IRCC Publishes First Look at Waitlisted PR Applications

Canada’s immigration department has begun revealing how many permanent residence applications are actively being processed and how many have been placed on a waitlist.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada updated its online application inventory page on July 21. The department will now provide monthly figures for economic, family and protection applications.

The change marks the first time the federal government has publicly reported the share of permanent residence files waiting for future admission space.

Applications May Wait for Future Space

Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan sets annual limits on how many permanent residents the country expects to admit under different categories.

IRCC says it will continue processing applications when space remains within those yearly targets. When a program receives more applications than the available spaces, some files must wait until space becomes available in a future year.

“When we receive more applications for a program than there are spaces in the levels plan, some applications must wait until spaces become available in a future year,” IRCC states on its updated webpage.

The department warns that this situation can increase processing times.

IRCC will adjust the figures each month as applications enter or leave its inventory. The department will no longer publish an overall breakdown showing how much of its inventory is being processed within established service standards.

More Than 705,000 PR Files Unfinished

The first update includes figures accurate as of May 31, 2026.

IRCC reported 705,315 permanent residence applications that had not yet received a final decision across the three main categories.

The economic category contained 238,335 unfinished applications. About 75 per cent were actively being processed, while 25 per cent were waiting for space under annual targets.

Economic applications include programs such as Express Entry, federal business immigration and the Provincial Nominee Program. They also include the Atlantic Immigration Program and rural and Francophone community immigration pilots.

The family category had 159,765 applications awaiting decisions. Of those, 60 per cent were in processing and 40 per cent were waiting for admission space.

This category covers spouses, partners, children, parents, grandparents and international adoptions.

Protection Category Has Largest Waiting Share

IRCC reported 307,215 unfinished applications under the protection category.

About 54 per cent were actively being processed, while 46 per cent were waiting for space—the highest waitlisted share among the three categories.

Protection applications include protected persons in Canada, government-assisted refugees, privately sponsored refugees, and humanitarian and compassionate cases.

Between January 1 and May 31, IRCC finalized 198,700 permanent residence applications across the economic, family and protection categories. Finalized files include both approved and refused applications.

Canada Plans 380,000 Admissions

The federal government plans to admit 380,000 permanent residents in 2026. The target includes 239,800 economic immigrants, 84,000 family-class immigrants, 49,300 refugees and protected persons, and 6,900 people under humanitarian and other categories.

IRCC is expected to publish its next inventory update in mid- to late August, using figures accurate as of June 30.