IRCC backlog shrinks amidst immigration cuts

As of November 30, the number of applications in Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship (IRCC)’s backlog shrunk to 1,006,500.

Considering that there were 1,056,100 applications in the backlog as of October 31, that is a decrease of approximately 4.7% in the span of a month.

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The total number of applications in IRCC’s inventory also fell. The total number of applications was 2,406,000 at the end of October, dropping to 2,267,700 by the end of November.

Overall, as the number of applications in IRCC’s backlog reduced, so did the number it processed within service standards (1,261,200).

What is a backlog?

IRCC has established benchmarks for what it considers reasonable processing times for applications.

An application is considered part of the backlog if its processing time exceeds these standards.

IRCC aims to process 80% of applications within its service standards, allowing for a target backlog of 20% to account for more complex applications.

Service standards vary depending on the type of application.

If the volume of applications exceeds available processing capacity, or if there are more complex applications than expected, processing times may significantly exceed service standards in certain categories.

Permanent residence applications

As of November 30, IRCC had 828,600 applications for permanent residence in its inventory,

Of these, 318,000 applications remained in the backlog, an increase from the 311,100 applications that remained at the end of October.

This includes Express Entry programs as well as Express Entry-aligned streams of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), and family sponsorship programs for spouses, partners, and children (except Quebec).

IRCC doesn’t supply exact figures but has started that the backlog for Express Entry fell to 18% at the end of November, from 19% at the end of October.

Meanwhile, the projected backlog for Express Entry, which had been 15% since January 2024, increased to 20% at the end of November.

That means that IRCC is 2% short of its projected and its target backlog of 20% of applications processed within its service standard of six months.

The Express Entry aligned PNP backlog, on the other hand, fell from 25% the previous month to 24%, against a projected 20%.

For spouses, partners, and children (except for Quebec), the backlog fell from 15% to 14%, dipping below the projected backlog of 15%.

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Temporary residence applications

For temporary residents, out of 1,212,000 applications in total, 649,400 (or 54%) were in backlog.

That means only 562,600 were processed within service standards – a dip from the number of applications processed within service standards in October, which was 644,900.

Broken down by program, 75% of all visitor visa applications are in the backlog. This is the highest percentage seen in all the years IRCC has been reporting its inventory in this manner (since January 2022).

Meanwhile, 36% of study permit applications and 51% of work permit applications remain in backlog, as of the end of November.

Citizenship grant

The citizenship application backlog is the only one that remains consistently low.

As of November 30, there were 227,100 applications in total for citizenship. Of this, 39,100 remained in backlog. Which makes it 17% – the same as the previous month.

How is IRCC reducing the backlog?

This update comes amidst a string of measures introduced by IRCC to reduce immigration in 2025.

The Immigration Levels Plan 2025-27, released on October 24, announced a reduction in targets for permanent resident admissions over the next three years, while also introducing targets for temporary resident admissions.

These lower targets could help IRCC reduce the existing backlog of temporary resident applications.

On January 3, the government also announced that it will not be accepting any new applications for sponsoring parents or grandparents for permanent residence in 2025.

The rationale is that the department is focusing on processing family sponsorship applications made under the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) in 2024.

Other steps IRCC has taken to reduce the backlog include prioritizing applications from workers in essential occupations, and using advanced analytics and automated technology to improve processing for spousal and partner applications under the family class.

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