A major Auditor General’s report released in March 2026 revealed that the RCMP is in a "chronic" staffing crisis that is directly impacting application processing.

    • The Delay: The RCMP missed its target processing times for 97% of all applications.
    • The Backlog: As of late 2025, the force was short by over 3,400 officers.
    • The Risk: Many applicants are dropping out of the process because it takes an average of 330 days to process certain files. If a scraper is waiting for an RCMP "clearance" to update, it could be looking at a year of silence.