Canada visa delays affect Indian visitor visa applicants
Canada’s immigration system is facing significant delays, with Indian applicants now waiting an average of 99 days for visitor visa approvals — the longest processing time among major applicant countries, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The data highlights a growing backlog across multiple immigration categories. For Super Visa applicants — primarily parents and grandparents of Canadian residents — the average wait time has reached 169 days. Meanwhile, citizenship processing continues to lag, with over 290,700 applications pending and average decision times stretching to 13 months.
IRCC data also shows varying timelines across other visa types:
- Permanent Resident (PR) card renewals: 29 days on average.
- New PR cards: around two months.
- Family sponsorships: 20 months for inland applications, 14 months for those filed from outside Canada.
- Parent and grandparent sponsorships: up to 50 months in Québec and 42 months elsewhere.
- Humanitarian and compassionate cases: some applications are taking over 10 years to process.
Officials have attributed the delays to high application volumes, post-pandemic backlogs, and system modernization efforts. Immigration lawyers say the extended waiting periods are creating uncertainty for families and professionals hoping to visit or settle in Canada.
Applicants are being urged to plan travel and immigration timelines carefully, submit complete documentation, and track application status regularly through the IRCC portal.
The backlog comes amid Canada’s ongoing efforts to balance its ambitious immigration targets with processing efficiency and resource constraints.