IRCC has unveiled which PR applications it plans to process in 2025
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) does not plan on clearing its entire inventory of PR applications this year—except for a few permanent residence (PR) streams.
Per the immigration department’s most recent Minister Transition Binder, only Express Entry programs, Express Entry-aligned Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams, IRCC’s community pilots, and Quebec’s skilled worker pathway will see their total inventory processed in 2025.
Other economic PR pathways will maintain inventories at different levels (depending on each pathway) and only seek to process a portion of their respective inventories.
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This article will cover planned application processing, inventory, and wait times for Canada’s federally managed economic PR pathways.
IRCC plans to clear the entire application inventory for the following economic PR pathways in 2025:
- The Canadian Experience Class (CEC).
- Community Pilots.
- The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP).
- The Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).
- Enhanced PNP streams (Express Entry-aligned).
- Quebec Experience Class (PEQ).
- Quebec’s Pilot Programs.
- Quebec Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ).
Remaining economic PR pathways will only see a portion of their entire application inventories cleared in 2025:
| PR Pathway | Proportion of inventory to be processed in 2025 |
|---|---|
| Agrifood Pilot | 5% |
| Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) | 33% |
| Caregiver Pilots | 14% |
| Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP) | 12% |
| Base PNP (Not Express Entry-aligned) | 35% |
| Quebec Business | 3% |
| Start-up Visa | 2% |
Express Entry
All currently operating Express Entry streams will see their inventory of applications processed in 2025.
This includes the CEC and FSW programs (FSWP and FSTP).
| PR Pathway | Application inventory as of September 11 | Applications to be processed this year |
|---|---|---|
| CEC | 19,300 | 19,300 |
| FSW | 12,500 | 12,500 |
Application wait times (in months) over the last year for these pathways are given below:
| Program | 2024-Q2 | 2024-Q3 | 2024-Q4 | 2025-Q1 | 2025-Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FSW | 6 months | 5 months | 6 months | 6 months | 6 months |
| CEC | 6 months | 6 months | 6 months | 7 months | 5 months |
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Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
PNP streams that are aligned with Express Entry (also known as enhanced PNP streams) will see their full application inventory processed in 2025.
PNP streams that are not aligned with Express Entry (also called base PNP streams) will only see 35% of their application inventory processed in 2025. Base PNP streams cover all remaining PNP streams that do not use the Express Entry system to select immigration candidates or process applications.
| PR Pathway | Application inventory as of September 11 | Applications to be processed this year |
|---|---|---|
| PNP (Express Entry) | 16,300 | 16,300 |
| PNP (Base) | 87,700 | 30,695 |
Application wait times (in months) over the last year for these pathways are given below:
| Program | 2024-Q2 | 2024-Q3 | 2024-Q4 | 2025-Q1 | 2025-Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNP (Express Entry) | 6 months | 6 months | 7 months | 7 months | 6 months |
| PNP (Base) | 11 months | 11 months | 13 months | 24 months | 19 months |
See your eligibility for all enhanced PNP streams
Quebec
Quebec’s skilled worker pathways (including the Quebec Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ), the Quebec Experience Class (PEQ), and Quebec’s Pilot Programs) are set to be cleared of the inventory in 2025.
Quebec’s Business pathways (including the Quebec Investor Program, Quebec Entrepreneur Program, and Quebec Self-Employed Program) will only see 3% of their collective inventory cleared in 2025.
| PR Pathway | Application inventory as of September 11 | Applications to be processed this year |
|---|---|---|
| Quebec Skilled Worker | 27,600 | 27,600 |
| Quebec Business | 4,100 | 123 |
Application wait times (in months) for these two classes are given below:
| PR Pathway | 2024-Q2 | 2024-Q3 | 2024-Q4 | 2025-Q1 | 2025-Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quebec Business | 20 | 17 | 22 | 108 | 108 |
| Quebec Skilled Worker | 8 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 9 |
Learn more about your options and get assistance immigrating to Quebec
Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP)
IRCC will process 33% of the AIP’s application inventory in the remainder of 2025:
| PR Pathway | Application inventory as of September 11 | Applications to be processed this year |
|---|---|---|
| AIP | 12,100 | 3,993 |
AIP application wait times (in months) over the last year are given below:
| Program | 2024-Q2 | 2024-Q3 | 2024-Q4 | 2025-Q1 | 2025-Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIP | 12 months | 13 months | 17 months | 27 months | 24 months |
Federal economic pilots
Canada’s federal economic pilots include the Agrifood Pilot (now closed), caregiver pilots (including the Home Care Worker Immigration Pilots (HCWP), Home Child Care Provider Pilot (closed), and the Home Support Worker Pilot (closed)), and the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP).
The percentage of inventory to be cleared for each pathway in 2025 is given below, alongside the inventory numbers that this percentage corresponds to:
| PR Pathway | Application inventory as of September 11 | Percentage of inventory to be processed this year | Applications to be processed this year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agrifood | 8,900 | 5% | 445 |
| Caregivers | 34,400 | 14% | 4,816 |
| EMPP | 2,500 | 12% | 300 |
Historic application wait times (in months) over the last year for these pilots are given below:
| Program | 2024-Q2 | 2024-Q3 | 2024-Q4 | 2025-Q1 | 2025-Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agrifood | 22 | 32 | 60 | 180 | 228 |
| Caregivers | 31 | 29 | 27 | 84 | 108 |
| EMPP | 10 | 8 | 10 | 36 | 54 |
IRCC has also recently closed intake for the "applicants not in Canada" stream of the HCWP, indicating that the department will not further add to its caregiver inventory this year.
Federal community pilots
IRCC’s federal community pilots include the Rural Community Immigration Program (RCIP), the Francophone Community Immigration Program (FCIP), and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) (now closed).
In 2025, IRCC plans to clear its remaining application inventory for these programs:
| PR Pathway | Application inventory as of September 11 | Applications to be processed this year |
|---|---|---|
| Community Pilots | 3,500 | 3,500 |
Application wait times for these pilots (in months) over the last year are given below:
| Program | 2024-Q2 | 2024-Q3 | 2024-Q4 | 2025-Q1 | 2025-Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Pilots | 12 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 7 |
Assess your eligibility for the RCIP
Start-up Visa
Canada’s federal Start-Up Visa (SUV) program will only process 2% of its inventory this year:
| PR Pathway | Application inventory as of September 11 | Applications to be processed this year |
|---|---|---|
| SUV | 38,600 | 772 |
Historic application wait times (in months) over the last year for the SUV are given below:
| Program | 2024-Q2 | 2024-Q3 | 2024-Q4 | 2025-Q1 | 2025-Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUV | 48 | 51 | 71 | 420 | 420 |
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