Immigration is the engine of the Canadian economy, assisting in the filling of labor shortages and maintaining the sustainability of our communities. Throughout the pandemic, newcomers have been critical in resolving some of our most acute labor shortages, especially on the front lines. However, there are still difficulties, like processing delays, which have frustrated many attempting to come to Canada to work or reconnect with their family. While Canada processed a record number of applications in 2021, border restrictions and other pandemic-related concerns caused delays for many applicants, as well as protracted waits for application updates. We are aware that these issues must be addressed.
Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, the Honourable Sean Fraser, announced today steps to improve client experience and modernize the immigration system. These steps are part of a larger strategy to solve our clients' most pressing issues and deliver the more consistent processing speeds they expect and deserve.
Many talented and skilled newcomers are known to have waited a long time throughout the pandemic. The Government of Canada proposed $85 million in increased financing to reduce application inventories in the Economic and Fiscal Update 2021. The investment will support extra employees, allowing us to welcome persons who can assist address labor shortages and restore to processing service standards in several programs, including study permits, work permits, and permanent residence card renewals, before the end of this year. We're also aiming to speed up the processing of visiting visas and citizenship documents.
These enhancements will expand on what Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has previously done to cut wait times, such as adding nearly 500 extra processing personnel, digitizing applications, and reallocating work throughout our global locations.
We are increasing the use of advanced data analytics to assist officers in sorting and processing visitor visa applications filed from outside Canada to help speed up our processing operations. During the period the data analytics system has been utilized for visiting visas, it has been demonstrated that routine files may be assessed 87 percent faster, resulting in certain applicants obtaining decisions sooner while maintaining program integrity. Although the ultimate decision will always be made by an IRCC officer, this method will improve client service by assisting IRCC in managing the growing volume of visitor visa applications.
In 2021, the IRCC made more than half a million determinations on permanent residence applications. We're expanding our processing capacity even further, and we expect to make 147,000 permanent residency final judgments in the first quarter of 2022, more than doubling what we did in the same period last year.
In summer 2022, we will extend the digital application platform to include additional clients in order to better help permanent residency applicants. The move to an online application procedure will reduce COVID-19-related delays connected with paper submissions, and customers will get quick confirmation that their application was filed properly. Efforts to date have resulted in average processing times for spousal sponsorship applicants returning to the 12-month service standard for new applications.
We recognize that clients demand more convenient access to case progress information. That is why, in February 2022, we will launch a new Permanent Residence Application Tracker for wives and dependents, allowing customers to check the status of their applications online.
To overcome COVID-19-related issues and speed up the process, the IRCC has created a site that allows permanent residence candidates in Canada to complete their applications and get their permanent residency cards without having to meet in person. This portal was utilized by 225,000 permanent residents from June to December 2021.
IRCC has offered online testing, built an online application tracker, and enabled virtual citizenship ceremonies for citizenship candidates. We've been hosting roughly 350 virtual ceremonies every month over the previous few months, with over 170,000 new Canadians sworn in since April 1, 2020. We're still expanding our usage of virtual ceremonies. Moving ahead, we're looking at a self-administered Oath by signed attestation option for people who want to celebrate their citizenship later. For individuals towards the end of their citizenship process, this would reduce the amount of time they have to wait.
IRCC is committed to delivering useful, timely, and honest information to our clients as our work progresses. This includes, in the coming months, upgrading our online processing times tool to provide our clients with more current estimates of how long it will take to complete their applications. We'll keep working on ways to improve how we provide our programs and services so that Canada remains a top destination for visitors from across the world.
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