Federal immigrants, refugees and Citizen Affairs Department (IRCC) announced that it plans to propose about 3,300 positions in the next three years, equivalent to a quarter of their total employees. Some immigration consultants believe that various applications involving the immigration bureau include overseas personnel who apply for visa visas, maple leaf card updates, and even the reunion of spouses.

Wang, an immigrant consultant of immigrants in the new century, said that when the immigration department did not announce the reduction of the people, the time for applying for a spouse party for the Hong Kong people last year slowed down significantly. In early 2023, she applied for a spouse party in Hong Kong and applied for customers. It took only 3 months from the table to the case.

By 2024, the time required to apply for the same type of application will become 6 to 8 months, which is more than twice the previous year. Therefore, she estimates that the time required may be longer after reducing the immigration department.

However, she also added that she helped customers apply for permanent residence applications for her citizenship last year. It only took 3 months, but it was difficult to say whether it could be maintained this year.

As far as she knows, the reduced people are all departments of the immigration department, and even overseas immigrants including China and Hong Kong are no exception. As a result, overseas people will be influenced by visitors of Canadian tourists.

Facing a large number of illegal entry to the United States may go north to Canada to seek political asylum, and the federal immigration part has greatly reduced whether it is reasonable at this time. Wang believes that the government will only consider the current immigration system and financial status. As for refugees, they may not think so long.

The founder and senior lawyer of the immigration legal company Kusal ( -) said that some people need to wait for many years to get the processing of immigration documents, and this reduction will further exacerbate the systemic system.

She said: "We will see that the processing time is further extended. Now it is bad, this is pointing, but now it will only become worse."

Federal immigrants, refugees and citizen affairs announced that it plans to lay off about 3,300 positions in the next three years. (Information picture)

Immigration, refugees and citizen affairs have explained their "budget status" and impact on personnel through emails. The email pointed out that it is unclear that layoffs will affect these positions, but it will involve various departments and branches. The affected person will receive a notice from mid -February.

The email wrote: "It is expected that the personnel equipment, terms, and other temporary employees will be achieved by about 80 % of the layoffs. The affected functions have not been determined."

The email also pointed out that some fixed contract periods may end early, but they will receive at least 30 days notice.

According to data from the Federal Finance Commission, as of the end of March last year, the department had 13,100 employees, 7,900 employees in 2019, and 5,900 employees in 2014. The planned layoffs will reduce the number of employees by about 25 %. The level in March 2024 and returned to the level around 2021.

In October last year, the federal government announced that it would reduce the level of immigration in the next three years. Immigration, refugees and citizen affairs stated that the staff of the department had adjusted to match the reduced immigration and permanent funds.