Latest IRCC Inventory Numbers – April 2026

IRCC’s inventory includes all applications the department has received but has not yet finalized. This includes applications still being processed within normal service standards, as well as applications that have passed those standard timelines and are considered part of the backlog.

April 2026 IRCC Inventory Snapshot

As of April 2026, IRCC’s inventory included:

• 1,038,100 permanent residence applications
• 842,000 temporary residence applications
• 273,800 citizenship applications

Permanent residence made up the largest share of the inventory, with more than one million applications awaiting a final decision.

Permanent Residence Inventory

The latest data shows 1,038,100 permanent residence applications in IRCC’s inventory as of April 2026.

The IRCC’s processing-times tool allows us to get a better idea of the type of applications that form this figure. According to June 2026 figures from the tool, the inventory included:

• 60,900 Canadian Experience Class (CEC) applications
• 52,000 Federal Skilled Worker applications
• 38,800 Caregiver applications
• 12,900 Atlantic Immigration Program applications
• 125,000 Provincial Nominee Program applications
• 130,000 spouse or common-law sponsorship applications
• 72,000 humanitarian and compassionate applications

These programs do not all have the same service standards.

A service standard is the amount of time IRCC aims to take to process an application under normal circumstances. These standards generally apply to complete applications with all required supporting documents. IRCC’s target is to process 80% of applications within the applicable service standard.

For example, the service standard for Canadian Experience Class applications is 180 days, while the service standard for family-class is 12 months.

The backlog also varies significantly by program.

Federal high-skilled applications managed through Express Entry, including CEC and Federal Skilled Worker applications, had a backlog of just 9%. By contrast, Express Entry-linked Provincial Nominee Program applications had a backlog of 37%.

Family-class applications were also above IRCC’s general 20% backlog target, with a 23% backlog.

Temporary residence inventory sits at 842,000 applications

Temporary residence applications, including visitor visas, study permits, and work permits also remain a major part of IRCC’s workload.

As of April 2026, IRCC had 842,000 temporary residence applications in inventory. IRCC does not provide a breakdown of how this total is split between visitor visas, study permits, and work permits, but the department does provide backlog rates for these categories.

As of April 2026:

• 46% of temporary resident visa applications were in backlog
• 35% of study permit applications were in backlog
• 37% of work permit applications were in backlog

This means a sizeable share of applications in each category had already passed IRCC’s expected processing timelines.

The high inventory also comes as Canada is trying to reduce the overall number of temporary residents, including international students and temporary foreign workers. At the same time, IRCC is still processing a large volume of temporary residence applications already in the system. From January 1 to April 30, 2026, IRCC finalized 145,000 study permit applications, including extensions, and 618,500 work permit applications, including extensions.

In other words, IRCC is trying to bring temporary resident numbers down while still working through a large temporary residence inventory, whilst keeping to service standards.

Citizenship Inventory

IRCC’s April 2026 inventory data showed 273,800 citizenship applications.

However, IRCC’s processing-times tool showed different citizenship figures in June 2026, including around 313,000 citizenship grant applications and around 80,000 applications in another citizenship category.

This makes it difficult to compare the April and June figures directly. It is not fully clear whether the April total refers to all citizenship applications, citizenship grants specifically, or another grouping of citizenship application types.

Despite the higher grant figure, the citizenship grant backlog remained relatively manageable at 23%, only slightly above IRCC’s general 20% backlog target. This suggests that the increased interest following the December 2025 changes to citizenship by descent rules has not yet translated into major processing strain for citizenship grants. Although it may be too early to see the full impact.

What These Numbers Mean for Applicants

IRCC’s inventory numbers have limited use for the average applicant when viewed on their own. They do not show exactly when an individual application will be processed, but they do show where pressure is building in the system, and which application types are more or less likely to be processed within service standards.

These figures are most useful when read alongside other public IRCC data, such as current processing times, service standards, and backlog rates by program.

Applicants cannot control IRCC’s inventory, backlog levels, or processing times, but they can reduce the risk of avoidable delays by submitting a complete application, including all required documents, responding quickly to IRCC requests, completing biometrics and medical exams on time, and keeping contact information up to date.