E-Paper
Relief for Indian students, workers? Canada keeps permit processing stable despite longer waits elsewhere
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada reports unchanged processing times for Indian applicants of work and study permits.
Canada has kept processing times unchanged for Indian applicants seeking work and study permits, according to the latest update released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), offering a measure of stability even as wait times increased for applicants from several other countries.
The department's latest processing estimates, updated on July 28, show that work permit applications submitted from India continue to take about nine weeks, while study permit applications are being processed in approximately five weeks, CIC News reported. The timelines remain unchanged from the previous update issued on July 22.
The latest figures come as IRCC reported longer wait times for applicants from countries such as Pakistan and Nigeria, where both work permit and study permit processing increased by one week.
Visitor visa wait time rises slightly
While work and study permit timelines for Indians remained stable, visitor visa applicants saw a marginal increase in processing time.
According to IRCC, visitor visa applications from India are currently estimated to take 22 days, up from 21 days in the previous update. Super visa applications, which allow parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to stay in Canada for extended periods, are now taking 52 days, compared with 49 days a week earlier.
Processing times are estimates, not guarantees
IRCC said the published timelines are intended to help applicants estimate how long newly submitted applications may take to process. The department stressed that these figures are not guaranteed processing periods and can vary depending on application complexity, verification requirements, operational capacity and overall application volumes.
The department publishes two types of timelines: historical estimates based on how long it took to process 80% of completed applications, and forward-looking estimates that consider the current application inventory and available processing capacity.
IRCC's service standards remain separate from these published estimates. For applications submitted from outside Canada, the department's service standard is 60 days for both work permits and study permits, although actual processing times may differ.
Over 1.2m temporary residence applications finalized
IRCC said it finalized more than 1.2 million temporary residence applications during the first five months of 2026. Despite that progress, more than 404,000 temporary residence applications remained in the department's inventory as of May 31.
The department updates temporary residence processing times every week, with the next revision expected on or around August 5. For Indian applicants planning to study or work in Canada, the latest figures indicate no change in processing timelines, even as wait times have edged higher in several other countries.
