You gave biometrics. What happens now.
Biometrics is one of the few stages that reliably gets a letter, so it is where most people start counting. Here is what usually comes after it, and how long those stages have taken applicants who reported their own dates.
The honest shape of the answer
Nothing on this page says “N days after biometrics”, because that is not a thing this data can measure. Giving biometrics does not release the next stage — for spousal sponsorship the remaining steps largely run in parallel off the application date, not in a queue behind each other. What biometrics reliably tells you is where you are in the wait.
For spousal applicants, biometrics has typically landed 63 days after submitting, with the middle of the distribution between 52 and 85. So if yours has just arrived, the figures below tell you what the rest of the wait has looked like from that point on.
Every number below is measured from the day the application was submitted, not from biometrics day. Subtract your own submission-to-biometrics gap to see roughly what is left.
Spousal sponsorship — outland
Stages that come after biometrics, measured from submission.
Median days from submission, with the 10th–90th percentile range beside it: eight in ten reported cases landed inside that span. n is the weighted number of cases behind the row — nothing is published below 25.
Spousal sponsorship — inland
Median days from submission, with the 10th–90th percentile range beside it: eight in ten reported cases landed inside that span. n is the weighted number of cases behind the row — nothing is published below 25.
Express Entry
Most Express Entry applicants gave biometrics during an earlier permit, so it is not a measured stage in this stream at all. These are the stages that follow it in the process, measured from submission.
Median days from submission, with the 10th–90th percentile range beside it: eight in ten reported cases landed inside that span. n is the weighted number of cases behind the row — nothing is published below 25.
What the stages after biometrics actually are
Sponsor eligibility. For spousal cases, IRCC decides whether the sponsor qualifies. It can be approved long before anything else moves.
Medical passed. The medical exam is usually done up front and passed quietly; many applicants never see a notification and only learn it cleared later.
Background check complete. Security and criminality checks. This is the stage that most often explains a long silence, and the one IRCC says least about.
Passport request. The passport request — for applicants abroad, the signal that a decision has effectively been made.
eCoPR. For applicants finalised in Canada, the electronic confirmation of permanent residence.
Stages marked never scored in the tables above are ones the model has never been able to check against real outcomes — the estimate stands, but its early edge is the part to distrust. Which stages those are, and why, is on the methodology page.
Estimates only — not immigration advice. These dates are modelled from timelines that other applicants reported, and describe a range of likely outcomes, not a commitment. Your case can differ substantially. Not affiliated with or endorsed by IRCC. Please do not make irreversible plans — flights, resignations, leases — on a predicted date.
Track your own application