(CANADA) — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reported that its application backlog has crossed the one-million mark, as new government data showed more than 1,006,800 files were exceeding service standards late last year.
IRCC’s latest release put Canada’s total application inventory at 2,182,200, covering temporary, permanent and citizenship files, with 1,006,800 categorized as backlog — 46.1% of the overall inventory.
Another 1,175,500 applications, or 53.8%, were listed as within service standards, according to IRCC’s inventory update covering the period ending October 31, 2025.
IRCC statement and service-standard goal
In a statement in its year-end inventory update on December 16, 2025, IRCC said:
“Our goal is to process 80% of applications within our service standards. However, if there are more people who apply than available spaces, it may not be possible to achieve this goal and processing times may increase in some categories.”
The department’s service-standards framework is outlined on Canada.ca.
Inventory snapshot by stream
The snapshot highlighted a heavy workload across major immigration streams. Key figures:
| Stream | Total files in inventory | Files in backlog | Backlog % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temporary residence | 999,100 | 450,700 | 45% |
| Permanent residence | 928,800 | 501,300 | 54% |
| Citizenship | 254,300 | 54,800 | 22% |
The year-end data reiterated the overall totals: 2,182,200 total applications and 1,006,800 beyond service standards as Canada entered 2026.
Policy and operational context (2025–2026)
Several policy changes and operational shifts in 2025–2026 intersect with processing volumes:
- In November 2025, the federal government released its 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan, which stabilizes permanent resident targets at 380,000 annually for 2026 through 2028. Details are on Canada.ca.
- Canada is aiming to reduce the temporary resident population to 5% of the total population by the end of 2026, a policy goal highlighted alongside broader inflow management.
- The immigration plan for 2026 prioritizes economic immigration, allocating 63% of all PR admissions to address labor shortages in healthcare, trades and technology.
Operational pressures and processing times
IRCC’s operational pressures have been uneven across programs:
- Most citizenship grant applications now take approximately 13 months.
- Some Express Entry streams were described as holding at a 6-month standard, but IRCC also cited a 29% surge in backlog volume, signaling rising strain in parts of the economic immigration system.
- IRCC has been rolling out a new online account for all clients throughout 2025–2026 to improve transparency, but the department said: “IT outages continue to hamper throughput” as of late 2025.
Program-specific capacity constraints and rule changes
- Bill C-3, a citizenship reform law effective December 15, 2025, removes the first-generation limit for citizenship by descent and allows many “lost Canadians” to claim citizenship.
- IRCC paused new applications for the Home Care Worker pilots on December 19, 2025, citing excessive demand that continues to exceed available spaces.
Related developments in the United States
While Canada’s backlog figures are specific to IRCC, U.S. agencies issued integrity-focused policy updates in the same period:
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued policy guidance on December 18, 2025 regarding professional athlete petitions (Volume 6 update), and later another program update tied to immigration protections.
- On December 22, 2025, USCIS updated the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) program to “restore integrity. after finding rampant fraud,” according to the agency’s public notices posted on USCIS newsroom.
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posts official notices on DHS news.
U.S. agencies do not typically issue statements on Canadian backlogs; the Canadian figures are reported by IRCC.
Reporting and transparency
IRCC publishes its inventories and backlog information as part of ongoing reporting. Relevant resources include:
- IRCC’s data and backlog explainer on Canada.ca’s Understanding IRCC’s Inventories page, which tracks the size of the overall inventory and the portion exceeding service standards.
Key takeaway
- IRCC’s year-end data shows a significant administrative load: 2,182,200 total applications in inventory and 1,006,800 beyond service standards, pushing the backlog past the one-million mark as Canada entered 2026.
Canada’s immigration backlog has reached 1,006,800 applications, representing nearly half of the IRCC’s total inventory. While the government aims to process 80% of files within standard timeframes, surging demand and technical outages have slowed progress. New policies for 2026 focus on stabilizing intake levels and prioritizing economic immigrants in critical sectors to alleviate administrative strain and address labor shortages across the country.
