Canada’s immigration department has released its latest processing times for temporary residence applications, showing improvements across many application types.
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Over the span of about one month, the most notable changes included the following:
- Work permits: 13-week improvement for submissions from the Pakistan;
- Super visas: at least a 20-day reduction in wait time for India- and US-based applications;
- Visitor visas: two-week decrease for India-based submissions; and
- Study permits: one-week decline for Indian, Nigerian, and US nationals.
Super visa wait times have maintained their downward trend, with all countries featured continuing to show improvements across the board.
This article will examine how temporary residence processing times have changed over the course of approximately one month—comparing March 24 and April 15 data.
Work permits
Within nearly a one-month period, work permit wait times have improved most for in-Pakistan submissions (by 13 weeks), alongside smaller declines for Canada-based (approximately two weeks) and US-based submissions (one week).
| Applying from: | Processing time as of March 24 | Current processing time |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 255 days | 240 days |
| India | 7 weeks | 8 weeks |
| Pakistan | 29 weeks | 16 weeks |
| Nigeria | 13 weeks | 13 weeks |
| United States | 8 weeks | 7 weeks |
| Philippines | 7 weeks | 7 weeks |
Service standard:
- In-Canada submissions (initial and extensions): 120 days
- Outside Canada submissions: 60 days
- International Experience Canada permit submissions: 56 days
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Study permits
Study permit applications from India, Nigeria, and the US have all seen a one-week decline in processing time, whereas Pakistan-based applications increased by one week.
| Applying from: | Processing time as of March 24 | Current processing time |
|---|---|---|
| *Canada | 8 weeks | 8 weeks |
| India | 4 weeks | 3 weeks |
| Pakistan | 11 weeks | 12 weeks |
| Nigeria | 8 weeks | 7 weeks |
| United States | 5 weeks | 4 weeks |
| Philippines | 5 weeks | 5 weeks |
Service standard:
- In-Canada submissions (initial and extensions): 120 days
- Outside Canada submissions: 60 days
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Visitor visas
Nearly all countries featured saw a decline in processing time for visitor visas—with the most significant decreases seen for submissions from India (two weeks) and Nigeria (10 days).
| Applying from: | Processing time as of March 24 | Current processing time |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 12 days | 10 days |
| India | 37 days | 23 days |
| Pakistan | 48 days | 43 days |
| Nigeria | 52 days | 42 days |
| United States | 15 days | 18 days |
| Philippines | 14 days | 15 days |
Service standard:
- In-Canada submissions: N/A
- Outside Canada submissions: 14 days
Super visas
Super visa processing times have improved across the board in a one-month period, the most notable of which include India-based submissions (down by nearly three weeks) and US (three weeks).
| Applying from: | Processing time as of March 24 | Current processing time |
|---|---|---|
| India | 202 days | 182 days |
| Pakistan | 122 days | 107 days |
| Nigeria | 43 days | 39 days |
| United States | 185 days | 164 days |
| Philippines | 50 days | 37 days |
Service standard: 112 days
Note: Super visa applications cannot be submitted from within Canada.
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What is the difference between processing times and service standards?
Processing times and service standards are separate concepts not to be conflated.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC’s) processing times indicate the expected wait for a decision based on the date you submit your application.
For online submissions, timing begins at submission; for paper applications, it begins upon arrival at the mailroom.
There are two categories of processing times:
- Historical: derived from past data, based on how long it took to finalize 80% of applications of a particular type (updated weekly); and
- Forward-looking: calculated using IRCC’s current inventory, taking into account both the number of applications awaiting processing and the projected monthly finalization rate.
On the other hand, service standards are IRCC’s internal targets for how long specific application types should take to process. These standards aim for 80% of applications to be finalized within the benchmark period, while allowing for more complex cases in the remaining 20%.
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