The wait for a Canadian citizenship certificate has risen to 25 months, the worst figure so far this year.

The processing time for Canadian citizenship certificates skyrocketed to 25 months in August, more than double what it took just in May. Behind the backlog is a waiting list that now exceeds 121,000 people and a change in citizenship by descent rules that has multiplied the number of applications.

How quickly did the wait time increase?

The processing time increased from 12 months in May to 19 months in July and 25 months on August 10, according to data collected by CIC News. The waiting list grew by 22% between July and August alone, reaching approximately 121,800 people.

What is causing the delay?

Since December 15, 2025, Canada has eliminated the first-generation limit for citizenship by descent, opening the door for millions of people with Canadian ancestry, many of them in the United States, to apply for the certificate. In addition, in June, IRCC temporarily paused the final processing of new citizenship by descent applications while it reviewed previously issued certificates, creating two backlogs of applications simultaneously.

And what about the rest of the IRCC procedures?

Not everything was delayed equally. Work permits within Canada dropped to 117 days, one of the most consistent trends of the year, while record visitor extensions soared to 419 days, a jump of 103 days in just one week.

What changes for the person who is doing the procedure

For Latin American permanent residents who have already met the required years of physical residence to apply for citizenship, the message of this figure is simple: applying today won’t expedite the process, because IRCC calculates the waiting time based on the existing queue. It’s advisable to plan any procedure that depends on a Canadian passport (a trip, a job offer, a scholarship) with that two-year-plus timeframe in mind.

Written by Mauricio Navas Talero LJI Reporter