Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) published its latest inventory report through its March 20, 2025 update which disclosed 2,029,400 active applications on February 28, 2025.
The data from March 20, 2025 presents distinctive information compared to the January 31, 2025 statistics by providing current immigration processing trends in Canada.
The following review presents Canada’s Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) latest backlog information for March 20 and its impact on potential applicants alongside a numbers overview.
Breaking Down Latest Canada Immigration Backlog Numbers
IRCC reported that between February 2023 and January 2023 there was a backlog reduction of 70,900 applications alongside a 47,200 application decrease. The January 31, 2025 total application number equaled 2,076,600 and the backlog count reached 892,100.
Here’s how the categories stack up:
Citizenship: Increased slightly from 238,600 applications (42,000 in backlog) to 239,600, with the backlog rising to 42,700.
Permanent Residency: Grew from 356,400 in backlog (out of 836,900 total) to 364,000, but the backlog percentage dropped from 45% to 43%, signalling improved processing.
Temporary Residency: Dropped significantly from 998,100 applications (493,700 in backlog) to 947,200, with the backlog shrinking from 49% to 44%.
January vs. February 2025: A Comparative Snapshot
The data from January 31, 2025 showed that IRCC recorded 2,076,600 applications totaling 892,100 for processing backlog.
Between January and February the number of applications decreased by 47,200 while backlog reductions reached 70,900. An overview of the data appears in this following table:
Category
January 2025 Total
January Backlog
January Backlog %
February 2025 Total
February Backlog
February Backlog %
Citizenship
238,600
42,000
17.6%
239,600
42,700
18%
Permanent Residency
836,900
356,400
45%
842,600
364,000
43%
Temporary Residency
998,100
493,700
49%
947,200
414,500
44%
Total Inventory
2,076,600
892,100
43%
2,029,400
821,200
40%
Analyzing the Trends
Total Citizenship applications and backlog levels increased by tiny amounts in this period (238,600 to 239,600 and 42,000 to 42,700) due to stable usage but backlog rates rose slightly from 17.6% to 18%.
The processing times for this category remain at the shortest duration because sponsorship or economic quotas have minimal impact.
Permanent Residency applications in February rose to 364,000 while backlog reduced to 156,520 (43%) people—a lower number than January’s estimated 45% backlog rate.
The permanent residency application backlog decreased despite an increase in total applications because the IRCC chose to emphasize this priority status.
Permanent resident newcomers reached 69,200 during the first two months of 2025 yet the 43% backlog level indicates ongoing processing challenges because of high application numbers.
The major advancement occurred in temporary residency applications which decreased from 998100 to 947200 while backlog numbers reduced from 493700 (49%) to 414500 (44%).
Study permits totaling 112,572 and work permits totaling 260,431 have been finalized during the first two months of 2025 which serve as two essential components of temporary residency immigration processes.
The substantial number of international students and workers choosing Canada continues to boost this segment yet the February decrease points to improved processing efficiency.
The total backlog decreased from 43% to 40% so IRCC is near achieving its 80% service benchmark.
IRCC continues to decrease processing delays by decreasing overall applications by 47,200 while reducing the backlog count by 70,900 yet existing permanent and temporary residency wait times (43% and 44%) prove persistent.
What’s Driving the Change?
IRCC continues to lower its backlog numbers toward its 80% service standard while managing more than 2 million current applications.
From 2024 until IRCC’s decision finalization total exceeded 7 million while recent data shows that the organization processed 328,100 new citizens between April 2024 and early 2025.
The combination of high application numbers and restricted available spots in certain programs prevents backlog elimination especially for permanent and temporary resident programs.
Immigrants along with students and workers can expect accelerated decisions related to temporary residency as outlined in this update but permanent residency and citizenship applications remain consistently challenging.
Canada’s immigration policies face worldwide attention so these patterns might affect both application techniques and the expectations of potential immigrants.
Canada’s immigration landscape during 2025 will be defined by IRCC’s strategic moves between program efficiency and application demand.
New IRCC Update: Canada Immigration Backlog Falls to 821,200
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) published its latest inventory report through its March 20, 2025 update which disclosed 2,029,400 active applications on February 28, 2025.
The data from March 20, 2025 presents distinctive information compared to the January 31, 2025 statistics by providing current immigration processing trends in Canada.
The following review presents Canada’s Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) latest backlog information for March 20 and its impact on potential applicants alongside a numbers overview.
Breaking Down Latest Canada Immigration Backlog Numbers
IRCC reported that between February 2023 and January 2023 there was a backlog reduction of 70,900 applications alongside a 47,200 application decrease. The January 31, 2025 total application number equaled 2,076,600 and the backlog count reached 892,100.
Here’s how the categories stack up:
Citizenship: Increased slightly from 238,600 applications (42,000 in backlog) to 239,600, with the backlog rising to 42,700.
Permanent Residency: Grew from 356,400 in backlog (out of 836,900 total) to 364,000, but the backlog percentage dropped from 45% to 43%, signalling improved processing.
Temporary Residency: Dropped significantly from 998,100 applications (493,700 in backlog) to 947,200, with the backlog shrinking from 49% to 44%.
January vs. February 2025: A Comparative Snapshot
The data from January 31, 2025 showed that IRCC recorded 2,076,600 applications totaling 892,100 for processing backlog.
Between January and February the number of applications decreased by 47,200 while backlog reductions reached 70,900. An overview of the data appears in this following table:
Analyzing the Trends
Total Citizenship applications and backlog levels increased by tiny amounts in this period (238,600 to 239,600 and 42,000 to 42,700) due to stable usage but backlog rates rose slightly from 17.6% to 18%.
The processing times for this category remain at the shortest duration because sponsorship or economic quotas have minimal impact.
Permanent Residency applications in February rose to 364,000 while backlog reduced to 156,520 (43%) people—a lower number than January’s estimated 45% backlog rate.
The permanent residency application backlog decreased despite an increase in total applications because the IRCC chose to emphasize this priority status.
Permanent resident newcomers reached 69,200 during the first two months of 2025 yet the 43% backlog level indicates ongoing processing challenges because of high application numbers.
The major advancement occurred in temporary residency applications which decreased from 998100 to 947200 while backlog numbers reduced from 493700 (49%) to 414500 (44%).
Study permits totaling 112,572 and work permits totaling 260,431 have been finalized during the first two months of 2025 which serve as two essential components of temporary residency immigration processes.
The substantial number of international students and workers choosing Canada continues to boost this segment yet the February decrease points to improved processing efficiency.
The total backlog decreased from 43% to 40% so IRCC is near achieving its 80% service benchmark.
IRCC continues to decrease processing delays by decreasing overall applications by 47,200 while reducing the backlog count by 70,900 yet existing permanent and temporary residency wait times (43% and 44%) prove persistent.
What’s Driving the Change?
IRCC continues to lower its backlog numbers toward its 80% service standard while managing more than 2 million current applications.
From 2024 until IRCC’s decision finalization total exceeded 7 million while recent data shows that the organization processed 328,100 new citizens between April 2024 and early 2025.
The combination of high application numbers and restricted available spots in certain programs prevents backlog elimination especially for permanent and temporary resident programs.
Immigrants along with students and workers can expect accelerated decisions related to temporary residency as outlined in this update but permanent residency and citizenship applications remain consistently challenging.
Canada’s immigration policies face worldwide attention so these patterns might affect both application techniques and the expectations of potential immigrants.
Canada’s immigration landscape during 2025 will be defined by IRCC’s strategic moves between program efficiency and application demand.
Author: lokeshwar Bandral
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