Immigration Announcement
Canada’s Immigration Backlog Declined to 2.2 Million
According to the latest update from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Canada’s immigration backlog has dropped to 2.2 million.
The record across all aspects of business has advanced as follows since July 2021:
• November 3, 2022: 2,411,388 persons
• September 30, 2022: 2,600,000 persons
• August 31, 2022: 2,583,827 persons
• July 15-17, 2022: 2,679,031 persons
• June 1-6, 2022: 2,387,884 persons
• April 30-May 2, 2022: 2,130,385 persons
• April 11 and 12, 2022: 2,031,589 persons
• March 15 and 17, 2022: 1,844,424 persons
• February 1, 2022: 1,815,628 persons
• December 15, 2021: 1,813,144 persons
• October 27, 2021: 1,792,404 persons
• July 6, 2021: 1,447,474 persons
The Current Flow of Inventories
As of November 30, there were 314,630 citizenship applicants, compared to 331,401 on October 31. As of December 2, there were 512,342 permanent residents in the database, up from 506,421 on November 3. Also on December 2, there were 1,416, 125 people living in temporary housing, down from 1,537,566 on November 3.
Consequently, the temporary residence inventory shows the biggest reduction in two of the three major categories.
| Immigration Category | No. of Persons as of December 2, 2022 |
| Permanent Residence | 512,342 |
| Temporary Residence | 1,416,125 |
| Citizenship | 314,630 |
| Grand Total | 2243097 |
Express Entry and PNP Inventories
Currently, there are 43,326 Express Entry applications awaiting processing. The inventory experienced an increase of over 3,500 since November 3 data.
In July, the IRCC resumed inviting Express Entry candidates from all programs. Due to IRCC’s struggles to meet its service standard of processing Express Entry applications within six months, draws were limited to candidates in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) between September 21, 2021, and July 6, 2022. After pausing the number of Express Entry invitations for Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates, IRCC has returned to its six-month service standard for candidates who have received a permanent residence invitation since July 6. The PNP has an inventory of 62,343 total applications for both base and enhanced programs.
Family Class Inventory
A total of 128,112 family immigrants were recorded in the month of November. However, it has slightly come down to 127,091. The Spouses and Partners program is among the largest inventories among all lines of business, at 62,106, a slight rise in the number as compared to November 3. The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) has an inventory of 53,770 people compared to 55653 people waiting for decisions in November.
Service standards
According to the IRCC website that keeps track of all applications, 1.2 million applications were backlogged as of October 31. Since there were 1.5 million applications pending as of September 30, the IRCC successfully processed over 350,000 of those applications. This occurs as the number of applications for permanent residency has increased. In order to meet service standards, IRCC strives to handle 80% of applications from all business lines. Depending on the kind of application, a different service standard applies.
