CANADA: Immitracker vs. IRCC, immigration processing time insights (Q1 2025: January - March)
Immitracker is presenting the latest processing time statistics for Canada! With the help of our users who thoughtfully put in their case information, we’re able to glean valuable insights regarding actual processing times for the most popular Canadian immigration programs.
For each visa and immigration program and citizenship, the IRCC provides average processing time estimates. These official estimates by program can be found here. From the cases that get logged in the Canadian trackers on Immitracker, we noticed that the actual processing times can vary significantly from the ones presented by the IRCC.
This time we’re presenting the combined analysis for all of Q1 2025: covering the months of January, February and March. The programs that Immitracker reviewed are from the most popular trackers and include:
Key Report Takeaways
In the graph below, we display the government processing time estimates for each of the programs (last updated by the IRCC on April 1) on the left side and the actual processing time estimates calculated by Immitracker on the right side. The Immitracker numbers were calculated based on the cases that successfully finished processing January through March (data for all three months of Q1 2025 combined). Case timelines were counted from application submission to final approval.
Below are some of the most interesting observations we made based on this data:
Spousal Sponsorship applicants averaged 158 days (5.3 months), which is significantly faster than both the Inland (24 months) and Outland (11 months) IRCC processing time estimates
The amount of new cases we saw logged for the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program tracker was significantly lower than the amount of cases we noticed logged in early 2024. This data trend supports IRCC’s claim to prioritize and bring in more applicants through the CEC and PNP programs
Citizenship remains significantly faster than the government estimated processing timeline of 8 months. We observed it taking on average 4.7 months to receive an oath ceremony invitation letter
In the sections below, we break down our Immitracker processing time insights by individual program including the quantity of cases that were analyzed and the number of days it took on average for the case to go from application submission to the final processing milestone (Passport Request / PPR or oath letter).
Processing Time Analysis by Program
Citizenship
For Citizenship applicants, we analyzed 92 cases that received their Oath Letter (the letter in which the IRCC provides the applicant with an invitation to and date for their citizenship ceremony). On average, it took 140 days / 4.7 months to receive final approval - almost the exact same speed we were observing in late 2024 as well.
While the IRCC's official estimate remains at 8 months, our tracker data shows considerably shorter processing times. We recorded the shortest case at 69 days and the longest case (from an India national) at 460 days!
Spousal Sponsorship
For Spousal Sponsorship applicants (both inland and outland), we analyzed 31 cases that received their PPR and it on average took them 158 days / 5.3 months to receive it. This shows only a very a moderate slowdown compared to the last period (Nov + Dec 2024) where the cases had an average processing time of 141 days / 4.7 months.
Spousal Sponsorship cases are still being processed MUCH faster compared to the government estimates and the timelines we were seeing in early 2024 (7.5+ months). The shortest case wrapped in just over 2 months and the longest case (from a Jordanian national) took 580 days to process.
Express Entry Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs)
For Provincial Nominee (PNP) applicants through Express Entry, we analyzed a total of 61 cases that received their Passport Request (PPR). On average, it took 124 days / 4.1 months to receive final approval, a decrease from the 142-day average reported in the November–December 2024 period.
Most PNP applications continue to move swiftly with a growing number of cases being approved in under 2 months. The longest cases observed included one from an India national that took 483 days to process and another from an Iranian national that took 369 days to process.
Express Entry Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW) Program
For Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) applicants, a total of 16 cases received their PPR and it on average took them 130 days / 4.3 months to receive it. The biggest change we noticed for FSW is that the number of cases being logged on the platform began steadily decreasing since mid-2024. In fact, for this time period, we observed the lowest amount of new FSW cases being logged on the platform since we started doing this report in summer 2023.
While the vast majority of FSW applications are being processed faster than the government's estimate (4 months vs. 6 months), the longest case we observed was for a Russia national that took 630 days / over a year and a half to process.
Express Entry Canadian Experience Class (CEC) Program
For Canadian Experience Class (CEC) applicants, a total of 136 cases received their PPR and it on average took them 141 days / 4.7 months to be processed. We see only a very slight increase from the average processing times of 121 days / 4 months recorded in late 2024.
It’s important to note that some applicants have experienced delays of up to two years. The cases that took the longest to process included the following three: 765 days for a Sri Lanka national, 748 days for a Chinese national and 566 days for an Iranian national.
Additionally, in stark contrast to the FSW program, we noticed that a much larger amount of cases was logged on the platform for the CEC program. There is a significant increase in new case numbers compared to what we were observing in early 2024. This trend seems to reaffirm the government’s commitment to transitioning more temporary residents in Canada to PR.
If you’re interested in getting a copy of our data analysis summaries, you can download them for free at the following link!
Looking for processing time insights for other programs? Check out the Immitracker trackers or reach out to us through our Contact Form and we can help you find the answers!
