Category Archives: Canada

The latest Canada processing times update from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada shows a mixed picture for applicants, with faster turnaround in some categories and longer waits in others depending on where an applicant is applying from. Work permits for Pakistan dropped by a week, while study permits from the Philippines got a week slower.

IRCC’s Latest Numbers, Category by Category

For work permits, Pakistan saw the most notable improvement, dropping from eight weeks to seven, while in-Canada applicants saw a smaller two-day improvement to 113 days. The Philippines moved in the opposite direction, with work permit processing jumping from five weeks to seven, according to CIC News’ breakdown of the update. India’s work permit times also rose slightly, from nine weeks to ten.

Study permits told a different story. India saw the sharpest improvement of any category in this update, dropping from seven weeks to five, while in-Canada study permit applicants saw processing rise by a week to eight weeks, the category’s highest point in three months.

Where the Canada Processing Times Update Helped Applicants

Visitor visas saw only minor movement across the board, with changes limited to one or two days for India, the Philippines and Pakistan. That relative stability suggests IRCC resources are being shifted toward specific categories and countries, work permits and study permits in particular, rather than spread evenly across every visa type.

Super visas, the long-stay option for parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, saw some of the largest improvements in this update. Pakistan’s super visa processing time dropped 23 days to 139 days, and the Philippines improved by 11 days to 93 days.

These country-specific differences generally trace back to visa office capacity and local application volumes rather than any policy distinction between applicants from different countries. A visa post handling a sudden surge in applications will naturally see its processing times climb relative to a post with steadier volumes, even when both are working from the same federal rules and resources.

Where Wait Times Got Worse

India was the exception on super visas, rising five days to 66 days even as most other categories for Indian applicants improved. That kind of divergence, where one country improves on some categories and worsens on others within the same update, is common with IRCC’s rolling processing-time estimates, which reflect current application volumes and staffing rather than a fixed target.

In-Canada applicants also saw increases in two categories, work permits aside: study permits rose by a week, suggesting domestic processing capacity may be under more strain than overseas visa posts handling the same application types.

What These Numbers Don’t Promise

IRCC is explicit that these processing time estimates reflect how long a newly submitted application may take based on current conditions, not a guarantee or a firm timeline for any individual case. An application already in the queue when the numbers shift does not necessarily speed up or slow down to match a newly published estimate, since actual processing depends on the specific application’s complexity and completeness.

Applicants comparing this update to the previous one should treat the percentage or day-count changes as a general trend indicator for new applicants, not a precise forecast for their own case, especially given how much individual categories can swing between updates.

What to Expect in the Next Update

IRCC typically refreshes these processing time estimates on a rolling basis, so the next update could shift again depending on application volumes received in the interim. Given how much the Philippines’ work permit times moved in a single update, applicants from countries seeing worsening numbers should plan for further volatility rather than assuming wait times have settled into a new normal.

For prospective applicants with flexibility on timing, this update is a reminder that submission timing and country of application can meaningfully affect how long a decision takes, even for the same visa category.

Applicants who can submit from a visa post with shorter current wait times, where that flexibility genuinely exists, may want to weigh that factor alongside the usual considerations of cost and convenience when deciding where and when to file.

Processing Times: Common Questions

Which category saw the biggest improvement?
Study permits from India, which dropped from seven weeks to five.

Which category got noticeably slower?
Work permits from the Philippines, which rose from five weeks to seven.

Did visitor visa processing change much?
No, movement was limited to one or two days across India, the Philippines and Pakistan.

What happened to super visa processing?
Pakistan and the Philippines both saw significant improvements, while India’s super visa times rose slightly.

Are these processing times guaranteed?
No. IRCC describes them as estimates based on current conditions, not firm timelines for individual applications.

Related Coverage on Tamara News

For more on how visa processing is shifting globally this year, see our coverage of Canada’s new study permit proof-of-funds rule and the delayed October 2026 US visa bulletin.

Sources

• CIC News — First September update shows lower processing times for temporary residence applicants. https://www.cicnews.com/2026/09/first-september-update-shows-lower-processing-times-for-temporary-residence-applicants-0979921.html
• Government of Canada — Check processing times. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html

The latest Canada Express Entry draw invited 733 provincial nominees to apply for permanent residence on September 28, 2026, making it the largest round for this category since late June. Candidates needed a Comprehensive Ranking System score of at least 725 to make the cut, and only those who created an Express Entry profile before September 17 at 1:36 a.m. UTC were eligible.

Inside the September 28 Draw

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada runs Express Entry draws targeting different pools: some rounds are open to all candidates, others target specific programs such as the Canadian Experience Class, and this one focused exclusively on the Provincial Nominee Program. A provincial nomination adds 600 points to a candidate’s CRS score, which is why PNP-specific draws tend to pull from a narrower, higher-scoring pool than general rounds, as detailed by CIC News.

The 725 cutoff reflects that dynamic. Candidates without a provincial nomination rarely reach that score, so this round was effectively a call to people who had already secured one from a province or territory and were simply waiting for IRCC to issue the formal invitation to apply.

How the Canada Express Entry Draw Works

Once invited, candidates have 60 days to submit a complete application for permanent residence, including proof of funds, medical exams and police certificates where required. Missing that window means losing the invitation and having to re-enter the pool, so applicants who were nominated by a province should already have most of their documents ready before an invitation lands.

This draw brought Canada’s 2026 total to 57 Express Entry rounds and more than 129,715 invitations issued year-to-date, underlining how central the program remains to the country’s overall immigration intake even as individual draw sizes fluctuate month to month.

Who Made the Cut

Because every invited candidate already held a provincial nomination, this round skews toward people with a specific job offer, in-demand occupation, or regional connection that a province wanted to retain. It also tends to favor candidates already living and working in Canada, since many provincial nominee streams prioritize applicants with Canadian work experience or a job offer from a local employer.

For candidates already in Canada on a valid work permit, a successful application can come with a Bridging Open Work Permit, which lets them keep working while IRCC processes their permanent residence application rather than facing a gap in status.

Provincial nominations themselves come from a patchwork of programs run independently by each province and territory, each with its own criteria tied to local labor market needs. A nomination from Ontario’s tech-focused stream, for example, looks very different on paper from one issued by an Atlantic province prioritizing healthcare or skilled trades workers, even though both carry the same 600-point boost once a candidate enters the federal Express Entry pool.

What’s Ahead for Canada’s Express Entry Pool

With 57 rounds already run this year, IRCC shows no sign of slowing its PNP-focused approach, which has consistently favored candidates with provincial or Canadian ties over general high-CRS candidates without either. Anyone in the pool without a nomination should treat a provincial nomination as the most reliable way to improve their odds, rather than waiting for score inflation to work in their favor.

Watch for the next general draw to clarify whether IRCC is easing cutoffs for candidates without a nomination, or continuing to prioritize PNP and CEC rounds through the rest of the year.

Candidates still waiting in the pool without a provincial nomination should treat this draw as a data point rather than a reason to panic. General draws targeting the full Express Entry pool typically run at lower CRS cutoffs than PNP-specific rounds, so a 725 threshold here says more about this particular draw’s target group than about where the overall pool is trending.

Express Entry Draw: Your Questions Answered

How many invitations were issued?
733 invitations went out on September 28, 2026, exclusively to Provincial Nominee Program candidates.

What was the minimum CRS score?
725, reflecting the 600-point boost a provincial nomination adds to a candidate’s score.

How long do invited candidates have to apply?
60 days from the date of invitation to submit a complete application.

Can candidates in Canada keep working while they wait?
Those already in Canada on a valid work permit may qualify for a Bridging Open Work Permit during processing.

How many invitations has Canada issued in 2026 so far?
More than 129,715 across 57 Express Entry rounds, as of this draw.

Related Coverage on Tamara News

For more on how Canada’s visa system is shifting this year, see our coverage of Canada’s new study permit proof-of-funds requirement and the delayed October 2026 US visa bulletin for a look at how processing timelines compare across countries.

Sources

• CIC News — Canada invites 733 provincial nominees to apply for permanent residence. https://www.cicnews.com/2026/09/canada-invites-733-provincial-nominees-to-apply-for-permanent-residence-0980374.html
• Government of Canada — Check Express Entry processing times. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html