How often does security screening actually block an Iranian applicant?
Short answer: Almost never. Against the thousands referred each year, the number of Iranian applicants who receive a non-favourable screening outcome is in the single digits to low tens. In 2023, for example, 6,585 temporary residence applicants were referred and 10 came back non-favourable, a rate near 0.15 percent. The pattern holds across every year and both streams.
| Year | Temporary residence non-favourable | Permanent residence non-favourable |
|---|
| 2019 | 30 | 10 |
| 2020 | 5 | 5 |
| 2021 | 15 | 10 |
|
These figures exclude a few tiny categories that IRCC reports as fewer than five applicants per year, such as separate human-rights and organized-crime referral streams. The takeaway does not change: for the overwhelming majority, screening is a delay, not a wall.
Why are Iranian applicants referred for security screening so often?
Short answer: Because of category, not individual suspicion. Several common features of Iranian profiles trigger a mandatory check: compulsory military service, study or work in fields Canada treats as sensitive such as nuclear science, advanced engineering, and the physical sciences, and any possible connection to entities Canada has sanctioned. None of these means an officer believes you are a security risk. It means a rule requires the file to be reviewed before approval. A talented engineer and a conscript who served two mandatory years can both land in the same queue for reasons that have nothing to do with wrongdoing.
How long does security screening take?
Short answer: Longer than anyone wants, and it is the main reason Iranian files blow past the standard timelines. A check can add several months, and in complex cases it stretches past a year. The application is not refused during this time; it is paused while the review runs. That distinction matters, because applicants who panic and abandon a file, or who switch streams midway, often restart a clock that was already most of the way finished. Track your file against the published IRCC processing times, and treat screening as a known stage rather than a sign of trouble.
