What are Different Processing Times for Immigration PR Visa?

As a land of opportunity, Canada provides a chance for many immigrants who wish to move to various Canadian provinces and settle there as a Permanent Resident (PR).

However, immigrants always feel anxious about the visa process and processing time of different steps in the application process. Well, let’s understand the time required and the steps involved in processing the application for PR to solve your worries.

Processing Time in Application Process for Canadian PR

The immigration process of  Canada is highly resilient and user- friendly, that makes the application process swift. Length of processing time changes with the type of application and under what category the applicant has applied.

Processing time commences from receipt of your completed application and decision given by the Canadian officials on your application. For example, if your application category and route is Economic Immigration- Provincial Nominee- Online application via Express Entry, the estimated processing time is six months.

Similarly, if your category and route of application is Family Sponsorship- Spouse or common-law partner who is living outside Canada- Fresh application, the estimated processing time is twelve months.

Before applying for the visa, you must be acquainted with the requisite processing time to complete your application so that you can make a robust plan accordingly.

Categories

There are five main categories under which you can apply for Canadian PR. These are-

• Express Entry (EE)
• Business Immigration
• Family Class Immigration
• Canadian Experience Class
• Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)

However, most of the applicants use the Express Entry route, which is considered the fastest process for obtaining Canadian PR. Let’s go through the different steps.

Step 1: Language Ability Test

It is one of the primary requirement to score well in the Comprehensive Ranking System(CRS) under specific Process. Therefore you need to take IELTS to prove your ability in the English language. As early as you qualify the test, you can move to further steps.

Step 2: Profile Creation

It is the next step in the application process. For this, you need to gather certain documents like your language test result, educational qualification proof, and others. If your educational background lies outside Canada, you may also have to produce an Educational Credential Assessment(ECA).

Step 3: Get an Invitation to Apply or ITA

Once you qualified under the CRS score and your application is approved, it will take only one to two weeks to receive an ITA. However, if your CRS is not competitive enough, you need to improve your CRS score first.

After receiving ITA, you must submit your completed application within 60 days.

Step 4: Medical and Criminal Background Check

While submitting your completed application, you also need to get a complete health checkup with a doctor-approved by a panel physician.

Depending upon the category under which you apply, your medical exam can be carried out before or after you apply. For example, under Express Entry, you can get it done upfront from a panel physician.

Immediately after your exam, the physician forwards the results to the IRCC and hands over a document as proof for you.

All spousal process applicants above eighteen years of age must submit Police certificates certifying criminal background check.

The Takeaway

The number of applications received decides how the processing time is calculated. The expected time to process around eighty per cent of received applications is another factor. Specific programs and application routes have a higher number of applications or are complex, leading to the higher processing time for them. Processing time is different from the service standards that are just goals to meet various programs and are not calculated like processing time.

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Shobha Vats

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