Refugees in Africa wait longer than those in other regions to be resettled to Canada.
This longstanding problem reflects continued systemic racism. In 2023 the Auditor General of Canada found that there were larger backlogs and longer processing times for refugee applicants in Africa because these offices were often under-resourced.
Two years later, despite efforts from IRCC to address the delays, visa offices in Africa still have the slowest processing times for resettled refugees.
The Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) released a report in December 2025 documenting these differences for refugees in Africa seeking refuge in Canada. CCR is actively seeking ways to raise awareness of this inequity and is looking for ideas and approaches on how to change this reality and bring processing times in Africa in line with other parts of the world.
Please review the links below for more information.
Processing of Refugees in Africa