Nobody can tell you the day your Canadian application will be decided, and the Canadian government does not try to. What IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the department that decides immigration applications) publishes instead is a processing times tool that gives an estimate for each kind of application, and its own page says the estimates are "not a maximum or a guarantee". This post explains where the time in an application actually goes, stage by stage, then what IRCC publishes and how to read it, then what makes a file slow. The tool's estimates are recalculated as IRCC's workload changes, so read them off the tool on the day, never off a blog post, including this one.

Who this is for

You are planning a move to Canada and want a realistic sense of the wait before committing money to it. Or you have applied, your online account has not changed in weeks, and you want to know what is normal. Our Canada page lists the routes we assess; this post is about how long they take to move.

Where does the time actually go?

A processing time is one number covering a long chain of steps, and some of those steps are on your side of the desk rather than IRCC's. Knowing the chain is what makes the number readable.

Express Entry, step by step

Express Entry is the online system that ranks skilled-worker candidates and invites the highest ranked to apply for permanent residence (PR, the status that lets you live and work in Canada indefinitely). Our post on how Express Entry works explains the pool and the rounds of invitations. The stages are:

1. You create a profile. Nothing is being processed yet, and no processing time applies.
2. You wait for an invitation. This is the stage people underestimate, and it is not processing at all. IRCC publishes no waiting time for it, because it depends on the scores of everyone else in the pool and on which groups IRCC chooses to invite. IRCC's Express Entry page gives the processing time simply as varying by program, and sends you to the tool.
3. You have 60 days to apply. IRCC's page on applying for permanent residence through Express Entry states that "Your invitation to apply is valid for 60 days only". That clock is yours, and it is why documents matter: the same page lists what the application must include, from police certificates and proof of funds to a medical exam done by a doctor IRCC approves.
4. IRCC checks that the application is complete. This is the moment the published estimate starts to mean anything: IRCC's help centre page on what happens after you send in your application says processing time begins once an application is deemed complete.
5. Biometrics. Biometrics means your fingerprints and a photograph, taken in person. IRCC's page on what happens after you apply says you get a letter, and "You have 30 days from the date on the letter to give your biometrics".
6. Medical, police and background checks. The same page says the decision rests on whether you are admissible to Canada based on your medical exam, police certificates and background checks. Our post on police certificates and medical exams explains how each one is obtained and how long each stays current.
7. The decision. IRCC tells you through your secure online account, and if your existing work permit expires while you wait, that page describes a bridging work permit you may be able to apply for.

Sponsoring a spouse or partner

The stages are similar, with one extra: IRCC checks the sponsor as well as the person being sponsored. Its help centre page above describes reviewing the application for completeness, collecting biometrics, verifying that the sponsor is eligible, running security screening, arranging interviews and medical exams where needed, then giving the decision. Our post on sponsoring a spouse or partner explains who may sponsor and what proof of the relationship is asked for.

Work permits and study permits

A permit is temporary permission to be in Canada for one purpose. The same help centre page describes the chain for visitor visas, study permits and work permits: IRCC checks the application is complete, takes biometrics, runs background checks, decides whether you are eligible, arranges a medical exam or an interview if one is needed, then gives its decision. A study permit is often the first step in a longer plan, and our post on going from a study permit to permanent residence sets out what has to line up at each stage.

What does IRCC actually publish?

One tool, on IRCC's page for checking current processing times. You choose the kind of application (temporary residence, economic immigration, family sponsorship, refugees, humanitarian and compassionate cases, citizenship, permanent resident cards, or replacing a document) and it gives an estimate for that type. The page around the tool is worth reading, because it explains two very different things it can be telling you.

A forward-looking estimate is, in IRCC's words, "how long we expect it will take us to process an application if we receive it today". It is built from how many applications are already waiting, how many staff IRCC has on that type, and how many more it expects. IRCC says it updates these each month, and that "Our projections are estimates based on current operating conditions and may change".

A historical estimate looks backwards instead. IRCC says: "We calculate them by checking how long it took us to process 80% of that type of application in the past", and publishes one such figure per application type on the same page. Read the 80% carefully. It means one application in five took longer than the figure shown, and IRCC states this outright: "Your application may take longer than the times shown here. They're not a maximum or a guarantee."

One detail from the same page saves confusion later: the estimate includes the time it takes to give your biometrics.

What makes an application slow?

IRCC's help centre page on avoiding delays or refusals names the causes plainly. Some are yours to control:

• An incomplete application. Miss a document on the checklist and the clock does not start, because processing time begins when IRCC has a complete application.
• Forms that are not properly filled out, signed and dated, or the wrong fee, or the wrong payment method.
• Missing the 30 day biometrics window, or answering slowly when IRCC asks you for something.
• Applying by mail rather than through an online account.

Others are not yours at all: IRCC's list also names extended medical or security screening, the need for an interview, and a high volume of applications. Nothing you do makes a security check finish faster.

What can you do, and what can nobody do?

You can send a complete file, pay the right fee the right way, give biometrics inside the 30 days, and reply the same week IRCC writes to you. That is the whole of your influence, and it is worth using: it is the difference between the clock starting now and starting after a round trip of letters.

What nobody can do is move you up the queue. No representative can shorten a processing time, promise a decision date, or make a security check go faster, and anyone selling that is selling something that does not exist. Our post on how to spot immigration scams covers the warning signs.

What this means for your report

Our report states no processing time, because IRCC recalculates them and a number printed in a report would be wrong within weeks. What the report does is read the answers you gave our questionnaire, show which Canadian routes those answers fit, and list what each route still needs from you before you could apply: a credential assessment where the route requires one, and a language test result that is still inside its validity period, each as a checklist step. It does not carry a checklist step for the medical exam or police certificates, it does not estimate a decision date, and it never tells you whether you qualify.

That matters here because of the 60 day window above: the documents that take longest to obtain are needed before you apply, not after, and different routes ask for different ones. Answering one questionnaire and seeing every route's requirements against the same answers is the work that otherwise means reading a dozen government pages in the wrong order.

Next step

A processing time only means something once you know which application you would be waiting on. Our Canada page lists the routes we assess. To see where you stand, take our free questionnaire: the questionnaire is free, the eligibility summary at the end of it is free, and unlocking the full report with its checklists is then your choice.