Canada’s immigration backlog shows little change from January

Canada’s immigration backlog shows little change from January

There are still 2.1 million applications in stock, with minor increases in applications for citizenship and permanent residency but fewer for short-term housing. The number of applicants in inventory has been similar to January figures, at slightly over 2.1 million, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which reported this in an email to CIC News. The information is current as of February 1–31. Since July 2021, the inventory across all business lines has developed as follows:

- 2,152,220 people on January 1-2 in 2023

- 3, December 2022: 2,243,097 individuals

- 2,411,388 people as of November 3, 2022

- 30, September 2022: 2,600,000 people (figure rounded by IRCC)

- 2,583,827 people as of August 31, 2022

- 2,679,031 individuals from July 15–17, 2022

- 2,387,884 people from June 1 to 6, 2022

- 2022 April 30 - May 2: 2,130,385 people

- 2022 March 15–17: 1,844,424 people

- 1 February 2022: 1,815,628 individuals

- 1 813 144 people as of December 15, 2021

- 1,792,404 people as of October 27, 2021

- 6th of July, 2021: 1,447,474 people

Current stockpiles

As of February 1st, 302,980 people had applied for citizenship, down from 301,388 on January 3. As of January 31, there were 523,557 residents in permanent residences, up from 521,552 on January 2. Also on January 31, there were 1,294,974 people living in temporary housing, down from 1,329,280 on January 2. Consequently, two of the three main groups saw a rise. Nevertheless, there was a drop in the number of applications for temporary housing between January and February data of a little over 34,000.

As of January 31–February 1, Permanent Residents: 523,557 Immigration Category. Total of 2,121,511 Express Entry and PNP inventories: Temporary Residence 1,294,974 Citizenship 302,980. According to IRCC data, there were 47,868 candidates in line for Express Entry programs as of January 31. This represents a little decline of 541 since the numbers from January 3, which were 48,409.

In July of last year, IRCC started holding rounds of invites for applicants to Express Entry from all programs. Due to IRCC's struggles to meet its service standard of six months or less for Express Entry applications, draws were only open to participants in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) between September 21, 2021, and July 6, 2022. 

IRCC was able to decrease the Express Entry inventory and restore to a six-month service standard for those who received an invitation to apply as of July 6 thanks to the suspension of Express Entry invitations to Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Canadian Experience Class candidates. There are currently 66,214 candidates in the PNP's database (base and enhanced applications included), which is a considerable rise from the 62,720 applicants who were included in the database in January.

List of family classes

The total number of applications for all family-class immigration programs decreased marginally from 125,631 on January 3 to 124,771 this time around. With 61,191 inventories, which is a modest reduction from the 61,481 inventories on January 3, the Spouses and Partners sponsorship program have one of the greatest inventories of any business line. 52,801 people are currently listed in the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP), compared to 52,960 people who were waiting for decisions in January.

Service Expectations

The intended time frame, or aim, for how long it should take to process an application is provided by service standards. The time it actually takes the IRCC to process applications is different from the service standard. Backlog applications are those that are not processed according to the service level for their program. With all business lines together, IRCC aspires to complete 80% of applications in a fair length of time. Depending on the sort of application, this may change. For instance, the usual processing time for an Express Entry permanent residency application is six months. For other economic class lines of business, it is lengthier. According to IRCC, the minimum service requirement for spousal and kid family class sponsorship is twelve months.

Depending on the type of application (job or study) and whether it was submitted from within Canada or overseas, temporary residency applications have service standards that range between 60 and 120 days.

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