed eligible by the tool were being finalized more quickly while those that were manually processed for eligibility were being left behind. However, it did not have a plan to reduce this differential impact to the extent possible.

9.62 We also found that applicants from certain countries of citizenship were directed to manual processing by the tool at higher rates and experienced longer than average processing times. For example, almost all applications from individuals with Haitian citizenship were routed to manual processing, and applicants waited twice as long for a final decision. At the same time, applications from other countries of citizenship, including India and South Korea, received automated eligibility decisions at higher rates and experienced faster than average processing times.

9.63 We note that applications that are sent to manual processing by the tool may be more complex because of country‑specific conditions, resulting in delays and longer processing times. However, the department had not examined the extent to which application complexity affects processing times, nor had it allocated sufficient additional resources to reduce the delays experienced by some groups of applicants.

9.64 To support timely processing for all applicants, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada should examine differential outcomes in processing times related to the implementation of automated decision‑making tools and reduce these disparities to the extent possible, including by reallocating sufficient resources to applications directed to manual processing.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

Access to online portals to shorten processing times not available to applicants in refugee programs

9.65 We found that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada expanded access to online application portals across 20 permanent resident programs in 2021 and 2022. Previously, only applicants to the 4 programs in the Economic Class’s Express Entry system could submit their applications through an online portal. We found that the benefits of this transition to online portals began to be realized in 2022. For example, in the Provincial Nominee Program (Non‑Express Entry), we found that applications submitted through the portal in early 2022 were more likely to be finalized within the year than those submitted in paper form.

9.66 However, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not implement an online portal for its refugee programs. Most applications for these programs are submitted electronically by unsecure email and entered into the department’s processing system manually, presenting privacy and security risks and inefficiencies. The department first identified the need for an online application portal to address these concerns in 2016; however, solutions were repeatedly delayed because of shifting priorities within the department. By the end of our audit, an online portal for the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program was planned for launch in late 2023. An online application portal for all Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada services, including the Government‑Assisted Refugees Program, is planned for the end of 2024 under the department’s Digital Platform Modernization initiative.

9.67 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada should implement without further delay online application portals for its refugee programs, while also working to complete its Digital Platform Modernization initiative.

The department’s response. Agreed.

See Recommendations and Responses at the end of this report for detailed responses.

Conclusion

9.68 We concluded that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada improved the processing of permanent resident applications in 2022 but was still far from meeting its service standards for prompt processing. Across the programs we examined, the department reduced the volume of backlogged applications that had accumulated over the course of the pandemic, but a significant backlog remained.

9.69 Despite receiving additional resources in 2022 to improve overall processing times and reduce backlogs, processing offices in some regions continued to face significant backlogs.