Canada stands as a top destination for individuals seeking new opportunities to work, study, and build their lives with their families. Newcomers and visitors drive our economy and enrich our communities.
Strengthening our immigration system means focusing on people, families, and communities. It gives Canada a competitive edge in the global talent race and supports our industries. It also means being adaptable in responding to international humanitarian crises and providing assistance when it is most needed.
IRCC applications at a glance: inventories and backlogs
To meet our annual immigration targets and help us increase processing capacity and efficiency, it’s important to have an inventory of applications for our programs. An inventory contains all applications received for a program that have not yet been finalized. This includes those that are processed within our service standards, as well as a backlog of applications that have been in our inventories longer than our service standards.
At any given time, IRCC is managing over 1 million applications from our inventories. In 2023, we finalized more than 7.3 million decisions across our lines of business.
Information on this page is up to date as of April 30, 2024. Data is approximate and subject to change.
Reducing backlog
We’re taking action to reduce the backlogs of applications within our inventories. Our goal is to process 80% of applications within our service standards. This allows for expected delays in some very complex cases or when we need more information from our clients before we can finalize their files.
Our projections are estimates based on current operating conditions and may change. They don’t account for sharp increases in received applications, urgent shifts in priorities, or other unforeseen circumstances affecting our operations.
Permanent Residence
- Federal high-skilled (Express Entry)
Provincial Nominee Program (Express Entry)
Spouses, partners and children (except for Quebec)
Citizenship
2022-2024 Percentage of backlog of citizenship grant applications – Actual and projected
Temporary Residence
Note
- Approximately 0.1% of temporary resident visa (or visitor visa) applications in our inventories are from the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel.
