CIMM – Processing Times and Service Delivery – October 30, 2025

Key Messages

Canada’s immigration system plays a key role in attracting top talent to help build our economy and meet long-term labour market and demographic needs.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) remains committed to processing 80% of applications within service standards and increasing transparency around application processing. All while continuing to protect and prioritize the safety and security of Canadians.
To help clients make informed decisions on travel and life plans, IRCC provides estimated processing times through our Processing Times Tool, which is available on our website. The tool uses historical or forward-looking data to estimate processing timelines for specific application streams. Actual processing times may vary based on the volume and complexity of applications received.
- IRCC’s current shift to forward-looking processing times for some lines of business positions Canada as a pioneer among the Migration 5 countries, demonstrating leadership and innovation in immigration service delivery and reinforcing IRCC’s commitment to transparency and client-centered service.
IRCC also continues to improve real-time status information available to clients on their specific files through online accounts and status-checkers.
We continue to digitize applications and harness automation technologies to speed up processing, while protecting and prioritizing the safety and security of Canadians.

Processing times are influenced by a range of factors, including immigration targets, the complexity of individual cases, and how quickly applicants respond to requests for information. Despite these variables, the majority of applications are processed well within established service standards.
Canada remains a leading destination of choice with continued strong intake across lines of business. Under the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, both permanent and temporary resident targets have been reduced to help align immigration with Canada’s capacity to welcome and integrate newcomers. This will result in different processing times for lines of business where applications received are outpacing the planned targets.

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.

IRCC continues to invest in new tools that will help clients make informed decisions by providing access to more relevant information on application status and processing times.
We continue to digitize application processes and harness automation technologies to improve processing times while protecting and prioritizing the health, safety, and security of Canadians.
Our Advanced Analytics helps identify routine applications for streamlined processing. This allows us to better manage our work, so clients receive decisions sooner.
Advanced analytic models are not used to make or recommend negative decisions. All refusals are made by human officers after they review the application themselves.
IRCC is undertaking a Service Standards Review to ensure service standards are meaningful and relevant for our programs, in line with the Department’s ability to forecast demand and address intake. This is part of IRCC’s ongoing efforts to set clear expectations for clients and increase transparency on performance.

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 (MCMPS) and the dedicated crisis line for Palestine. Approximately 5% of all responded phone and email enquiries (equivalent to 167,000 interactions) were related to study permit enquiries.
IRCC received 2% fewer enquiries in January to August 2025 than in the same time last year (which represents a decrease of 57K 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 (i.e., over 35K 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.

2026-02-27