Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has quietly updated the public dashboard that tracks the volume of immigration and citizenship applications moving through its system. According to the new figures—released late on 25 September and analysed by CTC News—Canada is now managing 2,092,700 active files. Of those, 941,400 have waited longer than IRCC’s published service standards. The pressures are most acute in the permanent-residence (PR) stream, where 1,007,400 individuals are seeking to settle in Canada. Roughly half of those PR files (470,600) remain within service standards, while the rest are classed as “backlogged.” IRCC stresses that delays are driven by statutory admission caps set in the Immigration Levels Plan; once a yearly quota is filled, completed applications must wait until additional spaces open. From 1 January to 31 March 2026 the department finalised 112,600 PR decisions and landed 83,000 new permanent residents. Temporary-resident demand remains historically high. Since the start of 2026 IRCC has finalised 1.83 million visitor, study and work permit applications, yet 394,325 temporary-resident files were still pending as of 31 July. Visitor visas account for the lion’s share, with 327,980 cases awaiting decisions. Citizenship inventories stand at 260,800, of which 200,300 are within the 12-month processing standard. For applicants and employers the latest inventory confirms that processing-time volatility will continue through the final quarter of 2026. IRCC says it remains committed to processing 80 percent of files within service standards, but rising intake and finite admissions space mean some applicants—especially in slower economic-immigration streams such as the Federal Self-Employed Persons Program—could wait years. Practically, companies that rely on foreign talent should plan recruitment timelines conservatively, respond immediately to IRCC document requests, and consider bridging work-permit strategies to keep key staff in status. Applicants are urged to monitor their online accounts closely, submit complete documentation, and use the department’s processing-time tool for the most program-specific estimates.
Source: CTC News
