IRCC Processing Times — July 2026 Snapshot

Data as of July 22, 2026 (weekly-updated categories) and July 7, 2026 (monthly-updated categories). Source: IRCC Check processing times tool.

Every month a variation of the same question lands in our inbox: how long will IRCC take on my file? Applicants compare a friend’s turnaround to their own, or an old Reddit thread to today’s queue, and end up either panicked or complacent. Both are dangerous. The only figure that legally matters is what IRCC currently publishes on its own checker, updated weekly for temporary residence and citizenship, and monthly for permanent residence. Below is a full snapshot of the July 2026 numbers pulled directly from the IRCC tool — with commentary on what they mean for your file, and what to do if you are already past the posted time.

Master summary — July 2026

Application	Current published time	IRCC data as of
Citizenship grant (adults)	12 months	2026-07-07
Citizenship certificate (in Canada)	19 months	2026-07-07
Renunciation of citizenship	6 months	2026-07-22
Search of citizenship records	17 months	2026-07-22
Resumption of citizenship	Not enough data	2026-07-22
Express Entry — Canadian Experience Class	6 months	2026-07-07
Express Entry — Federal Skilled Worker	7 months	2026-07-07
Express Entry — Provincial Nominee Program (EE-linked)	7 months	2026-07-07
Provincial Nominee Program — non-EE (paper)	12 months	2026-07-07
Quebec Skilled Worker	11 months	2026-07-07
Atlantic Immigration Program	26 months	2026-07-07
Start-up Visa	More than 10 years	2026-07-07
Caregivers (HCCP / HSWP)	79 months	2026-07-07
Spouse / common-law — inside Canada (ROC)	27 months	2026-07-07
Spouse / common-law — outside Canada (ROC)	17 months	2026-07-07
Parents and Grandparents (PGP, ROC)	30 months	2026-07-07
Dependent child (in Canada)	18 months	2026-07-22
Humanitarian & Compassionate (outside Quebec)	More than 10 years	2026-07-07
Protected persons & refugees in Canada	14 months	2026-07-07
Government-Assisted Refugees (ROC)	14 months	2026-07-07
Privately Sponsored Refugees (ROC)	41 months	2026-07-07
Visitor visa — India (outside Canada)	21 days	2026-07-22
Visitor visa — Philippines (outside Canada)	16 days	2026-07-22
Visitor record (inside Canada)	214 days	2026-07-22
Study permit — India (outside Canada)	5 weeks	2026-07-22
Study permit — Nigeria (outside Canada)	5 weeks	2026-07-22
Study permit — inside Canada	7 weeks	2026-07-22
Study permit extension (proxy for PGWP transitions)	72 days	2026-07-22
Work permit — India (outside Canada)	9 weeks	2026-07-22
Work permit — inside Canada	122 days	2026-07-22
Super Visa — India	49 days	2026-07-22
Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA)	5 minutes	2026-07-22

Notes on this table. “ROC” means Rest of Canada — the IRCC checker reports Quebec and non-Quebec figures separately for family and refugee streams; we report non-Quebec because that is where the largest share of files sit. PGWP is not a discrete option on the IRCC checker; the closest workflow-adjacent metric is “study permit extension,” reported here for context. Temporary Resident Permits (TRP) are also not published in the tool.

Citizenship

Grant of citizenship (adults): 12 months. This is the standard adult naturalization file — physical presence 3 of past 5 years, tax filings, language proof, oath ceremony. The 12-month benchmark covers routine files with no complexity flags; officer-referred files (long absences, security screening, dual-intent situations) run considerably longer.

Citizenship certificate (proof of citizenship, inside Canada): 19 months. This is the file to request if you were born abroad to a Canadian parent, or if you lost your original certificate and need a replacement. The 19-month number is a reminder to apply well before you need the certificate for a passport application, employment verification, or a family sponsorship.

Renunciation of citizenship: 6 months. Renunciation applications are always routed through the case-management centre; the 6-month figure is one of IRCC’s more stable numbers.

Search of citizenship records: 17 months. Used when applicants need historical citizenship data to support a Section 3 grant, adoption, or lost-Canadian file. Plan ahead — this is not a same-year turnaround.

Resumption of citizenship: “Not enough data” — IRCC does not currently publish a benchmark for resumption files. Realistically these move on 12- to 18-month cycles.

Permanent Residence — Express Entry

Canadian Experience Class (CEC): 6 months. CEC continues to be IRCC’s fastest permanent-residence stream from AOR to CoPR — reflecting the fact that CEC applicants are already in Canada, medically cleared through their prior work permits, and biometrically enrolled. If your CEC AOR is more than 6 months old and you have no additional documents requested, you can start the escalation process below.

Federal Skilled Worker (FSW): 7 months. FSW files continue to sit one month above CEC on average, reflecting the added time for overseas biometrics, out-of-Canada medicals, and background checks in higher-volume visa offices.

Provincial Nominee Program (Express-Entry linked): 7 months. Once a candidate accepts a provincial nomination in the Express Entry pool and receives an ITA, federal processing tracks the same rhythm as FSW.

All three Express Entry figures start from the federal Acknowledgement of Receipt after ITA acceptance and PR fee payment — not from the day you first submitted your Express Entry profile. Time-in-pool does not count toward the service standard.

Permanent Residence — Family Class

Spouse / common-law partner — inside Canada: 27 months (Rest of Canada figure). The in-Canada spousal file is the same one that pairs with an SOWP (spousal open work permit) — the SOWP itself is typically approved months earlier, but the PR component now runs 27 months. This is up materially from the pre-2024 ~12-month norm and reflects the ongoing spousal backlog.

Spouse / common-law partner — outside Canada: 17 months (ROC). Overseas spousal files remain faster than in-Canada because of decentralized processing across visa offices. Sponsorship + PR are processed concurrently, but the concurrency does not eliminate the visa-office queue.

Parents & Grandparents (PGP): 30 months (ROC). The PGP figure captures only sponsors who have already been invited to apply and submitted their sponsorship + PR forms — it does not include the years spent in the interest-to-sponsor lottery pool. IRCC’s July 15, 2026 notice paused new PGP intake indefinitely and pointed new families to the Super Visa instead. If you already hold an invitation, the 30-month clock is running.

Dependent child: 18 months. Dependent-child files are eligible for expedited processing where a life change (custody, medical) supports urgency — request expedited handling via the IRCC webform with documentary evidence.

Permanent Residence — Provincial Nominee Program (non-EE)

PNP non-Express Entry (paper-based): 12 months. This is the federal stage after your provincial nomination — separate from and following the provincial nomination processing itself, which is measured by each province. Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan issue their own timelines; once the file lands at IRCC, expect ~12 months for the federal decision.

Permanent Residence — H&C, Refugee, AIP, Start-up Visa, Caregivers

Humanitarian & Compassionate (outside Quebec): More than 10 years. This is not a typo. IRCC’s published H&C benchmark reflects a stream where the median file has moved outside any reasonable service standard. For clients considering H&C as their pathway, this timeline should be baked into the strategy discussion: H&C is a valid option for genuinely exceptional cases, but it is not a fast route. Read alongside the July 22, 2026 IRCC operational guidance confirming officers cannot grant H&C exemptions inside public-policy files (we covered that guidance here).

Protected persons & refugees (in Canada): 14 months. This is the PR-application-after-refugee-determination stage — once you have positive convention refugee or protected person status, your PR file now averages 14 months.

Refugees resettled from outside Canada: Government-Assisted Refugees (GARs) run about 14 months; Privately Sponsored Refugees (PSRs) run about 41 months. The gap is driven by IRCC’s prioritization of government-referred files.

Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP): 26 months. Combined provincial-federal processing time. The AIP remains attractive because of its lower CRS-equivalent threshold and employer-driven design, but the timeline requires patience and continuous work-permit maintenance.

Start-up Visa: More than 10 years. The Start-up Visa program has effectively become one of the slowest PR streams in Canada — driven by a designated-entity intake cap and enormous backlog. Applicants who file today should assume the work-permit bridge, not the PR itself, is the near-term goal.

Caregivers (HCCP / HSWP): 79 months — over six and a half years. This is the file for the pilot programs that closed to new intake in 2024. New caregiver pathways launched in 2024–2025 have not yet generated stable IRCC service standards.

Quebec Skilled Worker: 11 months at the federal stage. Note that this timeline starts after the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) has issued the CSQ; getting the CSQ itself is its own multi-year process.

Temporary Residence — Study, Work, Visitor, Super Visa

Visitor visa — outside Canada: India applicants currently see 21 days; Philippines applicants see 16 days. Visa-office variation is significant — high-volume offices (New Delhi, Manila) tend to sit at the faster end of IRCC’s published range for TRV files.

Visitor record (inside Canada): 214 days — about seven months. If you are extending status in Canada as a visitor, plan for maintained-status coverage during the wait and confirm you have valid identification (passport not expiring during processing).

Study permit — outside Canada: 5 weeks for both India and Nigeria in this snapshot. Study-permit processing outside Canada rebounded from the 2024 slowdown; the September intake window is now the pinch point rather than the underlying service standard.

Study permit — inside Canada: 7 weeks. This is the extension file for existing study permit holders — including those transitioning between DLIs. File 90 days before expiry to maintain status.

Work permit — outside Canada: 9 weeks for India. Employer-specific (LMIA-based and LMIA-exempt) applications continue to move at similar speed once biometrics and medicals are complete.

Work permit — inside Canada: 122 days — roughly four months. This covers extensions and permit-condition changes, including new employer permits under LMIA-exempt streams. Apply well before expiry to preserve maintained status.

Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP): The IRCC tool no longer breaks PGWP out as a separate line item. The closest signal is the study-permit-extension track at 72 days. Applicants transitioning from study permit to PGWP should assume 2 to 3 months as their working timeline. Consult the official PGWP Program Delivery Instructions for eligibility, and review our note on recent Federal Court rulings on part-time-study refusals.

Super Visa: 49 days for India applicants. The Super Visa remains IRCC’s operational answer to the paused PGP intake — 10-year multiple-entry TRV with up to 5 years per visit, plus updated income and health-insurance requirements published in the July 15, 2026 IRCC notice.

Temporary Resident Permit (TRP): Not published in the IRCC checker. TRP files vary based on the underlying inadmissibility, the officer assigned, and the port of entry (if applying at the border). Expect 4 to 8 months as a working range for in-Canada TRP applications.

Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA): 5 minutes. For visa-exempt travellers who need an eTA to fly to Canada. The vast majority of eTAs are automated and issued within minutes; the few that flag for officer review can take days.

What the numbers mean for applicants

Two patterns are worth naming. First, the divergence between economic streams (CEC/FSW/PNP-EE at 6–7 months) and family / humanitarian streams (17 to 41 months, plus H&C and Start-up in “more than 10 years”) is now structural — Canada’s PR system is functionally two systems on two clocks. Second, temporary-residence timelines are compressing back toward pre-2024 norms, especially for study permits and visitor visas from high-volume source countries.

Practical takeaways: (1) if you have flexibility on stream, an EE-linked path is the fastest PR route in the current system; (2) if you are already deep into a family or humanitarian file, budget for two extra years and maintain your temporary status the whole way through; (3) monitor the IRCC checker monthly — the numbers move, and knowing the current benchmark is prerequisite to any conversation with IRCC about your file.

What if my application is past the posted time?

IRCC’s published processing times are service standards — targets for the 80th percentile of files. If your file is materially past the posted time and you have not received a response, escalate in this sequence:

1. Order a GCMS or CAIPS notes request. These are your Access to Information and Privacy Act (ATIP) file notes — an authorized representative or the applicant can request them at no cost through the official ATIP portal. Notes show where your file sits, what officers have written, and what background checks are outstanding.
2. Submit an IRCC webform. Use the IRCC webform to ask about status once you are past the posted time. Be specific: cite the current published time, your AOR date, and your UCI. Vague enquiries are typically closed with a form response.
3. Call the IRCC Client Support Centre. 1-888-242-2100 (in Canada). CSC agents can confirm file status and, in some cases, flag urgency to the responsible office. Keep call records.
4. Consider judicial review of unreasonable delay. The Federal Court has jurisdiction under the Federal Courts Act to review IRCC delays that are unreasonable in the circumstances. Delay-based JR applications are typically filed after (a) the posted time has clearly passed, (b) multiple documented enquiries have gone unanswered, and (c) there is no lawful justification (security screening, medical hold, formal request for additional documents).
5. File a mandamus application at the Federal Court. Mandamus is the classical remedy compelling IRCC to make a decision — not compelling it to decide in a particular way. Success requires establishing a clear legal duty, an unreasonable delay, prejudice to the applicant, no adequate alternative remedy, and a formal demand followed by refusal or persistent silence.

Escalation is sequential — do not file mandamus before you have exhausted the ATIP request, the webform, and the CSC call. Federal Court will expect to see that documentary record.

How VG Immigration can help

VG Immigration Services Inc. is led by Dimple Verma, RCIC-IRB (R708308), and represents applicants across every stream summarized above. If you are inside the posted time we can strengthen your file, respond to procedural fairness letters, and prepare for landing. If you are past the posted time we can order GCMS notes, draft the escalation letter, and — where the record justifies it — coordinate a mandamus filing at the Federal Court.

Book a Consultation to talk through your specific file. You can also reach us by WhatsApp at +1 416-578-9269 or by email at immigration@vgis.ca.

Sources

• IRCC — Check current processing times
• IRCC notice — Responsibly manage the Parents and Grandparents Program (July 15, 2026)
• IRCC operational guidance — H&C requests in PR-granting public policies
• IRCC — Post-Graduation Work Permit Program Delivery Instructions
• IRCC — Web form
• Government of Canada — Access to Information and Privacy Online Request
• Federal Court of Canada — Notices and practice

Disclaimer. This article provides general information about published IRCC processing times as of the date shown, and does not constitute legal advice. Processing times shift week to week and case to case. Every immigration file has its own facts; nothing in this article replaces a consultation with a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant or licensed immigration lawyer. Data is drawn from the official IRCC processing times tool on July 26, 2026.