IRCC processing snapshot: Jan 2026
IRCC data show Canada welcomed 24,100 new permanent residents in January 2026, processed 32,400 PR applications, completed 34,200 study permits and 136,700 work permits in that month, and granted 227,300 citizenships from April 2025–Jan 2026. The figures illustrate sustained high-volume processing across PR, study and work streams. (barbicanimmigration.ca)
IRCC’s application inventory on January 31, 2026 totaled 2,092,000 files, with the portion flagged as backlog falling to 990,300 — a net decline of 35,500 from December 31, 2025. (cicnews.com) Temporary-residence inventories dropped to 845,400 applications in January 2026, of which 450,700 (53%) met IRCC service standards and 394,700 were recorded as backlog. (cicnews.com) Permanent-residence inventories rose to 995,500 files as of January 31, 2026, with 460,200 applications (46%) processed within service standards and 535,300 still designated as backlog. (cicnews.com) Express Entry backlog metrics improved in January — only 15% of federal high-skilled (Express Entry) files were classified as backlog versus 20% in December — while PNP (Express Entry-aligned) backlog fell to 42% from 48%. (cicnews.com) Program-level shifts were asymmetric: study-permit backlog rose roughly 14% month-over-month, while work-permit backlog fell about 8%, with work-permit backlog share declining from 46% to 38% between December and January. (cicnews.com) Those inventory movements occur against the government’s 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, which sets a notional target of 380,000 permanent residents for 2026 and introduces temporary-resident limits intended to reduce temporary-resident share to about 5% of the population. (canada.ca)
