Canada visitor visa processing time now 44 days for those applying from Nigeria

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has released its latest round of processing times, noting that it takes 44 days to process a visitor visa from Nigeria.

This placed Nigeria ahead of Pakistan (48 days), but behind India (25 days), United States (20 days) and Phillipines (16 days).

This April 2026 IRCC processing times update also covers every major stream, from work permits and family sponsorship to economic immigration and temporary visas, and bases these estimates on real applicant outcomes rather than internal targets.

The department publishes the window within which 80 percent of applicants received a decision.

Individual outcomes can still vary widely based on security screening requirements, country of origin, document completeness, background verification timelines, and IRCC’s internal capacity.

Patterns which emerged

The update also notes that citizenship grants are now processing faster than at any point since late 2025, with the queue finally shrinking for the first time this year.

For the first time in 2026 the queue is actually contracting rather than growing.

The Quebec parents’ and grandparents’ sponsorship spike of 20 months is the single largest increase in any permanent residency category this year and will require close monitoring in the months ahead.

And visitor record extensions continue their alarming ascent, gaining 116 days in two months and now approaching the 325 day barrier.

Also, the CEC queue has ballooned by over 20,000 applicants since February despite steady processing times, pointing to an imbalance between incoming applications and completed decisions that could eventually push timelines higher.

Applicants residing outside Canada or the United States may face longer processing windows.

Below is a breakdown of processing time of some categories in the April 2026 release.

Citizenship grant

Citizenship grant reduced to 12 months. Citizenship grant queue shrank from 313,000 to 312,200 from February 2026.

Parents/grandparents (Quebec) visa processing time increased to 67 months from 47 months, making it a 20 months increase, while visa processing time for a spouse inside Canada (non-Quebec) increased from 21 months to 24 months. Visa processing time for a spouse inside Canada (Quebec) reduced to 31 months from 35 months

Atlantic Immigration Program increased to 40 months from 33 months. Federal Skilled Worker (FSWP) program visa processing time reduced to 6 months from 7 months. Canada’s Experience Class (CEC) queue size increased from 34,200 to 54,200, as addition of 20,400 applicants, while visa processing for work permits inside Canada reduced to 227 days from 246 days.