Prospective immigrants to Canada often wonder how long the journey will take. Visa applications and processing times are unique to each visa. IRCC measures the processing time for the Canadian visa application once they receive them.
An improved approach will expedite the immigration process for Canadians starting in 2022. Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Sean Fraser, announced several new initiatives aimed at speeding up some of the nation’s most popular immigration programs.
Canada’s migration process
As one of the largest sources of permanent residents in Canada, the UAE is one of the most important countries. While UAE nationals are relatively few in numbers in Canada, many other nationalities mention the UAE as their prior residence. Express Entry ITAs earned by UAE citizens in 2020 ranked fifth in the world.
Consequently, Residents who want to move to Canada from Gulf have various options. Following the recovery from the Coronavirus outbreak, immigration plays an increasingly crucial role in Canada’s upcoming all-program latest Express Entry draw.
As part of the immigration levels plan published in February, the federal government declared its commitment to accept over 1.3 million new permanent residents by 2024.
Canada’s immigration process will likely raise many questions in the minds of prospective applicants. These would consist of:
- What kinds of visas are there in Canada that would be suitable for my needs?
- In order to be eligible for a visa, I must meet certain criteria – what are the criteria I must satisfy?
- How do I apply for a Canadian visa? What documents should I submit?
- How long will the Canada visa application procedure take?
Choosing a country to move to is largely determined by the processing time required for a visa since time is an important factor in the migration planning process. The government of Canada has taken steps in order to keep processing times as short as possible so that potential immigrants can benefit from it.
About Canada’s visa processing time
It is undoubtedly the desire of every immigration applicant to be in Canada as quickly as possible that will motivate them to begin the process. As a result, prospective immigrants greatly benefit from the lengthy processing time for Canadian visas.
In order to understand how long a Canada visa takes to process, let’s first examine the main factors that influence it.
- Type of visa applied for
- Applicants’ country of origin/application
- The completeness and accuracy of the application
- Confirming the applicant’s information is easy
- IRCC, can you tell me how soon it will process existing visa applications?
- During the visa application process, the time taken by an applicant to address concerns or additional requests
The time it takes to process each type of Canadian visa
Let’s examine the processing times for various types of Canada visas and visa pathways now that you are aware of the additional factors contributing to the processing time.
Canada visa processing time from the UAE | |
Type of Visa | Processing Time |
Canada visit visa | 193 Days |
Atlantic Immigration Pilot | 14 Months |
Skilled Workers (Federal) | 27 Months |
Work Permit | 30 Months |
Canada PR (renewal) | 90 Days |
Provincial Nominee Program (online) | 14 Months |
Parents & Grandparents Visa | 37 Months |
Skilled Trades (Federal) | 49 Months |
Provincial Nominee Program (offline) | 22 Months |
Canadian Experience Class | 19 Months |
Express Entry
Express Entry includes the economic immigration streams of FSW, FST, and CEC. The Express Entry system is often linked to the Provincial Nominee Program, one of Canada’s federal immigration streams. Express Entry profiles are available for such PNP applicants.
It typically takes between six and twenty-seven months for Express Entry applications to be processed by the IRCC. 27 months is a rare occurrence.
Canada’s PR card
You need your Canada PR card to prove that you are permanently resident in Canada. An application for a PR Card submitted in Canada is usually processed in 107 days.
Upon moving to Canada, you must wait 90 days to complete the entire renewal process before you can renew your PR card.
Canada’s Work Permit
It is only if you plan to work there that you will apply for a Canada work permit. All Canada visas take the longest to process, except for the work permit.
Work permits for Canada could take 30 weeks to process. It depends entirely on how complete your application was when you filed it in Canada to how quickly it will be processed. Process times for work visas for Canada are influenced by where you filed for them.
Labor Market Impact Assessment – LMIA
It is important to note that while the LMIA isn’t strictly a visa, it may be needed by employees who relocate to Canada after being offered a job by a Canadian company. By submitting this document, the hiring company proves that it made an attempt to find candidates who met the position’s requirements. They couldn’t find anyone within the local population to fill the position, so they asked you to fill it as a migrant.
An LMIA application takes between 8 and 29 days to process.
Canada’s study permit
Study permits in Canada generally take a year or more to process, depending on your location when applying. Canada typically processes study permit applications within 12 weeks.
Canada’s visitor visa
Depending on where you are from/what country you are applying from, this visa will take longer to process. It usually takes 193 days to complete the process.
Canada’s super visa
Your family members (children and grandchildren) can stay with you in Canada for five years with this visa. Visas for this country normally take 178 days to process.
Canada’s startup visa
Start-up entrepreneurs can apply for a Canada start-up visa to establish their businesses in Canada. They can also gain financial and management advice from Canadian private companies after receiving approval for their visas.
It takes 31 months to process a Canada Start-Up Visa for UAE citizens.
Processing time changes for Canada visas
The last time COVID-19 occurred between 2020 and 2022, processing times changed dramatically. A decision was made by the IRCC at that time to estimate the amount of time needed to process visa applications. This was based on the number of applications already in progress.
Process times have changed for the following immigration categories:
- Immigration on the basis of humanitarian and compassionate grounds
- Economic Immigration
- Sponsoring parents or grand parents
Calculation method of Canada visa processing time
80% of past applications were processed within a certain amount of time-based on historical processing times. Your Canada visa application will begin to be processed by the day you submit it and will continue until it’s approved.
- Mailing in an application (offline). It begins to process your Canada visa application as soon as it enters the mail room.
- When applying in person or online. Your application begins to be processed the moment you submit it.
Conclusion
It is crucial to the success of a Canada visa application that all the right things are done throughout the process, that information is presented in a complete and honest manner, and that information is easy to reference. May this blog will help you know about processing times that give you an idea of how long it should take us to process your application on average.