November 29, 2012
CEC & PNP Processing times
On September 30, 2011, a 10-month service standard was launched for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). Processing times remain steady for the CEC. As of December 31, 2011, 80% of cases were processed in 15 months. As of June 30, 2012, 80% of cases were processed in 14 months.
CIC offices are currently processing large numbers of CEC cases, and the inventory of older applications is being reduced. From May to July 2012, the percentage of applications in the inventory older than 10 months was reduced from 33% to 27%. Going forward, adherence to the service standards will improve, as CIC will be processing a larger portion of newer cases.
As for the Provincial Nominee Program, the current service standard is 11 months (which does not include provincial processing time). There has been ongoing efforts at the Centralized Intake Office and the file creation lag time is now less than 3 months. Application intake and outcomes in the first six months of the year have been consistently steady in comparison to the same time period in 2011. Data shows that in June 2012, 80% of cases had been processed within 16 months, compared to 14 months in June 2011. This can be attributed to the fact that at the end of June 2012, 35% of the PNP application inventory was older than 11 months; processing times may fluctuate depending on the age of the older files that are being finalized. Despite the age of the applications currently pending finalization, the number of applications in the inventory is actually low compared to the operational targets. Moving forward, adherence to the service standards will improve, as CIC will be processing a larger portion of newer cases.