Canada launches new immigration application tracker for spousal and child sponsorship

Canada has launched an online portal where spousal and child sponsorship applicants can track their immigration application online.

The tracker can be found on the government website. It is currently only for people who are applying for spousal, common-law, and dependent child sponsorship. It is available to applicants as well as representatives.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) notes on the online form that the tracker's information is subject to change at any time before IRCC officers make any final decisions. It also says there may be some delays or differences between the actual progress of sponsorship applications and the information shown in the tracker.

Sponsor your family for Canadian immigration

The tracker was announced earlier this week by Immigration Minister Sean Fraser as part of an effort to modernize the Canadian immigration system.

"We understand that clients want easier access to status updates on their case files," a government media release said. "That is why we will also introduce a new Permanent Residence Application Tracker in February 2022 for spouses and dependents, to allow clients to easily access their application information and status online."

The government also wants to expand online applications to more future immigrants in the summer of 2022. The transition to more online application processes is intended to minimize processing delays associated with paper applications and the pandemic.

In the release, the government wrote that its efforts to date have allowed average processing times for new spousal sponsorship applicants to return to the service standard of 12 months.

Canada has been experiencing a backlog in immigration applications across all lines of business. As of December 2021, there were 54,683 spousal sponsorship applicants and 8,848 children and other family class applicants waiting for a decision.

Sponsor your family for Canadian immigration