The latest weekly refresh of IRCC’s public processing-times tool, published on 20 October 2026, pegs the expected wait for a Canadian visitor visa filed in Nigeria at 103 days — the longest turnaround posted for that country this year. The climb is steep: the same indicator sat at roughly 84-87 days in mid-September and hit 100 days only a week ago. IRCC’s visitor-visa service standard is 14 days, meaning Nigerian applicants now face an estimate more than seven times the target. Although the figure is an average of recent cases rather than a guaranteed timeline, it heavily influences corporate travel planning, family visits and last-minute conference attendance. Work-permit and study-permit estimates for applicants in Nigeria remain at 10 weeks each, suggesting the backlog is concentrated in the temporary-resident-visa stream. For Canadian organisations that routinely invite Nigerian executives, researchers or clients, the numbers imply that invitations need to be issued at least three to four months before the intended departure date. Companies should also budget extra time for biometrics and potential document requests, both of which can push individual files beyond the posted average. Event organisers may need to explore virtual participation or hybrid formats to accommodate speakers and delegates caught in the queue. From a policy perspective, the prolonged delays risk undermining Canada’s efforts to deepen commercial ties with Africa’s largest economy. Business associations in both countries have already flagged visa wait-times as a competitiveness issue, arguing that Ottawa’s Indo-Pacific visa facilitation measures should be mirrored in West Africa. IRCC has not indicated when visitor-visa backlogs specific to Nigeria will ease.
Source: IRCC.com
