IRCC’s updated processing times
Canada’s immigration department has released its latest processing times for permanent residence, temporary residence, and citizenship applications.
In this article, we will examine how processing times for various immigration applications have changed since September 10, 2025.
Significant shifts in processing times are most evident in spousal sponsorship applications for those living in Canada and planning to settle in Quebec, and in-Canada dependent child sponsorship applications.
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Permanent residence applications
Express Entry
Application typeCurrent processing timeProcessing times as of September 10, 2025
Canadian Experience Class6 months5 months
Federal Skilled Worker Program5 months6 months
Federal Skilled Trades ProgramN/AN/A
The service standard for all Express Entry programs is six months.
Provincial Nominee Program
Application typeCurrent processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
Through Express Entry (enhanced)7 months8 months
*Non-Express Entry (base)19 months19 months
*Processing times for base streams may differ based on when an applicant submits their immigration application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The service standard for enhanced PNP applications is six months, while base PNP applications have a service standard of 11 months.
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Quebec immigration
StreamCurrent processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ)11 months11 months
The service standard for applications submitted under Quebec‘s PSTQ stream is six months. As of now, IRCC notes there are nearly 24,000 applications awaiting processing.
Learn more about your options and get assistance immigrating to Quebec
Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP)
Current processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
13 months13 months
AIP applications have a service standard of 11 months.
Family sponsorship
Application typeCurrent processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
Spouse or common-law partner living inside Canada24 months (intending to reside outside Quebec)
37 months (intending to reside in Quebec)
23 months (intending to reside outside Quebec)
53 months (intending to reside in Quebec)
Spouse or common-law partner living outside Canada15 months (intending to reside outside Quebec)
41 months (intending to reside in Quebec)
15 months (intending to reside outside Quebec)
41 months (intending to reside in Quebec)
Parents and Grandparents Program26 months (intending to reside outside Quebec)
44 months (intending to reside in Quebec)
26 months (intending to reside outside Quebec)
41 months (intending to reside in Quebec)
The most significant change in processing time—a 16-month increase—can be seen for spousal sponsorship applications submitted through the spouse or common-law partner living inside Canada (settling in Quebec) category.
The service standard for applications to sponsor a spouse or common-law partner outside Canada is 12 months. IRCC does not currently process service standards for the other application types included in the table above.
Dependent child sponsorship
Within Canada
Current processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
12 months29 months
The processing time for applications to sponsor a dependent child from Canada has decreased significantly, by a total of 17 months.
Outside Canada
Applying from:Current processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
India 6 monthsN/A
Nigeria18 monthsN/A
Prior processing times for India and Nigeria were not available for dependent child sponsorship.
IRCC’s service standard for dependent child sponsorship applications submitted from outside the country is 12 months; service standards for in-Canada applications are not currently being published by the immigration department.
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Temporary residence applications
Visitor visas
Applying from:Current processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
Canada15 days13 days
India75 days63 days
Pakistan46 days48 days
Nigeria28 days31 days
United States23 days24 days
The service standard for visitor visas submitted from outside Canada is 14 days. IRCC does not publish service standards for in-Canada visitor visa applications.
Work permits
Nigeria is the only country that saw a significant decline in work permit processing time as of October 1, with the time it takes to get a work permit being cut in half.
Applying from:Current processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
Canada196 days190 days
India8 weeks8 weeks
Pakistan12 weeks12 weeks
Nigeria11 weeks22 weeks
United States3 weeks3 weeks
IRCC’s service standard for work permit applications from within Canada is 120 days (including initial work permit applications and extensions).
Outside-Canada work permit applications have a service standard of 60 days—except International Experience Canada (IEC) permits, which have a 56-day service standard.
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Study permits
Applying from:Current processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
*Canada7 weeks6 weeks
India4 weeks4 weeks
Pakistan9 weeks9 weeks
Nigeria8 weeks8 weeks
United States10 weeks10 weeks
*The processing time for in-Canada study permit applications are for initial study permits. As of October 1, study permit extensions have a 171-day processing time.
Service standards for study permits applications (initial and extensions) submitted from inside Canada is 120 days. Applications submitted from abroad have a 60-day service standard.
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Super visas
Applying from:Current processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
India153 days139 days
Pakistan151 days112 days
Nigeria52 days55 days
United States78 days89 days
Between September 10 and October 1, the processing time for a super visa application submitted from Pakistan has increased by nearly six weeks.
For super visas, the immigration department has a service standard of 112 days.
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Citizenship
Application typeCurrent processing timeProcessing time as of September 10, 2025
Citizenship grant13 months11 months
Citizenship certificate (proof of citizenship)7 months5 months
The service standard for citizenship grant applications is 12 months. IRCC does not publish service standards for citizenship certificates.
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Law Firm
Processing times and service standards
Processing times
The processing times published by IRCC represent the anticipated length of time required to finalize a new application if they “receive it today.”
These times are determined using both historical data and the number of applications currently in inventory.
Processing time begins on the date IRCC receives your application and ends once a decision is made. For mailed applications, this starts when the package is delivered to the mailroom, while for online or in-person applications, it begins at the moment of submission.
Various factors can affect application processing time, such as how easily IRCC can verify an applicant’s information and whether an applicant responds to requests for additional information in a timely manner.
IRCC provides two types of processing times:
Historical processing times: This type of processing time is based on how long it took IRCC to process 80% of their immigration applications in the past, and they are updated weekly.
Forward-looking processing times: Forward-looking processing times are calculated using IRCC’s current inventory, which includes the total volume of each application type still awaiting processing and the number expected to be finalized each month.
The table below shows which application types use forward-looking processing times:
Application type
Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)
Provincial Nominee Program (Express Entry and non-Express Entry)
Quebec Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ)
Spouse or Common-law Partner (living inside and outside Canada)
Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP)
Citizenship grants
Proof of citizenship
Service standards
In contrast, service standards represent internal benchmarks for the immigration department.
IRCC’s published service standards refer to the time within which the department aims to process 80% of applications of a given type.
The department’s service standards allow that 20% of applications will take longer to process, due to factors such as additional complexity.
Not all immigration programs have publicly accessible service standards.
