How this data is collected
GovWait records the processing times that government agencies themselves publish, and keeps the history they overwrite. GovWait does not create estimates or crowd guesses. When an agency publishes a forward-looking projection, we preserve it verbatim and label it as a projection rather than mixing it with backward-looking statistics.
Method
- Primary sources only. We read the official pages and data files of the agencies listed below — never third-party summaries.
- Polite, honest collection. Our collector identifies itself with a bot User-Agent, obeys every robots.txt, waits at least 3 seconds between requests to the same host, enforces a hard per-host request cap, and checks active sources on a weekly schedule. If access closes, collection stops without disguising the bot or inventing a fresh timestamp.
- Values, not copied pages. We extract the published figure (e.g. “31 days”), the agency's own “last updated” date when one exists, the URL, and our retrieval timestamp. For an unstamped source, we clearly use the date a changed value was first observed. Explanatory text follows our editorial and AI-use policy.
- History is never edited. When an agency changes a figure, we add a new dated record; old records are kept verbatim. If a value looks wrong, the validation suite blocks publication rather than guessing.
- Absence is data. Where an agency publishes “no processing time available”, we say exactly that, dated.
Active and retained sources
| Agency | What we read | Collection status | License/terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK Visas and Immigration (Home Office) | UK visa processing times (inside UK) | Active | Open Government Licence v3.0 — reuse permitted with attribution. |
| HM Passport Office | UK passport processing time (HM Passport Office service statement) | Active | Open Government Licence v3.0 — reuse permitted with attribution. |
| UK Visas and Immigration (Home Office) | UK visa processing times (outside UK) | Active | Open Government Licence v3.0 — reuse permitted with attribution. |
| Immigration New Zealand (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) | New Zealand visa application processing times | Active | New Zealand Crown copyright; website content licensed CC BY 3.0 New Zealand with written attribution to the Crown and Ministry. |
| Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada | IRCC forward-looking processing times and in-queue estimates | Active | Government of Canada publication. GovWait stores extracted factual values with source attribution and does not reproduce page copy. Canada.ca general reproduction terms apply unless the originating resource expressly uses the Open Government Licence – Canada; review the current source terms before commercial redistribution. |
| Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada | IRCC processing times (non-country categories) | Active | Government of Canada publication. GovWait stores extracted factual values with source attribution and does not reproduce page copy. Canada.ca general reproduction terms apply unless the originating resource expressly uses the Open Government Licence – Canada; review the current source terms before commercial redistribution. |
| Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada / Service Canada | Canadian passport processing times | Active | Government of Canada publication. GovWait stores extracted factual values with source attribution and does not reproduce page copy. Canada.ca general reproduction terms apply unless the originating resource expressly uses the Open Government Licence – Canada; review the current source terms before commercial redistribution. |
| Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada | IRCC Check Processing Times data | Active | Government of Canada publication. GovWait stores extracted factual values with source attribution and does not reproduce page copy. Canada.ca general reproduction terms apply unless the originating resource expressly uses the Open Government Licence – Canada; review the current source terms before commercial redistribution. |
| Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) | Norway immigration waiting times | Unavailable since September 4, 2026; last verified September 1, 2026 | Official public information; no explicit page-reuse license was identified as of 2026-08-30. GovWait stores only extracted factual values with attribution and source links, not UDI page copy. |
Dataset generated October 6, 2026 · 2,316 routes · 8,660 observations · 7,285 current IRCC headline/cohort projection rows.
What the figures mean — and don't
Published processing times may be backward-looking statistics, forward-looking projections, percentile measures or service standards. Each page labels the method it uses. None is a promise about an individual application, and none is legal advice. For decisions that matter, verify against the linked official source — every page links its source for exactly that reason.
Reuse & attribution
Download the public records from the dataset page or use the JSON API and MCP server. GovWait's original organization, field definitions and explanatory metadata are available under CC BY 4.0 where GovWait owns the rights. Underlying government information is not relicensed by GovWait: attribute the originating agency and follow the source-specific reuse terms.
Corrections
Spotted a mismatch between a value here and the official page? The official page wins. Follow the corrections process or email [email protected] so we can investigate.
Who publishes this work
The GovWait Research Desk is the organizational byline for collection, validation and explanatory work. It is not a government office or licensed immigration practice.