Starting July 21, the Canadian immigration department will provide monthly updates on the status of permanent residence applications, distinguishing between those actively in processing and those waitlisted for future processing due to limited admission spaces under the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan.
This initiative marks the first disclosure by the federal government regarding the allocation of permanent residence applications for future processing. The waitlisted applications will be categorized under Economic, Family, and Protection streams, with adjustments made monthly based on the inventory held by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) by month-end.
IRCC introduced this change through an updated version of its application inventory webpage on July 21. Additionally, the webpage will no longer report the percentage of applications processed within service standards, focusing instead on managing applications based on available space as per the Immigration Levels Plan.
Applications will be processed as long as space is available within the set targets of the Immigration Levels Plan. However, when applications exceed available spaces, they will be waitlisted until openings arise in subsequent years, potentially prolonging processing times.
Which application types fall under each PR category?
IRCC has outlined the application types that will be waitlisted under each category, including:
- Economic applications
- Family applications
- Protection applications