Immigration application processing time update
A news release of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on August 9, 2018 announced the implementation of a new method to estimate processing times for some permanent residence streams. The new projected processing times tell applicants how long most applications are expected to take under normal circumstances, if submitted on the day of the service standards query. As per IRCC, the change aims to improve the processing experience for some permanent residence applicants, such as parent and grandparent sponsorship applicants, humanitarian and compassionate applicants, provincial nominee program (non-Express Entry aligned) applicants, etc.
Processing times start the day IRCC receives a complete application and ends when a decision is being made.
Going forward, processing times are grounded on two methods of estimating:
Projected times: based on the current number of applications waiting to be processed and on how quickly IRCC expects to process 80% of them.
Historical times: based on how long it took IRCC to process 80% of applications in the past.