CIMM – Processing Times and Service Delivery – October 2, 2025
Key Messages
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) continues to prioritize improvements to client service by implementing new tools and processes to maintain a well-managed and sustainable immigration system.
- Our goal is to process at least 80% of complete applications within service standards. However, if there are more people who apply than available spaces, it may not be possible to achieve this goal and processing times may increase in some categories.
- Actual processing times vary according to a number of factors, including immigration targets, the complexity of individual cases, and how quickly applicants respond to requests for information. IRCC doesn’t begin to calculate processing times until we receive a complete application with all the necessary supporting documents.
- We continue to digitize applications and harness automation technologies to speed up processing, while protecting and prioritizing the safety and security of Canadians.
Key Facts and Figures
| Line of Business | Admissions/Arrivals | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan–Aug 2025 (Actuals) | 2025 Immigration Levels Plan Target | % of 2025 target achieved | |
| All Permanent Residents | 277,000 | 395,000 | 70% |
| Study Permits | 89,200Table Footnote * | 305,900 | 29% |
| Work PermitsTable Footnote ** | 200,500 | 367,750 | 55% |
August 2025 Service Standard Adherence
- At the end of August 2025, service standards were met in the Federal Skilled Workers, Canadian Experience Class and Quebec Skilled Workers permanent residence categories as well as for new work and study permits. Additionally, citizenship grants continue to be processed within the established service standard.
- At the end of August 2025, 56% of applications for temporary residence, permanent residence and citizenship grants were within service standards.
Modernization Efforts to Improve Processing Times
- IRCC continues to invest in new ways to enable clients to access the information they need to make informed choices. This includes helping clients to more easily follow the review of their application as it makes its way through the system, and providing transparent processing time information.
- We continue to digitize applications and harness automation technologies to improve processing times, while protecting and prioritizing the health, safety and security of Canadians.
- Advanced analytics help identify routine applications for streamlined processing. This allows us to better manage our work so clients receive decisions sooner.
- Artificial intelligence does not make final decisions, ever. It does not refuse applications or suggest rejections. All refusals are made by human officers after they review the application themselves.
- IRCC is undertaking a Service Standards Review to evaluate and establish meaningful service standards for all immigration programs relative to the Department’s ability to forecast demand and address intake. This will help set clear expectations for clients and increase transparency on performance.
Call and Email Response Rates from January to August 2025
- From January 1 to August 31, 2025, the Department responded to 3.2M client enquiries by phone and e-mail, including enquiries received by the Ministerial Centre for Members of Parliament and Senators, and the dedicated crisis line for Israel, West Bank, and Gaza.
- IRCC received 2% fewer enquiries from January to August 2025 than in the same time last year (which represents a decrease of 117K enquiries). The Client Support Centre has maintained a call answer rate of 40% in 2025, which exceeds the standard of 30% we are funded to provide, and this is despite a reduction in resources of 12.5%.
- Furthermore, we have significantly reduced the email inventory by over half (i.e. over 36K since January 2025). At the end of August, we had 29K emails remaining in inventory, and we are on track to meet our published email response service standard of three business days this fiscal year.