Canada Updates Temporary Residence Processing Times Again

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada updated its temporary residence processing estimates on August 19, 2026, with waiting times increasing across several categories.

The most noticeable increases affected visitor visa applications from Pakistan and super visa applications from the United States. At the same time, work permit applicants in Pakistan saw a significant improvement.

The latest estimates are compared with IRCC’s previous update from August 12. The department is expected to publish another update around August 26.

Work Permit Times Improve for Pakistan

Work permit processing became faster for applicants in Canada and Pakistan.

For applications submitted from Canada, the estimate fell slightly from 119 days to 117 days.

Pakistan recorded the biggest improvement. Its estimated processing time dropped from 12 weeks to seven weeks, a reduction of five weeks.

Processing times remained unchanged at nine weeks for India and Nigeria, six weeks for the Philippines and two weeks for the United States.

IRCC’s service standard is 120 days for work permit applications submitted inside Canada and 60 days for applications submitted from outside Canada.

Study Permit Waits Mostly Stable

Study permit processing showed little movement during the week.

Applicants from Canada continued to face a seven-week estimate, while India remained at five weeks. Pakistan stayed at seven weeks, the United States at five weeks and the Philippines at four weeks.

Nigeria was the only country listed to see an increase. Its processing estimate rose from eight weeks to nine weeks.

Visitor Visa Delays Grow in Several Countries

Visitor visa processing increased in most countries included in the update.

Pakistan saw the largest rise, moving from 61 days to 75 days. Nigeria increased from 72 to 76 days, while India moved from 30 to 31 days.

The Philippines also recorded a longer wait, rising from 18 to 21 days.

The United States remained unchanged at 21 days.

Canada was the exception. Applications submitted from inside the country improved from 15 days to 12 days.

IRCC’s service standard for visitor visa applications from outside Canada is 14 days.

Super Visa Processing Also Changes

Super visa processing times increased in most countries.

The largest change occurred in the United States, where the estimate rose from 123 days to 138 days.

Nigeria increased slightly from 52 to 53 days, while the Philippines rose from 105 to 107 days.

India remained unchanged at 56 days.

Pakistan was the only country listed to see an improvement, falling from 180 days to 176 days.

The service standard for super visa applications is 112 days.

Processing Times Are Estimates, Not Guarantees

IRCC says processing times should be treated as estimates rather than fixed deadlines.

Some estimates are based on how long it took the department to complete 80% of past applications. Others consider the number of applications currently waiting and the resources available to process them.

Service standards are different. They represent the time IRCC aims to meet in about 80% of normal cases.

Individual applications can still take longer because of missing documents, additional checks, case complexity or growing inventories.

IRCC processed 1,566,455 temporary residence applications during the first six months of 2026. More than 401,000 applications remained pending at the end of June.