The immigration system of Canada is also facing scrutiny because a new data published on November 18, 2025 states that over 2.2 million citizenship, permanent residence and temporary visa applications remained in progress as of September 30, 2025.
This huge volume brings out the current pressure on the system, persistent delays as well as the magnitude at which individuals are waiting to have their decisions made, which may greatly influence their lives, studies, work, and family planning.
The current statistics offer an eloquent monthly view of increasing backlogs in various categories of immigration.
They also depict the steep decline in new arrivals due to a set of federal caps, restrictions, and program alterations that have been implemented during the year 2024 and 2025.
Although these acts have been packaged by the government as ways of alleviating the national strain in housing, infrastructure, and services, the statistics indicate a multifaceted phenomenon.
The inventories are remaining at all time highs, new entrants are crashing and millions of files are unresolved.
This paper decomposes all the revised figures among citizenship, permanent residence, temporary residence, arrival of students, arrival of workers and the current number of permit holders in Canada.
Updated Application Inventory At 2.2 Million
As of September 30, 2,200,100 applications have been received in total in the inventory of Canada in immigration and citizenship.
This is almost the same as the 2,199,400 files that were reported on August 31, indicating that as much as they are still being processed, the total volume of it remains virtually the same, which is an indication that the number of new applications is staying steady or even higher.
In all types, there were 996,700 files officially backlogged in September, a gain of almost 95,000 since July.
The breakdown by category:
Category
Total Inventory (Sep 30)
Total Inventory (Aug 31)
Backlogged (Sep 30)
Backlogged (Aug 31)
Within Standards (Sep 30)
Within Standards (Aug 31)
Citizenship
257,800
259,500
53,200
51,200
204,600
208,300
Permanent Residency
913,800
901,800
482,400
470,300
431,400
431,500
Temporary Residency
1,028,500
1,038,100
461,100
437,300
567,400
600,750
Total
2,200,100
2,199,400
996,700
958,850
1,203,400
1,240,550
The growth in backlogs since July is significant:
Total backlog increased by more than 95,000 files
PR backlogs grew by nearly 39,000
TR backlogs grew by more than 51,000
Citizenship backlogs climbed steadily
The growing backlog even with constant inventory numbers indicates that a greater number of files are not met service standards.
Permanent Resident Admissions Projected To Exceed Annual Targets
This rate of 34,500 on average per month has Canada set to bring in about 414,000 new permanent residents before the end of the year- nearly 20,000 above the 395,000 target of immigration levels that is officially set to happen by 2025.
Month
Total Inventory
Backlogged
Within Standards
July 31
892,400
443,500
448,900
Aug 31
901,800
470,300
431,500
Sep 30
913,800
482,400
431,400
This tendency of excessively targeting is maintained all year round, partly caused by economic categories of immigration, and partly by the changes of temporary residents to regular status.
That way, we can even anticipate a declining processing during the final months of 2025 to meet the annual goals.
However, these numbers look big but looking at the backlog they indicate that there are more applicants waiting which is reflecting the increasing disparity between demand and capacity.
More than 154,000 temporary residents were made permanent residents in January-September alone, almost half of all permanent residents at the same time.
This is a continuation of the federal policy to put more preference on people who are already in Canada and working as opposed to the immigrants.
Citizenship Approvals Rise But Inventories Remain High
As of April 1, 2025, to September 30, 2025, Canada received 128,100 new citizens. Although this figure is an indicator of sustained output, the total citizenship inventory is more than 250,000 files.
Month
Total Inventory
Backlogged
Within Standards
July 31
254,900
48,800
206,100
Aug 31
259,500
51,200
208,300
Sep 30
257,800
53,200
204,600
The backlog has been slowly climbing every month, to 53,200 in September.
Even though the processing is usually steady, the applicants often complain of long wait times to get the tests, background checks, and oath ceremonies.
The new numbers prove the fact that the volumes of citizenship processing are still high, and the wait times are not likely to drop significantly in the nearest future.
Temporary Residency: 1,028,500 Files Under Processing
One of the most significant pieces of workload of the immigration system is still temporary residence: study, work, and visitor applications.
Between January 2025 and September 2025, IRCC will complete 451,300 applications of study permits (including extensions) and 1,016,500 work permit applications (including extensions).
This is equivalent to over 1.46 million cases closed.
Month
Total Inventory
Backlogged
Within Standards
July 31
1,079,300
409,400
669,900
Aug 31
1,038,100
437,300
600,750
Sep 30
1,028,500
461,100
567,400
The number of files in backlog in this category swelled by over 51,000 files during the last two months.
Decisions in processing are however not equal to new arrivals.
Actually the amount of new permits issued which translate directly to new arrivals has drastically reduced because of federal restrictions and caps.
Between January 2025 and September 2025, there were:
53% fewer total student and worker arrivals compared to the same period in 2024
A decline of 308,880 new arrivals in just nine months
This indicates the magnitude of cuts that occur in spite of massive amounts of applications closed.
A large portion of the work completed is to make extensions of people already in Canada, that is, it does not qualify as a new demand on either housing or services.
New International Student Arrivals Plummet By 60%
The enrollment and admissions of post-secondary education in Canada are still being redefined by the crackdown on the number of international students.
The rate of arriving international students decreased by 60% in the period between January and September 2025 and the figure dropped to 150,220 students opposed to the same figure of 9 months in 2024.
The annual data of new international students arrivals exhibits a dramatic decrease:
Year
Number of New International Student Arrivals
2024
293,160
2025 (Jan-Sep)
100,585
The cap on the number of international students studying that was introduced in 2024 and a 10 percent more cut that was announced in 2025 has had a drastic effect on limiting the number of foreign students entering Canada.
Other policy modifications, including the requirement to verify the acceptance-letter and increased financial requirements also added to the decline.
Annual trends are still apparent – peaks in August and December when the institutions are issuing their bulk acceptances, but on the whole levels are drastically lower than in past years.
New Temporary Worker Arrivals Down 48%
The number of new temporary workers entering Canada has also decreased substantially.
From January to September 2025, arrivals fell by 48%, a decline of 158,660 workers compared to the same period in 2024.
Year
TFWP
IMP Workers
2024
93,575
300,060
2025 (Jan-Sep)
47,275
124,530
The monthly new worker arrival numbers show a steady downward trend. In September 2025, just 17,515 new workers arrived in Canada.
This includes both Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) employees and International Mobility Program (IMP) participants.
Compared to the more than 78,000 new worker arrivals in the early months of 2024, current levels indicate a major shift in Canada’s reliance on foreign labour.
Automatic refusal of low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) in regions with 6%+ unemployment
PGWP reforms that sharply limit eligibility for work permits after graduation
Tighter rules for spousal open work permits
Total Students And Temporary Workers Present In Canada
By September 30, 2025, Canada continued to have a significant number of temporary population consisting of students and workers.
Nevertheless, this figure has started to fall as the number of newcomers into the system and those who changed their temporary status to permanent status is decreasing and more people are departing Canada.
Year
People who only hold a study permit
People who only hold a work permit
People who hold both a work and study permit
As of December 2023
674,010
1,231,395
320,850
As of December 2024
598,780
1,461,000
329,905
As of September 2025
473,860
1,494,900
251,300
This heterogeneous population consists of students who are working off or on campus, and temporary students with mixed types of permits.
This downward trend is an indication that fewer students are receiving work authorization and fewer temporary workers are also in the process of studying.
Why Total Temporary Resident Numbers Are Still High Despite Declining Arrivals
Although the number of new arrivals has dropped significantly, the overall size of the temporary population presently residing in Canada is high because of:
A large existing inventory of applications filed under older rules
The volume of in-Canada extensions being processed
A still-high number of work permit holders from previous years
Ongoing permanent residency transitions that take months to finalize
Greater declines in total temporary resident population will not show up until the older applications are cleared out of the system.
New policies that were announced in early and mid-2025 will not be reflected in population numbers before several months as per the update.
Arrival Counts: How Temporary Permit Holders Are Counted
The revised data on the arrival focuses on new permit holders into Canada, who have not been in Canada before that year.
It does not count:
Asylum claimants
Permit extensions
Seasonal agricultural workers
Short-term TFWP workers whose stay falls entirely within one calendar year
Such exceptions will make sure that statistics are based on real incoming pressure on housing, services and infrastructure and not constant renewal of temporary residents.
The new September 2025 figures affirm that the immigration situation in Canada is undergoing the most major realignment in decades.
The data shows that the immigration system is in the process of restructuring with more than 2.2 million files undergoing processing, approximately one million of them backlogged and the new arrivals flooding the system.
There are healthy levels of temporary residents, yet sharp decreases of new foreign workers as well as new international students represent the way Canada is moving:
fewer new arrivals, stricter controls, and a system increasingly focused on transitioning those already in the country rather than admitting large fresh cohorts from abroad.
This is the most recent update, offering the most accurate picture yet of the changes to the priorities of immigration in Canada, and the fact that this changes are now reflecting in inventories of application, processing time, and numbers of arrivals directly.
IRCC Releases New Update: 2.2 Million Immigration Applications Still in Processing
The immigration system of Canada is also facing scrutiny because a new data published on November 18, 2025 states that over 2.2 million citizenship, permanent residence and temporary visa applications remained in progress as of September 30, 2025.
This huge volume brings out the current pressure on the system, persistent delays as well as the magnitude at which individuals are waiting to have their decisions made, which may greatly influence their lives, studies, work, and family planning.
The current statistics offer an eloquent monthly view of increasing backlogs in various categories of immigration.
They also depict the steep decline in new arrivals due to a set of federal caps, restrictions, and program alterations that have been implemented during the year 2024 and 2025.
Although these acts have been packaged by the government as ways of alleviating the national strain in housing, infrastructure, and services, the statistics indicate a multifaceted phenomenon.
The inventories are remaining at all time highs, new entrants are crashing and millions of files are unresolved.
This paper decomposes all the revised figures among citizenship, permanent residence, temporary residence, arrival of students, arrival of workers and the current number of permit holders in Canada.
Updated Application Inventory At 2.2 Million
As of September 30, 2,200,100 applications have been received in total in the inventory of Canada in immigration and citizenship.
This is almost the same as the 2,199,400 files that were reported on August 31, indicating that as much as they are still being processed, the total volume of it remains virtually the same, which is an indication that the number of new applications is staying steady or even higher.
In all types, there were 996,700 files officially backlogged in September, a gain of almost 95,000 since July.
The breakdown by category:
The growth in backlogs since July is significant:
The growing backlog even with constant inventory numbers indicates that a greater number of files are not met service standards.
Permanent Resident Admissions Projected To Exceed Annual Targets
This rate of 34,500 on average per month has Canada set to bring in about 414,000 new permanent residents before the end of the year- nearly 20,000 above the 395,000 target of immigration levels that is officially set to happen by 2025.
This tendency of excessively targeting is maintained all year round, partly caused by economic categories of immigration, and partly by the changes of temporary residents to regular status.
That way, we can even anticipate a declining processing during the final months of 2025 to meet the annual goals.
However, these numbers look big but looking at the backlog they indicate that there are more applicants waiting which is reflecting the increasing disparity between demand and capacity.
More than 154,000 temporary residents were made permanent residents in January-September alone, almost half of all permanent residents at the same time.
This is a continuation of the federal policy to put more preference on people who are already in Canada and working as opposed to the immigrants.
Citizenship Approvals Rise But Inventories Remain High
As of April 1, 2025, to September 30, 2025, Canada received 128,100 new citizens. Although this figure is an indicator of sustained output, the total citizenship inventory is more than 250,000 files.
The backlog has been slowly climbing every month, to 53,200 in September.
Even though the processing is usually steady, the applicants often complain of long wait times to get the tests, background checks, and oath ceremonies.
The new numbers prove the fact that the volumes of citizenship processing are still high, and the wait times are not likely to drop significantly in the nearest future.
Temporary Residency: 1,028,500 Files Under Processing
One of the most significant pieces of workload of the immigration system is still temporary residence: study, work, and visitor applications.
Between January 2025 and September 2025, IRCC will complete 451,300 applications of study permits (including extensions) and 1,016,500 work permit applications (including extensions).
This is equivalent to over 1.46 million cases closed.
The number of files in backlog in this category swelled by over 51,000 files during the last two months.
Decisions in processing are however not equal to new arrivals.
Actually the amount of new permits issued which translate directly to new arrivals has drastically reduced because of federal restrictions and caps.
Between January 2025 and September 2025, there were:
This indicates the magnitude of cuts that occur in spite of massive amounts of applications closed.
A large portion of the work completed is to make extensions of people already in Canada, that is, it does not qualify as a new demand on either housing or services.
New International Student Arrivals Plummet By 60%
The enrollment and admissions of post-secondary education in Canada are still being redefined by the crackdown on the number of international students.
The rate of arriving international students decreased by 60% in the period between January and September 2025 and the figure dropped to 150,220 students opposed to the same figure of 9 months in 2024.
The annual data of new international students arrivals exhibits a dramatic decrease:
Student Arrivals
(Jan-Sep)
The cap on the number of international students studying that was introduced in 2024 and a 10 percent more cut that was announced in 2025 has had a drastic effect on limiting the number of foreign students entering Canada.
Other policy modifications, including the requirement to verify the acceptance-letter and increased financial requirements also added to the decline.
Annual trends are still apparent – peaks in August and December when the institutions are issuing their bulk acceptances, but on the whole levels are drastically lower than in past years.
New Temporary Worker Arrivals Down 48%
The number of new temporary workers entering Canada has also decreased substantially.
From January to September 2025, arrivals fell by 48%, a decline of 158,660 workers compared to the same period in 2024.
Workers
(Jan-Sep)
The monthly new worker arrival numbers show a steady downward trend. In September 2025, just 17,515 new workers arrived in Canada.
This includes both Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) employees and International Mobility Program (IMP) participants.
Compared to the more than 78,000 new worker arrivals in the early months of 2024, current levels indicate a major shift in Canada’s reliance on foreign labour.
Worker arrival trends reflect significant policy tightening:
Total Students And Temporary Workers Present In Canada
By September 30, 2025, Canada continued to have a significant number of temporary population consisting of students and workers.
Nevertheless, this figure has started to fall as the number of newcomers into the system and those who changed their temporary status to permanent status is decreasing and more people are departing Canada.
People who only hold a study permit
People who only hold a work permit
People who hold both a work and study permit
This heterogeneous population consists of students who are working off or on campus, and temporary students with mixed types of permits.
This downward trend is an indication that fewer students are receiving work authorization and fewer temporary workers are also in the process of studying.
Why Total Temporary Resident Numbers Are Still High Despite Declining Arrivals
Although the number of new arrivals has dropped significantly, the overall size of the temporary population presently residing in Canada is high because of:
Greater declines in total temporary resident population will not show up until the older applications are cleared out of the system.
New policies that were announced in early and mid-2025 will not be reflected in population numbers before several months as per the update.
Arrival Counts: How Temporary Permit Holders Are Counted
The revised data on the arrival focuses on new permit holders into Canada, who have not been in Canada before that year.
It does not count:
Such exceptions will make sure that statistics are based on real incoming pressure on housing, services and infrastructure and not constant renewal of temporary residents.
The new September 2025 figures affirm that the immigration situation in Canada is undergoing the most major realignment in decades.
The data shows that the immigration system is in the process of restructuring with more than 2.2 million files undergoing processing, approximately one million of them backlogged and the new arrivals flooding the system.
There are healthy levels of temporary residents, yet sharp decreases of new foreign workers as well as new international students represent the way Canada is moving:
fewer new arrivals, stricter controls, and a system increasingly focused on transitioning those already in the country rather than admitting large fresh cohorts from abroad.
This is the most recent update, offering the most accurate picture yet of the changes to the priorities of immigration in Canada, and the fact that this changes are now reflecting in inventories of application, processing time, and numbers of arrivals directly.
Author: Shubham
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