Canada visa wait drops: Indians get visitor visas in 57 days, study 4 weeks
Canada releases new visa processing timelines; visitor visas for Indians are faster, while the dependent child sponsorship wait time drops sharply
 "Canada visa wait drops: Indians get visitor visas in 57 days, study 4 weeks")
Canada on Wednesday released fresh visa and immigration processing timelines that may affect Indian visitors, students, workers and families planning to move. Visitor visas for Indians now take about 57 days, while work permits take around seven weeks.
The update from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) shows faster processing for some applications linked to India. Visitor visa wait times for Indians have dropped sharply, while processing for dependent child sponsorship from India has been reduced by eight months.
Some categories, however, remain unchanged or have seen small increases in waiting periods.
The figures cover three broad categories of immigration processes:
Temporary residence applications
Permanent residence applications
Citizenship applications
Temporary residence applications
Processing times for temporary residence applications were compared with the previous update issued on February 26. The current figures reflect estimates as of March 11, 2026, or March 9 for certain categories.
Work permits
Processing timelines for work permit applications remain largely steady, with a small improvement for applicants from India.
The waiting period for work permits from India has fallen by one week, while processing for applications made from Nigeria has increased by two weeks. Submissions made from inside Canada now take three days longer than before.
Current processing estimates are:
Inside Canada: 256 days - 259 days
India: 8 weeks - 7 weeks
Pakistan: 30 weeks - 30 weeks
Nigeria: 11 weeks - 13 weeks
United States: 10 weeks - 9 weeks
Philippines: N/A - 7 weeks
Service standards
In-Canada submissions (initial and extensions): 120 days
Outside Canada submissions: 60 days
International Experience Canada permit submissions: 56 days
Study permits
Study permit timelines remain unchanged for most countries, including India. Applications from the United States saw a small improvement of one week.
Canada: 9 weeks - 9 weeks
India: 4 weeks - 4 weeks
Pakistan: 15 weeks - 15 weeks
Nigeria: 8 weeks - 8 weeks
United States: 6 weeks - 5 weeks
Philippines: N/A - 5 weeks
Service standards
In-Canada submissions (initial and extensions): 120 days
Outside Canada submissions: 60 days
Visitor visas
Visitor visa processing times have continued to fall across several countries, with India seeing the largest improvement in the latest update.
The waiting period for Indian applicants dropped from 71 days to 57 days.
Inside Canada: 19 days - 18 days
India: 71 days - 57 days
Pakistan: 53 days - 49 days
Nigeria: 56 days - 53 days
United States: 23 days - 17 days
Philippines: N/A - 14 days
Service standard
Outside Canada submissions: 14 days
Super visas
Processing times for Canada’s super visa programme have also improved slightly for several countries.
India: 210 days - 208 days
Pakistan: 136 days - 132 days
Nigeria: 47 days - 44 days
United States: 205 days - 207 days
Philippines: N/A - 85 days
Service standard
112 days
Super visa applications cannot be submitted from within Canada.
Permanent residence applications
Processing times for most permanent residence programmes remain unchanged since IRCC’s previous update. Some changes were recorded within family sponsorship categories.
Express Entry
Timelines for Express Entry programmes remain the same.
Canadian Experience Class (CEC): 7 months - 7 months
Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP): 7 months - 7 months
Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP): N/A - N/A
IRCC does not publish processing estimates for the Federal Skilled Trades Program due to limited data.
Service standard
All Express Entry programmes: Six months
Provincial nominee program (PNP)
Processing times for provincial nomination applications remain unchanged.
Through Express Entry (enhanced): 7 months - 7 months
Non-Express Entry (base): 13 months - 13 months
Service standards
Enhanced PNP: six months
Base PNP: 11 months
Family sponsorship
Some adjustments were recorded within family sponsorship categories.
Spousal sponsorship inside Quebec now takes one month longer. Processing times for parent and grandparent sponsorship have fallen by one month both inside and outside Quebec.
Spouse/partner inside Canada (outside Quebec): 21 months - 21 months
Spouse/partner inside Canada (Quebec): 35 months - 36 months
Spouse/partner outside Canada (outside Quebec): 15 months - 15 months
Spouse/partner outside Canada (Quebec): 35 months - 35 months
Parents and grandparents (outside Quebec): 35 months - 34 months
Parents and grandparents (Quebec): 47 months - 46 months
Dependent child sponsorship
One of the biggest changes involves applications for dependent children from India.
Processing time for such applications has fallen from 16 months to 8 months.
Within Canada: 19 months - 20 months
Outside Canada (India): 16 months - 8 months
Outside Canada (Nigeria): 19 months - 19 months
Outside Canada (Philippines): Not reported - 12 months
Citizenship applications
Waiting periods for Canadian citizenship have shortened slightly.
Citizenship grant: 14 months - 13 months
Citizenship certificate (proof of citizenship): 11 months - 10 months
IRCC sets a service standard of 12 months for citizenship grant applications.
Processing times vs service standards
Processing times reflect how long applicants can expect to wait for a decision if they submit their application today.
For online submissions, the clock begins when the application is filed. For paper applications, processing starts once the documents are received by the department.
Processing estimates are calculated using two approaches:
> Historical processing times, based on how long it took to finalise 80 per cent of applications in the past
> Forward-looking estimates that consider current application volumes and expected decision rates
Service standards, on the other hand, are internal targets set by IRCC for how long most applications should take to process. These standards are designed so that around 80 per cent of cases are completed within that timeframe, while more complex files may take longer.