Indian applicants seeking Canadian study permits and super visas are facing longer processing times, while visitor visa waits have shortened slightly, according to the latest figures released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on October 14.
Study permit processing times for applicants from India increased by one week to seven weeks, compared with six weeks in the October 7 update. Super visa processing times rose by three days to 77 days, while visitor visa waits fell by one day to 29 days.
Work permit processing times for Indian applicants remained unchanged at 11 weeks, according to figures reported by CIC News. The estimates reflect changes over one week and are not guaranteed timelines for individual applications.
Study and work permit waits increase
Indian applicants applying for Canadian study permits are now facing an estimated wait of seven weeks, up from six weeks in the previous update.
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Work permit processing times for applicants from India remained at 11 weeks. Applicants applying from Canada faced an estimated wait of 15 weeks.
IRCC’s service standard for work permit applications submitted from outside Canada is 60 days. For applications submitted from within Canada, including initial applications and extensions, the service standard is 120 days.
Service standards are the department’s targets for processing 80% of applications under normal circumstances. They are different from the latest estimated processing times.
Visitor visa waits shorten for Indians
The estimated processing time for Canadian visitor visas for Indian applicants declined to 29 days on October 14, compared with 30 days a week earlier.
The latest figures showed different trends across countries. Visitor visa processing times increased for applicants applying from Canada and Nigeria, while they declined for applicants from India. The estimate for applicants from the United States remained unchanged at 18 days.
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Meanwhile, Indian applicants seeking super visas faced a longer wait of 77 days, up from 74 days in the previous update. The super visa allows eligible parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to visit Canada for extended periods.
IRCC’s service standard for super visas is 112 days, and applications must be submitted from outside Canada.
Extensions face lengthy processing times
People already in Canada also face delays in some extension categories. Visitor record applications were taking an estimated 357 days to process, while study permit extensions were taking eight weeks, with 27,700 applications in the queue.
Work permit extensions had an estimated processing time of 13 weeks, with 205,400 applications awaiting processing.
IRCC generally updates temporary residence processing estimates weekly. From January to July 2026, it processed 1,832,065 temporary residence applications, while more than 394,000 remained outstanding as of July 31.
The department cautions that actual processing times can vary depending on application complexity, pending inventory, available resources and requests for additional documents or verification.