IRCC Processing Times

Your application's clock begins the day IRCC gets your complete file and stops the day it reaches a decision. Any time you spend collecting documents before submitting does not count.

Many permanent residence programs rely on a figure showing how quickly 80% of files were handled over the previous six months. Temporary residence programs look back eight or 16 weeks instead. These are known as backward-looking times, since they describe what happened recently.

A few programs get forward-looking estimates instead. Those are predictions, and IRCC refreshes them every month. They rest on three things: how many applications are already in the queue, how many IRCC expects to finish per month, and the cap on admissions set by the yearly immigration levels plan.

Permanent residence (PR) lets you live and work in Canada long term. Each PR program's current wait is in the first table. Remember these are estimates, not promises.

Heading for Quebec? Quebec's own government takes part in processing your file as well, under the Canada–Quebec Accord.

Express Entry is IRCC's online invitation route for skilled workers applying for PR. Processing starts only after you get an invitation and send your complete application. From there, the current estimates sit around six months for the Canadian Experience Class. The Federal Skilled Worker program and provincial nominees in Express Entry both sit around seven months.

Invitations go out in rounds, and you can check your score with our CRS calculator. So far in 2026, up to 16 October, IRCC has run 62 invitation rounds and handed out 143,467 invitations. You can see the newest rounds on our latest draw page.

Applying online is the norm for most people. A few applicants have to apply on paper, and IRCC tells them to add three to four months for mailing time. Certain family situations, like applying for a child under 18 living outside Canada and the U.S., come with a request to allow an extra six to eight months.

IRCC labels a file complex when certain parts call for added review or processing. The reasons it gives are:

• Security checks require a closer look.
• A dependant (a family member included on your application) turned 18 after you applied, or you added one or more dependants since you applied.
• You or a family member may not qualify.
• It needs extra documents, child custody information for example.
• A medical condition could call for further tests or consultations.
• Offices in Canada or overseas need to be consulted.

Everyone on your application needs a medical exam, and all the results have to be valid at the same time. Times can also stretch when applications outnumber what Canada can admit, and IRCC's own processing capacity shifts. Should anything further be needed, IRCC says it will reach out to you for more information or documents.

IRCC gives you a couple of online options for checking your status:

1. The Client Application Status tool. Note that if you applied online, this tool uses a separate account from the one you applied with.
2. Signing in to the online account you used when you applied.

The Client Application Status tool can display a more detailed timeline than your main account. You will need to set up a separate account, plus your unique client identifier, the personal number IRCC assigns you.