CIC Wins Technology Award for the Come to Canada Wizard

Ottawa, November 6, 2012 — The Come to Canada Wizard, which helps people determine if they are eligible to live, work or study in Canada, received a prominent technology award last night for Excellence in Public Service Delivery.

This award, presented at the GTEC Distinction Awards Gala, recognizes outstanding achievements by individuals or teams developing and implementing innovative projects to improve client-facing service delivery, with a specific focus on citizens or businesses as clients of government.

“I commend CIC on the creation of the Coming to Canada Wizard and I am very proud that their hard work is being recognized,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “The Wizard helps prospective immigrants assess their eligibility, which in turn helps them save time and money. It also helps the department to be more efficient by helping ensure prospective immigrants to Canada know whether they are able to immigrate to Canada, and helping ensure they apply under the most appropriate program.”

GTEC (the Government Technology Exhibition and Conference) attracts over 7,000 participants annually from around the world with the demonstration of the most advanced technologies that are driving public sector IT initiatives at all levels of government in Canada and other countries.

The Come to Canada Wizard is interactive. It presents users with a series of questions to determine which federal immigration option best suits their specific circumstances. It then leads users through the application steps and provides instructions and forms.

There are more than 4,000 visits to the Come to Canada Wizard every day and since its launch in August 2011 there have been over 1.8M users. Close to 93 percent of users say that the Wizard is easy to use and close to 90 percent of users say they would recommend it to someone they know.