IRCC Continues to Reduce Immigration Application Backlog

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is steadily reducing its application backlog. As of April 30, 2025, the number of applications in the backlog dropped to 760,200, down from 779,900 in March—a 2.53% decrease in just one month.

This marks the fifth consecutive month the backlog has remained below one million, and the lowest it's been in the past six months.

Monthly Immigration Backlog Overview

As of the end of April, IRCC’s total application inventory (including all files, whether in backlog or not) reached 2,041,800, up from 1,976,700 in March—an increase of 65,100 applications.

What Counts as a Backlog?

IRCC has defined service standards for how long each type of immigration application should take to process. If a decision is not made within this standard time, the application is considered part of the backlog.

Examples:

• Express Entry: 6 months
• Family Sponsorship: 12 months

IRCC aims to process 80% of applications within these service times, allowing for 20% to exceed them due to complexity or special considerations.

Permanent Residence (PR) Applications

By April 30, there were 880,800 permanent residence applications in the system, including:

• Express Entry
• PNP (Express Entry-aligned)
• Family Sponsorship

Out of these, 489,800 (56%) were processed within service standards, leaving 391,000 applications in backlog—28,100 more than last month.

Breakdown:

• Express Entry: 22% backlog (target: 20%)
• Express Entry PNP: 49% backlog (target: 35%)
• Family Sponsorship: 14% backlog (target: 15%) — within acceptable limits

Temporary Residence (TR) Applications

This category includes work permits, study permits, and visitor visas. Of the 918,500 TR applications:

• 594,200 (65%) were within service standards
• 324,300 were backlogged

Specifics:

• Work Permits: 36% backlog (target: 26%) — improved from 42% last month
• Study Permits: 30% backlog (target: 15%) — down from 37% last month
• Visitor Visas: 54% backlog (target: 38%) — down 4% compared to March

Citizenship Applications

The citizenship grant backlog remains relatively low. As of April, IRCC had 242,500 citizenship applications:

• 81% processed on time
• 44,900 (19%) in the backlog (vs. 43,600 in March)

What’s Helping Reduce the Backlog?

IRCC credits several ongoing efforts for the backlog reduction:

• Advanced analytics and automation: These tools help streamline application sorting and identify complex cases, while final decisions remain with human officers.
• Application caps: Limits on new applications—for example, the 2025 study permit cap (550,162 applications) and the Home Care Worker Pilot cap (5,500 applications)—help control intake.
• Lower immigration targets: The 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, released in October 2024, has reduced the number of PR admissions, easing pressure on processing.

Despite challenges, IRCC continues to make visible progress in reducing backlogs and improving processing efficiency across all major application categories.