Cuts in immigration staff do not reduce application backlogs

by Michael Scott

As a long-time civil servant, I was disappointed to read about the efforts in Canada to decrease the number of workers in my former department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. In January of this year IRCC announced its intention to cut approximately 3,300 jobs over the next three years, representing about a quarter of its workforce. These cuts are a result of the Refocusing Government Spending plan, which aims to reduce spending to pre-pandemic levels.

The reduction of staff is linked to the lower immigration targets set by the minister in the 2026 to 2028 Immigration Levels Plan announced on November 5, 2025. The cuts were not as arbitrarily applied as the example of DOGE south of the border under Elon Musk who cut thousands without any apparent understanding of their work nor the impact of the job cuts on the users. Even though the Canadian approach to cutting government funding appears structured and reasonable, it does have an impact of the morale and working conditions of IRCC staff and the delivery of efficient processing services for the users.

• The cuts in staff were not immediate but started in mid-February and were intended to take a few months. Approximately 80 per cent of the reduction was expected to come from eliminating planned temporary and term positions, while the remaining 20 per cent would come from reducing permanent (indeterminate) employees. The question is how IRCC can manage the reductions through workforce adjustment processes.
• The potential impact is asking staff to do more in terms of their job responsibilities. I can remember as a staff member, we were given cups with the caption that said we staff were the most valuable resources. Our collective response was to suggest that the decision makers sit on the cups. I am not sure if IRCC has started a campaign to get workers on their side in this action, but they should be more respectful of the staff and not give those slogans or platitudes. Rather they should give concrete steps for meeting the departmental demands in a proactive way, involving line staff in implementing efficiencies and productive changes. If AI has a place in this process, then all involved should discuss this openly.
• In the meantime, the year of cuts has impacted on processing times and backlogs. As of September 30, 2025, IRCC had a total of 996,700 applications in its backlog. This was the highest level recorded since November 2024. This monthly total represented a 3.95 per cent increase since the previous month and continued a trend since May with monthly increases over five and six percent. September was the lowest per cent increase. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or EV manufacturer to understand that staff reductions usually have a corresponding decrease in service standards or productivity.
• There was a total of 1,028,500 temporary residence applications in the IRCC inventory on September 30. Of these 567,400 were being processed within departmental standards. Study permits and work permits were lower than visitor visa applications decreased marginally from 60 per. cent to 57 per cent at the same time. IRCC does place priority on processing and aims to complete 80 per cent of all submissions within service standards.
• The DOGE answer of Elon Musk and Donald Trump shows us the wrong way, which ignores the service and just focuses on putting government employees out of the work. It appears that Donald Trump does not really care about the negative impact on government workers to those persons who need their service. His major concern is privilege and tax savings for the billionaire class.

In Canada we are still different and I retain faith in IRCC to find the answer in technological improvements and AI as better ways to doing things. In the 21st Century we should be aware of the changes but recommend a more thoughtful transition. IRCC can and should be more cost effective but also considerate, especially to our users or applicants who pay a high price for poor service. If we want the country to remain one of the most desirable places for immigrants from abroad, we should offer good immigration services at reasonable rates to qualified applicants from abroad under the whole range of applications from economic, to family to humanitarian and compassionate. We need immigration but not at the cost of our humanity for both applicants and immigration staff alike.

Michael Scott is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC, R525678) who has 30 years of experience with Immigration Canada and the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. He currently works as a licensed consultant with Immigration Connexion International Ltd. Contact him at 204-691-1166 or 204-227-0292. E-mail: mscott.ici@gmail.com.