Canada updates timelines for temporary residence applicants

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has released updated data showing the estimated processing times for various temporary residence applications as of September 22.

The most notable shifts in IRCC’s latest update include:

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No movement was recorded for study permit wait times for the first time since IRCC’s July 17 processing times update.

Visitor visa processing times shifted modestly, with the largest change amounting to six days.

This article compares IRCC’s September 22 temporary residence processing time estimates with those published one week earlier, on September 16, to highlight the latest changes.

IRCC's next update is expected on or around September 30, 2026.

Work permit wait times rose for applicants in Canada and the U.S.—marking Canada’s first increase since at least early June—while falling by one week for those in the Philippines.

*In its latest update, IRCC began reporting in-Canada work permit processing times in weeks rather than days.

Study permit processing times for all featured countries remained unchanged from IRCC’s previous update on September 16.

Visitor visa processing became slower across all featured countries except Canada and the Philippines, with increases ranging from one to six days.

Super visa wait times fell across all featured countries except India and the Philippines, with the U.S. seeing the most substantial decline at 50 days.

*Super visa applications can only be submitted from outside Canada.

How IRCC’s processing times and service standards differ

Although both relate to application timelines, IRCC’s processing times and service standards measure different things.

Processing times are intended to give applicants an indication of how long a newly filed application may take to be finalized. They are estimates only and do not represent a guaranteed timeline, processing deadline, or maximum wait.

The department uses two different methods to produce these estimates:

Service standards, meanwhile, are performance objectives set by the department. They indicate how quickly IRCC aims to process a given application type under normal circumstances, typically for 80% of applications.

Actual processing times can be shorter or longer than either measure. Factors that may affect an application include its complexity, the size of IRCC’s inventory, available processing capacity, requests for additional information, and any further verification or assessments.

Temporary residence processing estimates are updated weekly, while estimates for permanent residence and citizenship are generally revised monthly. Service standards are updated on a less frequent basis—for example, temporary residence standards were last revised in 2018–2019.

From January through July 2026, IRCC processed 1,832,065 temporary residence applications. As of July 31, more than 394,000 remained awaiting finalization.