How long does it take to get an SFCR food import licence in Canada? 

COMPLIANCE ALERT: CFIA recently updated its service standard from 15 business days to 70 business days. This is not 70 calendar days. At five business days per week, 70 business days is approximately 14 weeks or three and a half months. 

The current CFIA service standard for processing a new SFC licence application is 70 business days. This is a recent and significant change from the previous 15-business-day standard. If you or anyone advising you is working from the older number, your market entry timeline is built on inaccurate information. 

Seventy business days at five business days per week is 14 weeks, or approximately three and a half months from the date your complete application is submitted. This window applies to new licence applications. Amendments to existing licences are also subject to processing timelines and are queued in the order received. 

The CFIA does not prioritize applications submitted in response to an urgent shipment or a licensing error discovered at the border. All licence-related service requests are processed in the order in which they are received. This means the consequence of starting the process too late is measured in months, not days. 

For international food brands planning Canadian market entry, the licence application must be initiated before production planning, before shipment scheduling, and before retailer conversations reach the point of confirmed order quantities. The 70-business-day window needs to be the first line in your Canadian market entry timeline, not an afterthought. 

INSIDER INTELLIGENCE: This is one of the most consequential numbers in Canadian food import compliance right now. Most international food brands and new importers are still planning around 15 business days. The gap between expectation and reality is measured in stranded shipments and broken retailer relationships.