IRCC makes significant dent in immigration backlog

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) backlog has fallen below one million applications for the first time in months.

According to the latest data, there are 942,300 applications remaining in the department’s backlog as of December 31, 2024.

Given that the end of the previous month had a backlog of 1,006,500, that is a significant decrease of 6.38%.

This is the first time the number of applications in IRCC’s backlog has dipped below the one million mark since the end of June 2024.

The total number of applications in IRCC’s inventories has also fallen. As of December 31, 2024, there were 2,119,900 applications in the inventory, as compared to 2,267,700 at the end of November.

The number of applications being processed within service standards was 1,177,600 (it was 1,261,200 at the end of November).

What is a backlog?
Applications are considered part of the backlog if they are not processed within IRCC’s published service standards. These standards are the timeline that IRCC considers reasonable for processing an application.

The amount of time depends on the type of application. For example, Express Entry applications have a service standard of six months while family sponsorship applications have a service standard of 12 months.