Grandparents were the recipients of some good news this week, but alas, not students, as the IRCC’s July 2 update to Canada’s temporary residence processing times has moved several visa categories for
Indian applicants, but not in the same direction.
Super Visa waiting times fell sharply. Study permit waiting times rose. Work permits stayed exactly where they were. The update also shows where an application is filed from matters as much as who is filing it.
What Has Changed?
The Super Visa, which lets parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents visit for extended stays, now takes 50 days to process for Indian applicants, down from 66 days in the previous update, according to a report by CIC News citing IRCC data. That is a drop of 16 days in a single update cycle.
Visitor visa processing for Indian applicants also improved, falling to 21 days from 22 days. Applications filed from within Canada currently take 38 days, IRCC data shows, while applicants filing from the United States saw slightly longer waits in the latest update.
Study permits moved the other way. Processing time for Indian applicants rose to five weeks, up from four weeks. Work permit processing held steady at nine weeks.
The Terms Of The Super Visa Have Moved Around A Lot
IRCC’s own service standard for Super Visa applications is 112 days. At 50 days, Indian applicants are now being processed in well under half that benchmark, CIC News reported.
Super Visa processing times for American applicants moved in the opposite direction, rising by nearly three weeks over the same period. That makes India one of the biggest beneficiaries of the July 2 update, according to the report.
Issuance Of Work Permits At An Impasse
Applications filed from within Canada saw the strongest movement in this category, with processing times falling by 15 days to 129 days, the lowest level recorded this year. Applications filed from the United States are still processed in four weeks, faster than the nine-week wait facing applicants filing from India.
Study Permits Have Become Slower
Processing time for study permit applications filed from within Canada also increased, up a week to seven weeks. Applications from the United States held at five weeks, unchanged. India was the only major applicant pool to see study permit waits worsen while filing from outside Canada.
What Comes Next
IRCC has cautioned that published processing times are estimates based on current application volumes and historical trends, and do not guarantee when any individual application will be finalised. The department updates its temporary residence processing figures every week. Its internal service standards aim to process around 80 per cent of applications within the stated timelines, not all of them.
For Indian applicants with a Super Visa application in the queue, this update has, for now, worked in their favour. For those waiting on a study permit, it has not. Neither position is fixed. IRCC revises these figures every week, and next week’s numbers could move either way again.
