Latest update on Processing Times by IRCC: 6 December 2022

Key Pointers:

• The processing times for many programs under Citizenship and PR, Family sponsorship, Canadian Passport, Economic class, and Temporary Residence have been updated
• Canada’s Immigration backlog has significantly dropped from 1.49 million to 1.2 million from September 30 – October 31, of this year.
• As of October 31, IRCC processed approx, 2.2 million applications.
• 2022 marked the upgradation of the online processing tool of IRCC, to release the best possible accurate details of average processing time.

Canada has been facing a major backlog recently, due to many factors like the Covid-19 pandemic, an ever-increasing number of applications to humanitarian crises, and partly due to aging technologies.

To overcome this backlog and prove their efficiency and willingness to welcome immigrants, Minister Sean Fraser (Minister of Immigration) has spoken about the 1250 new recruitments and the $85 million budget to upgrade the Immigration website to help the individuals witness the Backlog updates firsthand.

“A well-run immigration system supports our communities’ futures and allows our industries to tap into the essential talent and new business opportunities, so they can continue to grow and remain competitive. We will continue to take steps to strengthen immigration, for the benefit of our businesses, our economy, and all Canadians”

-Minister Sean Fraser

Immigration backlog in Canada has successfully declining, with more than 2.4 million applications so far have been processed. As per the latest update by Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada (IRCC), wherein they have specified that 1.04 million applications have been processed successfully within the Service Standards parallel to the backlog applications processing.

What is Immigration Backlog?

Backlog with respect to Immigration refers to the exceeded service standards for processing applications. The service standards are different for different programs, like for example, Express Entry has a typical service standard of 6 months.

Processing Time vs. Service Standards

Processing time

Processing time generally refers to the time taken to process the application and take a decision based on the details and the verifications provided. This time (Processing time) may vary based on the application submission format i.e., online or offline.

IRCC (Immigration, Refugee Citizenship Canada) is the authorized body for Canada Immigration, and every application submitted for Canada is received first by the IRCC. The processing time for an application is designated by IRCC in reference to the previous similar application’s processing time.

Service Standards

Service standards can be referred to as the commitment to the successful processing of visa applications given in a certain time period under normal circumstances. Service standards unlike the processing time (updated weekly) are not updated regularly.

Processing Times’ Latest Updates

Having grasped the terminologies, time to learn about the updates to the Processing Time for different programs.

1. Processing time for Temporary Residence Application

*Source: IRCC and Immigration News Canada

2. Processing time for Permanent Residency and Citizenship Application types

*Source: IRCC and Immigration News Canada

3. Processing time for Family Sponsorship Applications

*Source: IRCC and Immigration News Canada

4. Processing time for the Canadian Passport Applications

*Source: IRCC and Immigration News Canada

5. Processing time for Economic Class Applications

*Source: IRCC and Immigration News Canada

What to expect Further (Future Scope)

Canada at present is actively seeking to fill in the labor gaps and the great news for you in this is that if you (the applicant) belong to the critical occupation, they get the priority and the faster processing. Further to curb the gaps and as spoken by Immigration Minister Sean Fraser Canada’s future advancements and steps would certainly bring in a huge scope for immigrants.

Having set the milestone of half a million Permanent Residents by 2025, there is nothing less that we could expect in the efforts by the IRCC and federal governments witnessing their stats that have continuously surpassed the set milestones in the previous and current year so far.