According to the data presented in December last year, the country has pending over 1.8 million applications for processing.
As per the Canadian immigration department, the applications are pending for foreign students, future citizens, temporary workers, Permanent residents, and even Visitors.
Precisely 1,813,144 applications are there in their backlog if we sum up all the categories. This data is as per their December report. From October, the count has increased by over 21,000. In a span of around 49 days, the backlog increased by around 1%.
Except for citizens, till 15th Dec’21, IRCC had the below-mentioned number of applications to process
Permanent residence backlog:
| Immigration category | Count as of 15th Dec’21 |
| Economic Class | 234,770 |
| Family Class | 105,298 |
| Humanitarian and Compassionate/Public Policy | 27,520 |
| Permit Holders Class | 24 |
| Protected Persons | 157,658 |
| Grand total | 525,270 |
Temporary residence backlog:
| TR Category | Persons as of December 15 |
| Study Permit | 122,476 |
| Study Permit extension | 24,461 |
| Temporary Resident Permit | 6,726 |
| Temporary Resident Visa | 403,752 |
| Visitor Record extension | 60,499 |
| Work Permit | 78,080 |
| Work Permit extension | 123,880 |
| Grand Total | 819,874 |
Until 31st Oct’21, the department had 468,000 applications for Canadian citizenship. They have not released the data afterwards for this category.
Reductions in Express Entry and Family Class applications and increase in refugee count
In December, the count for Express Entry remained at 119,000, a reduction of 19,000 as compared to October.
The major difference was In the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) count, which reduced to 25,000 in December, a reduction of 23,000 in two months. The Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) also witnessed a reduction from 931 to 805 in the same duration.
The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) is constantly rising and stood at around 55,000 in the last month. The enhanced Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) also witnessed a rise from 38,000 to 39,000 in two months.
All the family class applications were reduced to 105,000 in December. This class has applications for programs like:
– Spousal sponsorship (55,000)
– Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) (38,000)
Last month’s application count for protected persons stood at 158,000. Protected persons are asylum claimants and refugees residing in the country. It reduced by 5,000 in two months.
Details of backlog immigration program wise
Economic Class:
| Immigration category | Persons as of December 15 |
| Agri-Food Pilot Program | 747 |
| Atlantic Immigration Pilot Programs | 2,998 |
| Canadian Experience Class (EE) | 24,675 |
| Canadian Experience Class (No EE) | 55 |
| Caring For Children Program | 12,539 |
| Federal Self Employed | 4,999 |
| Federal Skilled Workers (C-50) | 223 |
| Federal Skilled Workers (EE) | 54,529 |
| Federal Skilled Workers (Pre C-50) | 24 |
| High Medical Needs Program | 29 |
| Live-in Caregiver Program | 1,780 |
| Provincial/Territorial Nominees (EE) | 39,325 |
| Provincial/Territorial Nominees (No EE) | 27,421 |
| Quebec Entrepreneur | 462 |
| Quebec Investor | 14,610 |
| Quebec Self Employed | 85 |
| Quebec Skilled Workers | 27,048 |
| Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot | 992 |
| Skilled Trades (EE) | 805 |
| Skilled Trades (No EE) | 9 |
| Start-up Business | 1,264 |
| TR to PR | 20,151 |
| Total Economic Class | 234,770 |
Family Class:
| PR Category | Persons as of December 15 |
| Children & Other Family Class | 8,848 |
| FCH-Family relations – H&C | 3,465 |
| Parents and Grandparents | 38,122 |
| Spouses & Partners | 54,863 |
| Total Family Class | 105,298 |
Humanitarian and Compassionate/Public Policy:
| PR Category | Persons as of December 15 |
| HC & PH class-ADM Dependant Person Overseas | 70 |
| Humanitarian & Compassionate Straight | 17,532 |
| Humanitarian & Compassionate with Risk or Discrimination | 8,701 |
| Public Policy Without RAP | 1,217 |
| Total Humanitarian & Compassionate / Public Policy | 27,520 |
Permit Holders Class backlog:
| PR Category | Persons as of December 15 |
| Permit Holders Class | 24 |
| Total Permit Holders Class | 24 |
Protected Person backlog:
| PR Category | Persons as of December 15 |
| Blended Visa Office-Referred | 42 |
| Dependants Abroad of Protected Persons | 23,708 |
| Federal Government-assisted Refugees | 40,603 |
| Privately Sponsored Refugees | 72,436 |
| Protected Persons Landed In Canada | 19,718 |
| Quebec Government-assisted Refugees | 1,151 |
| Total Protected Persons | 157,658 |
