Canada has faced massive and growing number of asylum applications, with 250,000 cases under review which is three times more compare to the year 2019. Processing this volume without accepting new applications would take nearly three years, an unrealistic scenario with the current pace and resources. Moreover, the number of asylum seekers is expected to rise significantly, especially if Donald Trump returns to power in the U.S., increasing the flow of migrants to the Canadian border.
Reducing the immigration quota in 2025 from 500,000 to 395,000, along with the reduction of temporary workers and international students, may free up the resources for processing asylum applications.
The problem of dual systems
Despite these opportunities, the main challenge lies in the structural division of responsibilities:
· Immigration officers work under the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) department.
· Refugee applications, however, are processed by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB).
The IRB was established in 1989 in response to the Supreme Court of Canada's decision to the Singh case (1985), which mandated oral hearings in front of an impartial judge for denied applicants. As a result, all asylum seekers are required to undergo oral hearings, and the IRB manages this process.
While oral hearings aim to ensure fairness, they impose a significant burden on the system:
1.Volume of applications: The IRB was not initially designed to handle such a large caseload.
2.Bogus claims: In 2023, 79% of cases were deemed eligible, yet all applications, including clearly ineligible ones, go through the full hearing cycle.
3.Staff shortages: A lack of judges and infrastructure results in delays spanning several years, allowing ineligible applicants to remain in the country and eventually find grounds for legalization (e.g., marriage, childbirth).
Behind the scenes, various options are being discussed, including transferring the primary review of asylum applications to IRCC officers—an agency with over 13,000 staff members capable of handling large application volumes.
How will it work?
1.Initial interviews and decisions: IRCC officers would conduct interviews and make decisions on granting refugee status, significantly expediting the process for clearly eligible applicants.
2.Automatic right of appeal: Applicants denied at the initial stage can appeal the decision to the IRB, preserving the fairness principle established by the Supreme Court.
Advantages of the proposed approach:
· Reduced delays: A larger, more flexible IRCC workforce would speed up application processing.
· Focus on eligible cases: Processes will become more efficient, as clearly eligible claims wouldn't be lost in the broader backlog.
· Relief for the IRB: The IRB could focus on appeals and complex cases, returning to its primary role.
Canada's refugee application system is definitely broken. Delays in tribunals create situations where even eligible cases languish for years, while ineligible claims take advantage of it.
Transferring the applications’ primary processing from the IRB to IRCC officers would create a more efficient and responsive system, addressing contemporary challenges while preserving applicants' rights. This reallocation of workload would not only help eliminate the current backlog but also prepare Canada for an increase in asylum seekers in the future.
Oleksandra Melnykova, Immigration and Refugee Consultant in Canada.
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