Dozens of employees have been reassigned to manage the immigration applications backlog at the immigration and citizenship processing centre situated in downtown Sydney. These applications are yet to receive an approval.

Almost 160 of the staff members most of them facing a layoff have received an extended contract for a duration of 7 months. This has been done so that these employees could assist in catering to more files and in turn decrease the period for waiting.

Amends brought about in the Immigration Act of Canada involves permitting children of Canadians but were born outside the nation to apply for citizenship. These amends are being made responsible for the constant rise in the number of applications which were brought about in 2009.

According to Mark Eyking, the Liberal MP from Sydney-Victoria, the federal government must address the pending backlog by engaging contract workers and making their positions permanent. More resources are required especially when the processing timelines range between 15 to 19 months for the applications to be finalized. The evident solution is nothing more than putting a hold on the annual cycle of the layoffs and hirings that take place at the centre. Incase, more jobs are made to be permanent, the backlog would simply reduce.

As of now, about 250 people are employed by the centre. It caters to permanent residency cards as well as application for the Federal Skilled Worker program. Immigration being one of the key issues and an important aspect to be catered to at all times, it is high time the issue is addressed before the situation of backlog goes out of control.