The immigration backlog in Canada has once again declined, per the IRCC data. The backlog is around 2.2 million as of December 2, 2022.
Additionally, the inventories across all business lines have proceeded further since July 2021.
- November 3, 2022: 2,411,388 persons
- September 30, 2022: 2,600,000 individuals (figure rounded by IRCC)
- August 31, 2022: 2,583,827 persons
- July 15-17, 2022: 2,679,031 individuals
- June 1-6, 2022: 2,387,884 persons
- April 30-May 2, 2022: 2,130,385 individuals
- April 11-12, 2022: 2,031,589 persons
- March 15 and 17, 2022: 1,844,424 individuals
- February 1, 2022: 1,815,628 persons
- December 15, 2021: 1,813,144 individuals
- October 27, 2021: 1,792,404 persons
- July 6, 2021: 1,447,474 individuals
Immigration backlog in Canada- present inventories
As of November 30, the citizenship inventory currently confirms 314,630 individuals compared to 331,401 on October 31.
Additionally, the inventory of permanent residence as of December 2 confirmed 1,416,125 individuals compared to November 3 inventory figure, which stood at 1,537,566 individuals.
Hence, two categories of the three major ones witnessed a decline, while one of the massive reductions occurred in the temporary residence inventory.
| Immigration Categories | Individuals (as of December 2, 2022) |
|---|---|
| Permanent Residence | 512,342 |
| Temporary Residence | 1,416,125 |
| Citizenship | 314,630 |
| Grand total | 2,243,097 |
Inventories- Express Entry and PNP
Approximately 43,326 Express Entry program applications are pending. This figure reflects an increase of up to 3,500 compared to the data of November 3, which confirmed 39,589.
Overall, the total number of individuals applying for Express Entry programs also witnessed an increase of approximately 5000 Canadian Experience Class applications over the last month.
Earlier in July, IRCC again started conducting the Express Draws for all programs. Initially, due to the long pause, only Provincial Nominee Program candidates could participate in draws between September 2021 and July 2022. This situation occurred because of IRCCs failure to meet the service standard for processing immigration applications. The Federal Skilled Worker Program and CEC candidates had to wait until the long haul. Consequently, it gave enough time to IRCC to further reduce its inventory. Currently, IRCC looks forward to its earlier service standard of six months for those who receive an ITA for permanent residence.
Both Base and Enhanced Provincial Nominee Programs have a total inventory of about 62,343 applications.
Inventory- Family Class
The Family Class immigration programs and their inventory were slightly reduced to 127,091. This is in comparison with the inventory of November 3, which stood at 128,112.
Additionally, the largest inventory for all business lines stands at 62,106 for the Spouses and Partners sponsorship program.
Moreover, the Parents and Grandparents program comprises an inventory of 53,770 individuals compared to the pending applications of 55,653 individuals in November.
Immigration backlog in Canada- tracking the service standard
According to the data of the IRCCs official website, the total number of inventories as of October 31, 2022, depicts an immigration backlog of around 1.2 million applicants.
Moreover, the September 30 data of IRCC suggests that there were earlier 1.5 million applications under the immigration backlog. This backlog figure indicates that IRCC worked on more than 350,000 applications to clear them. On the other hand, the inventory for permanent resident applications has increased.
An application backlog simply suggests that the applications extended the service standard fixed for processing them. These service standards define the amount of time IRCC must take to process the applications. However, the amount of time the department takes might differ from the goal fixed. Usually, IRCC tries its best to process immigration applications within six months. However, the processing largely relies upon the application type submitted to them. Notably, the service standard for Spousal and Child Family Class Sponsorship is twelve months. Also, PR application via Express Entry takes six months; however, it might take more time for other economic class business lines.
Moreover, the service standard for temporary residence applications lies between 60-120 days. Also, it will depend upon the application type, whether it’s a study or a work permit. Another factor will be where the application was submitted, inside Canada or outside.
Managing the backlog
IRCC revealed through its latest data that it made decisions for around 4.3 million applications. These decisions comprised all three categories: temporary residents, permanent residents, and citizens. The department took all these decisions between January to October this year. Comparatively, during the same period in 2021, IRCC made decisions on 2.3 million applications for the same categories.
IRCC looks forward to processing at least 50 percent of the immigration backlog across all business lines by March 2023. To meet its objective, the department shifted to a 100 percent digital application system for most permanent resident programs. This occurred on September 2023, and they made adjustments for those individuals who couldn’t apply digitally.
The digital shift also applies to citizenship applications for those above 18 years. However, IRCC aims to create a 100 percent digital system for all citizenship applications, implying the ones who are minors.
