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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 24Current processing time
Canada255 days240 days
India7 weeks8 weeks
Pakistan29 weeks16 weeks
Nigeria13 weeks13 weeks
United States8 weeks7 weeks
Philippines7 weeks7 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 24Current processing time
*Canada8 weeks8 weeks
India4 weeks3 weeks
Pakistan11 weeks12 weeks
Nigeria8 weeks7 weeks
United States5 weeks4 weeks
Philippines5 weeks5 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 24Current processing time
Canada12 days10 days
India37 days23 days
Pakistan48 days43 days
Nigeria52 days42 days
United States15 days18 days
Philippines14 days15 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 24Current processing time
India202 days182 days
Pakistan122 days107 days
Nigeria43 days39 days
United States185 days164 days
Philippines50 days37 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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