Last Updated On 30 April 2024, 10:29 AM EDT (Toronto Time)
A new IRCC update on April 29 reflects that there were a total of 2.2 million applications under processing as of March 31.
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) updates this information monthly for the previous month.
Out of 2.2 million applications in the inventory, there were 892,000 citizenship, immigration, and visa applications in backlog, exceeding the usual processing standards.
When compared to the IRCC backlog update in March 2024, this number has decreased by only 7,200 (0.80%).
| Application Type | Backlog As of March 31 | Backlog As of Feb 29 | Difference Since Feb 29 | Percentage Change Since Feb 29 |
| Citizenship | 47,400 | 48,400 | -1,000 | -2.07% |
| Permanent Residence | 306,000 | 304,300 | 1,700 | 0.56% |
| Temporary Residence | 538,600 | 546,500 | -7,900 | -1.45% |
| Total | 892,000 | 899,200 | -7,200 | -0.80% |
There has been a significant rise in the backlog for study permit applications lately.
IRCC achieved service standards in December 2023 for study permit applications, but since January 2024, they have continued to rise.
In December, 18% of the study permit applications were in backlog, but it increased to 23% in January, then to 43% in February and now 46% in March.
IRCC Applications Within Service Standards
| Application Type | Within Service Standards, March 31 | Within Service Standards, February 29 | Percentage Change Since February 29 |
| Citizenship | 214,600 | 215,000 | -0.19% |
| Permanent Residence | 440,000 | 413,400 | 6.43% |
| Temporary Residence | 665,400 | 598,650 | 11.15% |
| Total | 1,320,000 | 1,227,050 | 7.58% |
IRCC Processing Within Service Standards
1,320,000 applications were being processed within IRCC service standards. IRCC has a goal of achieving service standards for 80% of the applications.
For permanent residence applications, only 59% of the files are being processed within service standards and this number is 55% for temporary residence applications.
However, based on recent backlog updates, the department is meeting service standards only for citizenship applications.
The above-mentioned service standards numbers suggest that IRCC is facing an increase in the number of new applications for permanent residency and temporary residence.
IRCC Backlog Updates since January 2023
Below are the monthly IRCC updates on backlog data. You can click on hyperlinked dates to see a detailed breakdown of backlog data.
| Backlog Update Date | Applications In Backlog | Total Applications Under Processing | Backlog Net Age Change month-on-month |
| March 31, 2024 | 892,000 | 1,320,000 | -0.80% |
| February 29, 2024 | 899,150 | 1,227,050 | -3.32% |
| January 31, 2024 | 930,000 | 2,188,400 | -2.05% |
| December 31, 2023 | 949,500 | 2,221,100 | +6.65% |
| November 30, 2023 | 890,300 | 2,092,700 | -4.93% |
| October 31, 2023 | 936,500 | 2,166,800 | 0.86% |
| September 30, 2023 | 928,500 | 2,194,900 | 9.9% |
| August 31, 2023 | 844,700 | 2,198,700 | 5.2% |
| July 31, 2023 | 802,600 | 2,274,600 | 0.2% |
| June 30, 2023 | 801,000 | 2,264,000 | -2.3% |
| May 31, 2023 | 820,000 | 2,248,000 | 1.4% |
| April 30, 2023 | 809,000 | 2,006,000 | -9.7% |
| March 31, 2023 | 896,300 | 2,017,700 | -1.5% |
| February 28, 2023 | 910,400 | 1,962,600 | -6.6% |
| January 31, 2023 | 974,600 | 1,944,500 | 6.1% |
What are the IRCC service standards?
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has set a timeframe to handle various kinds of applications for immigration, visas, and citizenship and aims to process 80% of files within that set time.
These timeframes are known as the IRCC service standards.
Click here to see IRCC service standards for various citizenship, immigration, and visa applications.
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