Building a stronger immigration system – Citizenship

223,000
new
Canadian citizens
welcomed in 2021-2022.

Our performance

Canada welcomed approximately 223,000 new Canadian citizens in 2021–2022, exceeding its citizenship goals for the year. We’re planning to welcome even more in 2022–2023. From April 1, 2022, to , Canada has welcomed approximately new citizens, compared to about in the same period last year.

Reducing backlog

We’re continuing to modernize and increase our services for those who want to become Canadians.

  • Information on this page is up to date as of . Data is approximate and subject to change.
  • IRCC is working toward our goal to process 80% of applications within our service standards, which allows for expected delays in very complex cases or when more information is needed from clients before finalizing 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.
Citizenship

2022 Percentage of backlog of citizenship applications – Actual and projected

2022 Percentage of backlog of citizenship applications – Actual and projected
Month Backlog (Actual) Backlog (Projected)
Jan 22 46% -
Feb 22 45% -
Mar 22 42% -
Apr 22 40% -
May 22 39% -
Jun 22 37% -
Jul 22 35% -
Aug 22 30% 30%
Sep 22 30% 30%
Oct 22 28% 28%
Nov 22 29% 27%
Dec 22 28% 26%
Jan 23 27% 26%
Feb 23 26% 25%
Mar 23 - 24%
Apr 23 - 24%
May 23 - 24%

What we’ve done

What we’re doing

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