Canada Processing Time Tool To Provide Accurate Information 

On March 31, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced major updates to the government’s online processing times tool. 

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) clients can now see more accurate estimates of how long it will take to process their application. 

Most permanent resident and citizenship services will now use dynamic processing times. New calculations will be posted weekly based on data from the previous six months. Dynamic processing times for temporary residence services are already in place, based on data from the past eight or 16 weeks.

The new processing time estimates will reflect the volumes of applications being processed, as well as the latest operational realities. They will allow future newcomers to make plans based on a more accurate timeline. This upgrade to the government website is part of IRCC’s effort to modernize the immigration system. 

Before, the government website was only showing the service standard, which is IRCC’s commitment to process applications under normal circumstances. This past January, Fraser had announced that these changes would be forthcoming in the months ahead.  

The difference between processing times and service standards 

IRCC’s processing times tell clients how long it took to process most complete applications in the past and are updated weekly. Service standards, on the other hand, are IRCC’s commitments to process applications in a certain amount of time under normal circumstances. They are not updated regularly, and not all programs have service standards.  

IRCC reports annually on how actual processing times compared to service standards. Read More. Immigration Frauds.