New IRCC Update: Canada Immigration Backlog Rises Slightly

Published

5 months ago

May 28, 2024

Admin

Last Updated On 28 May 2024, 9:44 AM EDT (Toronto Time)

Canada’s immigration backlog rises slightly, as per the new IRCC updated data, with a total of 2,220,200 citizenship, permanent residence, and temporary residence applications under processing as of April 30.

Out of over 2.2 million applications under processing, 897,100 were in backlog, exceeding the usual IRCC service standards.

This number was 892,000 for the month of March.

While 1,323,100 were being processed within IRCC service standards, the backlog increased only for temporary residence applications.

Applications for temporary residency backed up from 538,600 in March 2024 to 548,100 in April of the same year.

On the other hand, in March, there were 665,400 applications that met service standards; in April, there were 661,300.

The backlog of citizenship and permanent residence applications was actually reduced on a month-on-month basis by nearly.

47,400 citizenship applications were backlogged in March 2024; by April 2024, they had slightly decreased to 46,600.

This decrease reflects the ongoing efforts to simplify the citizenship application procedure.

For permanent residence, there were 302,400 applications in backlog as of April 30 as compared to 304,300 at end of March 2024.

Detail of the Backlogs

IRCC Backlog Comparison

The goal of IRCC is to process 80% of applications within their service standards at any given point in time.

However, IRCC is unable to meet the service standards for express entry PNPs, study permits, and work permits.

IRCC is meeting service standards for 80% of citizenship, express entry, and spousal sponsorship.

Below are the IRCC projections as compared to the actual backlog for the month of April 2024.

Category	Actual Backlog	What IRCC Projected by End of April 2024
Citizenship	18%	18%
Express Entry	14%	15%
Express Entry PNP	23%	19%
Spouses, partners, and children (except for Quebec)	14%	15%
Temporary Resident Visas (TRV)	57%	61%
Study Permits	31%	19%
Work Permits	49%	35%

IRCC Backlog: Actual vs Projections

The monthly IRCC updates on backlog data are provided below. A comprehensive breakdown of backlog data can be accessed by clicking on the dates.

Backlog Update Date	Applications In Backlog	Total Applications Under Processing	Backlog Net Age Change month-on-month
April 30, 2024	897,100	1,323,100	+0.57%
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%