Ottawa, July 21: The federal government has taken a major step toward greater transparency in Canada’s immigration system by announcing that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will now publish monthly updates showing how many permanent residence (PR) applications are being actively processed and how many have been waitlisted due to limited admission spaces.
The new reporting system, launched on July 21, marks the first time IRCC has publicly disclosed the number of permanent residence applications that have been set aside for future processing because annual immigration targets have already been reached.
According to IRCC, waitlisting occurs when the number of applications received exceeds the number of permanent resident admissions allocated under Canada’s 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan. Applications remain in the inventory and will be processed when admission spaces become available in future years.
The monthly updates will cover three major immigration categories:
- Economic Immigration, including programs such as Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), the Atlantic Immigration Program, the Rural Community Immigration Pilot, the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot, and other federal economic pathways.
- Family Class, including applications sponsored by spouses, partners, dependent children, parents, grandparents, and international adoptions.
- Protection Class, covering protected persons, government-assisted refugees, privately sponsored refugees, and applicants under humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
More Than 705,000 Applications Await Finalization
Based on data as of May 31, 2026, IRCC reported that 705,315 permanent residence applications were awaiting final decisions.
The breakdown is as follows:
- Economic Class: 238,335 applications
- 75% in active processing
- 25% waitlisted
- Family Class: 159,765 applications
- 60% in active processing
- 40% waitlisted
- Protection Class: 307,215 applications
- 54% in active processing
- 46% waitlisted
IRCC noted that waitlisting does not mean an application has been refused. Instead, applications remain in the processing inventory until immigration spaces become available under future annual admissions targets. However, applicants should expect longer processing times when their applications are waitlisted.
Change in Reporting
As part of the updated system, IRCC will no longer publish the percentage of applications being processed within its official service standards. Instead, the department will focus on reporting the number of applications actively under review versus those waiting for future admission spaces.
2026 Immigration Targets
Under Canada’s 2026 Immigration Levels Plan, the federal government aims to welcome 380,000 new permanent residents outside Quebec, including:
- 239,800 under Economic immigration programs.
- 84,000 through Family Class sponsorship.
- 49,300 refugees and protected persons.
- 6,900 under humanitarian and other special programs.
Between January 1 and May 31, 2026, IRCC finalized 198,700 permanent residence applications, including both approved and refused cases.
The department’s next monthly update is expected in mid-to-late August, providing application inventory figures as of June 30, 2026.
The introduction of waitlist reporting is expected to give immigration applicants greater clarity about the status of their applications while providing a more transparent picture of how Canada’s annual immigration targets affect processing timelines.