Canada’s population hit 40 million people in June 2023, representing the fastest population growth (2.7%) among G7 countries. The country plans to welcome 465,000 permanent residents (PRs) in 2023, while annual PR targets are set to hit 500,000 in 2025.

Increasing immigration levels have been accompanied by a surge in public debates about Canada’s ability to accommodate a growing number of immigrants. As the Canadian government pursues strategies to nurture both population and economic growth, the importance of having access to immigration data is becoming increasingly important. ICC’s Citizenship and Immigration Dashboard is a publicly-available tool that provides up-to-date access to the most recent trends. Here is the latest monthly analysis of new permanent resident admissions and new citizens in 2023.

IRCC Backlog

IRCC continues to face backlogs despite efforts to manage a growing number of applications. Overall, IRCC has 820,000 applications in backlog, comprising 429,000 temporary residence applications, 308,000 permanent residence applications, and 83,000 citizenship grant applications. In 2022, IRCC finalized 5.2 million applications. While the aim was to reduce the backlog, in June 2023, there was a slight increase in applications falling outside of service standards, from 800,000 to 820,000 applications.

An earlier analysis of our Citizenship and Immigration Dashboard predicted that the PSAC strike would contribute to a rise in the backlog of immigration applications, with Immigration Minister Sean Fraser acknowledging that approximately 100,000 decisions were not processed during the strike. While processing times have decreased for certain application paths, the processing of citizenship applications still takes about 19 months, and the processing time for permanent residence through the Federal Economic Class takes 20 to 24 months.

Citizenship versus Permanent Residence in 2023

The number of citizens and permanent residents admitted at the beginning of the year hit record highs but the trend saw a sharp decline in April 2023 (see our Citizenship and Immigration Dashboard for a visualization). Between March and April 2023, there was a 39% decrease in the number of permanent residents admitted in Canada and a 46% decrease in the number of new citizens admitted.