Canadian immigration application backlog is steadily declining. IRCC recently reported that inventory applications have reduced from 2.2 million to just 2.1 million throughout December.
The current inventory data is valid from 2 to 3 January 2023. Also, the following data for all business lines is valid from July 2021:
- January 2-3, 2023: 2,152,220 individuals
- December 3, 2022: 2,243,097 persons
- November 3, 2022: 2,411,388 individuals
- September 30, 2022: 2,600,000 persons (IRCC provides a rounded figure)
- August 31, 2022: 2,583,827 individuals
- July 15-17, 2022: 2,679,031 persons
- June 1-6, 2022: 2,387,884 individuals
- April 30-May 2, 2022: 2,130,385 persons
- April 11-12, 2022: 2,031,589 individuals
- March 15 and 17, 2022: 1,844,424 persons
- February 1, 2022: 1,815,628 individuals
- December 15, 2021: 1,813,144 persons
- October 27, 2021: 1,792,404 individuals
- July 6, 2021: 1,447,474 persons
Canadian immigration application backlog- inventories at present
Currently, the number of applicants (onwards January 3) is 301,388 of the citizenship inventory compared to November 30, which stood at 314,630.
Around 521,552 individuals are a part of the permanent residence inventory compared to the earlier inventory as of December 2, which stood at 512,342.
On the other hand, the inventory for temporary residence remained at 1,329,280 individuals compared to the December 3 inventory of 1,416,125 individuals.
The temporary residence inventory witnessed the most drastic decline, with 86,845 lesser applicants, compared to the December 3 applicants.
| Immigration Categories | Individuals as of January 2-3 |
| Permanent Residence | 521,552 |
| Temporary Residence | 1,329,280 |
| Citizenship | 301,388 |
| Grand total | 2,152,220 |
Inventories- Express Entry and PNP
As of January 2, the IRCC data displayed at least 48,409 Express Entry applicants with pending applications. Also, this data shows an increase of 5,000 applications since December 2, which initially stood at 43,326.
Additionally, out of all Express Entry applicants, 3,733 applicants increased under the Canadian Experience Class and 1,869 applicants under the Federal Skilled Worker Program in the previous month.
IRCC started conducting the Express Entry all program draws again on July 6, 2022. Earlier, these draws had paused longer and were limited to Provincial Nominee Programs between September 2021 and July 2022. This change occurred because IRCC failed to meet the six-month service standard for Express Entry candidates.
The long haul in the FSWP and CEC led to the reduction of Express Entry inventory. Moreover, the draws resumed their standard processing timeframe for applicants who received ITAs on July 6, 2022.
Generally, the Express Entry draws are held once in two weeks. However, since November 23, 2022, there is not been a single that occurred for Express Entry candidates. Currently, there is no certainty regarding when these draws will be held again.
Moreover, the PNP inventory is 62,720 applications combining both Base and Enhanced PNPs. However, this is not a remarkable rise from December’s initial PNP inventory, which totaled 62,343 individuals.
Canadian immigration inventory for Family Class
The applicants under the Family Class immigration program experienced a slightly reduced inventory at 125,631, compared to the previous inventory of 127,091.
The Spouses and Partnership Sponsorship programs are generally a massive inventory across all business fields, with 61,481 applicants. However, this implies a reduction of 1,460 inventories, compared to the earlier one at 62,106 as of December 2.
Additionally, there is an inventory of 52,960 applicants under the Parents and Grandparents Program. This inventory is compared to the December inventory, with 53,770 individuals waiting for pending applications.
Canadian immigration application backlog- Service Standard
The most recent data available on the IRCCs official website concerning the immigration backlog displays that as of November 30, there is a backlog of 1.09 million applications.
However, earlier in October last year, the existing backlog was 1.2 million, and IRCC processed 110,000 applicants’ backlog over November. However, this is only a slight reduction from the earlier one between September and October, when the department successfully processed 350,000 applications.
Overall, one can witness a gradual decline in the backlog even though the number of Permanent Residence applicants is increasing in the present inventory.
The application backlog indicates that the applications could not be processed within the standard timeline. Also, the service standard defines the timeframe and objectives regarding the time taken to process applications. However, the department’s actual time taken to process applications will differ from the service standard. Hence, when IRCC cannot process an application within the fixed standard timeline, it immediately falls under the backlog category.
The objective of IRCC is to process around 80 percent of applications within the decided service period across all business fields. However, the processing of applications will largely depend on the type of application. For instance, IRCC processes PR applications under Express Entry within six months. On the other hand, for different business lines, the time will differ and will be longer than six months. Family Class Sponsorship applications might take around twelve months.
Temporary Residence applications have a standard service of 60 to 120 days based on the application type; it could be a work or study application. Another factor is whether the applicant applies within Canada or from outside the country.
