The visa processing times for new applications from Pakistan are not 802 days, the Canadian immigration minister said on Friday.

“Currently, a complete TRV [Temporary Resident Visa] application from Pakistan will be processed in 60 days, and we expect to hit 30 days in the near future,” Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser tweeted.

Last year, Canada announced that it will boost its immigration targets, hoping to welcome a record number of newcomers in order to address a worker shortage in the country.

A large chunk of the population is heading into retirement, according to recently released census data, with one in seven people in Canada between the ages of 55 and 64 years old.

The website shows 802 days because the Canadian immigration ministry was processing older applications from when borders were closed due to the pandemic. “We’ve reduced the backlog for Pakistani TRVs significantly, from 55K [fifty-five thousand] to less than 15K [fifteen thousand],” said Fraser.

He added that the country was also investing in a new processing centre in Islamabad to boost “processing and interview capacity” in the Indo-Pac region.

In 2021, Canada welcomed over 405,000 immigrants, the most ever in a single year.

By 2025, the goal is for more than 60 per cent of the total admissions are to be economic migrants, Fraser said last year. Canada also aims to reunite more families with members abroad faster, but take in slightly fewer refugees.