Immigration backlog in Canada continues to decrease gradually

For all those who are eagerly looking forward to the next Express Entry draw 2023, IRCC - Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has reported that the immigration backlog has further decreased. It has declined to 2.1 million from roughly 2.2 million in December 2022. The latest data updated by IRCC is as of January 3, 2023.

The following is the progress of inventory across all lines of business after July 2022:

• July 15-17, 2022: 2,679,031 people
• August 31, 2022: 2,583,827 people
• September 30, 2022: 2,600,000 people 
• November 3, 2022: 2,411,388 people
• December 3, 2022: 2,243,097 people
• January 3, 2023: 2,152,220 people

Existing Inventories

• Citizenship: Inventory as of January 3 is 301,388 applicants in comparison with November 30 at 314,630
• Permanent Residency: Inventory as of January 3 is 521,552 persons in comparison with December 2 at 512,342
• Temporary Residence: Inventory as of January 3 is 1,329,280 persons in comparison with December 3 at 1,416,125 persons

Thus, there is a decline in 2 of the 3 important streams. The highest decline was in the TR inventory with a decrease of 86, 845 applicants in comparison with 3rd December 2022. 

PNP and Express Entry inventories

Data from IRCC reveals that Express Entry Programs had 48, 409 applicants in the queue as of 3 January 2023. It is an increase of almost 5000 applicants over 2nd December at 43, 326 applicants.

Amongst the total applicants for Express Entry programs, the number of applicants in the Canadian Experience Class has increased by 3,733 in the last 1 month. The increase in Federal Skilled Worker Program is 1,869 applicants.

The all-program invitation draws under Express Entry were resumed by IRCC in July 2022. The draws were restricted to PNP - Provincial Nominee Program candidates between 6 July 2022 and 21 September 2021. It was because IRCC was stressed about fulfilling its 6 months or less service standard for Express Entry applications.

The Express Entry ITAs pause under FSWP and CEC helped IRCC to decrease the inventory. It has now returned to the service standard of 6 months for ITAs offered from July 6, 2022, onwards.

Draws in Express Entry are typically conducted once in 2 weeks. Meanwhile, the draws were also paused from November 23 till the January 11 draw, the first Express Entry draw for 2023. It has been reported that this was due to the technical snag resulting from the transition to the NOC 2021 from NOC 2016.

The inventory in PNP has increased only marginally to 62, 720 applicants from 62, 343 applicants in December 2022. It is inclusive of both enhanced and base immigration streams.

Family Class Inventory

The inventory has decreased only marginally to 125,631 applicants from 127,091 applicants on 3 December 2022.

Amongst all business lines, Partners and Spouses Sponsorship Program has the maximum inventory. It has 61, 481 applicants which is a decline of 1, 460 applicants in comparison with 62, 106 applicants on 2 December. 

The inventory for PGP - Parents and Grandparents Program is 52,960 applicants in comparison with 53,770 applicants on 2 December. 

Service Standards

The IRCC website page that displays the total applicants’ inventory reveals that 1.09 million applications are regarded as backlog as of 30 November.

31 October data reveals that the backlog of applicants was 1.2 million. It means IRCC processed 110,000 applicants from the November backlog. It is a lesser decline in comparison with the October and September months when IRCC processed 350,000 applications.

Nevertheless, the backlog is declining steadily notwithstanding the increase in applications for PR in the existing inventory. An application in backlog implies it has not been processed in the service standards.

The service standard differs from the real-time taken by IRCC for processing applications. The applications that are not processed in the service standard for the specific programs are termed as backlog.

The aim of IRCC is to process 80% of applications in all business lines within the standards of service. This varies based on the type of application. For instance, the service standard for Canada Permanent Resident Visa application through Express Entry Program is 6 months. For other economic lines of business like CEC or FSTP, it is longer.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has stated that the service standard for Child and Spousal Family Class Sponsorship applications is 1 year.

The service standards for applications for Temporary Residence range from 120 to 60 days. It is based on the application type – study or work and if it was filed from overseas or within Canada.