Significant Delay in Processing of Inland Provincial Nominee Applications at CIO-Sydney and CPC Ottawa due to Security and Background Checks!

We, the undersigned, permanent residence applicants whose applications through provincial nominee program have far passed the normal processing time, kindly draw the attention of the honourable Ahmed D. Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to the following:

1. Although the normal processing time of permanent residence applications in Canada under the Provincial Nominee Class Non-Express Entry is 16 months, for many of us this is over 24 months now. 

2. The response from IRCC to our enquiries about our applications is "the applications are awaiting background check". While we understand this is an essential stage of the process, we believe this may be done in a certain time-frame.

3. IRCC does not provide any time-frame for completing the security screening. 

4. We have lived, studied, worked and contributed in Canada for several years. We mostly graduated with Ph.D. and/or M.Sc. degrees from reputable Canadian universities.   

5. The processing time for inland applicants who applied through Express Entry, or some from outside Canada without any history in Canada, is within the normal 6 months processing time. Therefore, we believe that this could be possible for inland paper based PNP applications as well.

6. Most of us applied through Provincial Nominee Program in 2014 when the other options such a express entry were not applicable for us.

7. The delay in processing of our applications, without any clear reason and deadline, has not only negatively affected different aspects of our lives but also caused us emotional distress.

We respectfully request:

1. To receive a clear response regarding our situation and our applications processing time.

2. To expedite our applications since our applications has already passed the posted processing time.

We hope the liberal government of Canada hear our voice and support our case.