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Canada’s Immigration Services has announced updated processing times for February 2025, effective from February 5. These changes affect various immigration programs, including citizenship applications, permanent resident (PR) cards, family sponsorship, economic immigration, and temporary residency.
According to Immigration News Canada (INC), processing times are based on the completion of 80% of applications, influenced by factors such as application completeness, case complexity, and the volume of submissions.
Citizenship and Permanent Resident Card Processing
The latest updates reveal key changes in processing times:
- Citizenship grants now take 8 months, an increase of one month.
- Citizenship certificates remain at 3 months, while renunciation of citizenship has dropped to 12 months—four months shorter than before.
- Searching for citizenship records now takes 16 months, an increase of nine months.
- New PR cards are now processed in 24 days, two days faster than before.
- PR card renewals now take 17 days, a one-day reduction.
Family Sponsorship and Economic Immigration
For family sponsorship applications, the processing time for spouses or common-law partners outside Canada remains at 10 months, while those inside Canada (excluding Quebec) now face a 28-month wait, up by four months. Quebec sponsorship applicants remain at 36 months.
For economic immigration:
- Canadian Experience Class (CEC) applications remain at 5 months.
- Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) applicants face a 6-month wait.
- Express Entry Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) processing remains 6 months, while non-Express Entry applicants wait 21 months.
- Quebec Skilled Worker applications now take 9 months, while Quebec Business Class applicants face a lengthy 71-month wait.
- The Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) remains stable at 9 months.
Temporary Residency and Work Permits
Processing times for temporary visas, study permits, and work permits vary by country. Some key updates include:
- Visitor visas (outside Canada): India (106 days, up by 2), U.S. (28 days, up by 4), Nigeria (153 days, down by 1).
- Study permits (outside Canada): India (15 weeks, unchanged), U.S. (10 weeks, down by 1), Nigeria (8 weeks, unchanged).
- Work permits (outside Canada): India (20 weeks, unchanged), U.S. (15 weeks, down by 1), Nigeria (15 weeks, down by 1).
- Work permit extensions (inside Canada): 120 days, down by five days.
Other programs, such as the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), remain at an immediate five-minute processing time, while the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) now takes 8 days.
With these changes, applicants are encouraged to stay updated on processing times to plan their immigration journey effectively.
