Economic permanent resident applicants see drop in processing times

Processing times have decreased for permanent residence applicants through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP), and Quebec Business Class.

AIP applicants saw the most significant change, with wait times falling by 12 months. Provincial nominees saw a decrease of one month for both base applications and enhanced applications, while processing time for Quebec Business Class applications dropped by two months.

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On the other hand, wait times for most family sponsorship applicants rose by one month, including for spouses and common-law partners, and parents and grandparents.

The wait times for non-PNP Express Entry applications and for Quebec immigration through the Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ) remained flat.

In this article, we compare wait time estimates for economic, family sponsorship, and citizenship applications as of June 8 against the previous update (May 12).

Wait times for economic immigration applications did not rise across any category in the latest update, instead remaining steady or declining—with AIP, PNP, and Quebec Business Class applicants seeing improvements.

The wait time for AIP applications has declined substantially, falling by one year and hitting its lowest point since September 2025.

Applications in inventory awaiting assessment: 12,900

PNP applicants saw a one-month decline in processing time, for both enhanced and base submissions.

Service standard: Six months for enhanced applications, 11 months for base applications.

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The latest update brought no change for PSTQ applications, but Quebec Business Class applicants saw processing times fall by two months.

Service standard: 11 months for PSTQ applicants, unpublished for QBC applications.

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Processing times have remained unchanged for Express Entry applicants since the previous update.

*Current and previous processing times for FTSP applications are not available, with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) citing “not enough data.”

Service standard: Six months for all Express Entry applications.

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Start-up visa and Federal Self-Employed Persons Program applicants continue to face estimated waits of over 10 years. Both programs are currently paused.

IRCC does not publish service standards for the above programs.

The only decline in wait time among family sponsorship applications can be seen under the Parents and Grandparents Program; all other application types saw a one-month increase.

Service standard: 12 months for sponsorship of a spouse/common-law partner outside Quebec; unpublished for other application types.

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Processing times for citizenship grants, renunciation of citizenship, and searches of citizenship records remain unchanged since May 12.

There are currently 326,400 citizenship grant applications in IRCC’s inventory (+5,300 since May 12), for which the service standard is 12 months.

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Processing times versus service standards

Processing times and services standards are two separate, distinct concepts.

IRCC’s processing times provide applicants with an estimated timeline for how long immigration, temporary residence, and citizenship applications may take to process.

These timelines are not guarantees. Actual processing times can vary depending on the complexity and completeness of the application, and whether IRCC needs to request more information, documents, or clarification.

IRCC uses two types of processing estimates.

Service standards, on the other hand, are internal benchmarks that show how quickly IRCC aims to process certain application types in normal operating conditions. Generally, IRCC aims to finalize around 80% of applications within the relevant service standard.

IRCC updates processing times regularly, either weekly or monthly depending on the application stream. Service standards are revised far less often, with years typically passing between updates.