According to the “IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups” Final Report, applicants’ country of citizenship may impact the approval of an application.
The approval rate of temporary resident visas, study permits, and work permits is higher in certain countries than in others. The approval rate for the citizens of African countries has been lower than other regions for several years.
The report does not deny that IRCC employees often treat applications from Africans with more scrutiny than applications from other countries.
Participants believe IRCC has significant strengths compared to some other federal government organizations. These include:
Being visibly more diverse than many other departments, particularly at lower levels of the organization and in the National Capital Region (NCR)
Being perceived as relatively “open-minded”, exhibited in diversity in the entry level workforce as well as by what is seen as a greater focus on human wellbeing than in some other federal departments
Offering more varied roles and therefore more possibility for lateral or vertical movement within the department. (As we will see later, however, there are significant concerns about racialized employees not having equitable access these opportunities.)
Additionally, some simply mentioned having worked on specific teams where there is a strong sense of collegiality, mutual respect, and a sense of contribution and hearing.