CIMM – Client Services and Support – March 3, 2022

Key Messages

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is a service-focused department, interacting yearly with millions of clients in Canada and around the globe.
• The pandemic increased client anxiety and uncertainty, leading to a 60% increase in the volume of calls and emails at IRCC’s Client Support Centre, compared to pre-COVID levels.
• Clients were looking for reassurance. They needed information about our programs and services, their ability to travel, an update on the status of their application and processing times, or support during emergency situations.
• The three-year funding investment announced in Budget 2021 will allow IRCC to maintain service levels in the face of increasing volumes, ensuring timely support for clients looking to come to Canada and contribute to its economic recovery.

Supplementary Messages

Budget 2021

• As services “go digital”, the support offered by the Client Support Centre continues to bridge the gap by providing clients with both a telephone and online option (through e-mail – primarily via an online Webform) for technical assistance and reassurance to navigate the new services.
• The three-year investment from Budget 2021 is essential to fulfilling IRCC’s key priority of improving client services by making them timelier, less complicated and more accessible.
• The investment will allow IRCC to increase the number of staff at the Client Support Centre who provide personalized support as well as meet and maintain service levels even with an expected increase in volume of enquiries.

Impact of COVID-19

• The Client Support Centre is a critical stop gap for the Department’s organizational resiliency to facilitate service in the COVID-19 context. The number of enquiries received in the Client Support Centre continues to increase as clients try to obtain information with ongoing service disruptions related to IRCC programs and services.
• At the same time, the disruptions caused by the pandemic have served to accelerate innovations IRCC already had in development, such as introducing more digitally-enabled application processes and virtual client services. As the Department shifts to digitally enabled services, clients still require support to navigate the changing system.
• On February 3, 2022, IRCC introduced a new Permanent Residence Case Tracker for family class spousal, common law, and dependent clients, allowing them to easily track the status of their application information online. IRCC plans to launch additional application status tools for other lines of business in the future.

Supporting Facts and Figures

Client enquiries at the Client Support Centre

• COVID-19 has  increased the complexity of support interactions as clients want to know how departmental policies may apply to their unique circumstances, and are seeking clarity on the status of their application and processing times.
• Based on the volume of activity at the Client Support Centre between April 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021, the numbers show that:
  • telephone enquiries for the first nine months of the fiscal year already reached 5.3M, exceeding the yearly total for last fiscal year;
  • online (or e-mail) enquiries continue to rise with 1.3M e-mail enquiries received to date, and trending to exceed the 1.5M last fiscal year; and,
  • enquiries at the Ministerial Centre for Members of Parliament and Senators are also rising with 176,000 during this period.

Background

Client Support Centre Operations

• Located in Montréal, IRCC’s Client Support Centre provides personalized, human assisted, client support for clients seeking information, case status, technical support and other services through three primary channels: telephone (in-Canada only), email (received primarily via an online Webform), and the Ministerial Centre for Members of Parliament and Senators (MCMPS). It also currently has a line dedicated to Afghanistan.
• Live agent telephone support is offered to clients located in Canada, coast to coast, during business hours, and touchtone self-service for general information and simple case status is available through the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system 24/7. In-Canada and overseas clients can contact the Client Support Centre via an online Webform.
• The Client Support Centre also provides vital support for the Department’s processing offices by:
  • Acting as the single window for clients to obtain personalized service by telephone or by Webform;
  • Collecting and reporting on trends, client feedback and issues related to IRCC programs and services;
  • Functioning as an intermediary to address limitations with existing client-facing digital tools (e.g. uploading documentation for applications where the client cannot do so themselves);
  • Referring high profile and urgent cases for appropriate action as well as offer support for sensitive cases tied to unique circumstances (e.g. privacy breach); and,
  • Providing specialized services in response to global events (e.g. Afghanistan, air disaster PS752, Fort McMurray wildfires, and Operation Syrian Refugees).