Vancouver's business licensing now takes one day instead of ten
The city cut average processing time by 90 percent through digital modernization, becoming Canada's first to issue licenses through BC Wallet.
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Vancouver has cut the average time to issue a business license from over 10 days to within one day — a drop of more than 90 percent — according to a staff report reviewed by city council Monday.
The acceleration came despite a 10 percent increase in overall license volume, from 52,000 to 57,000, over the same period. The city spent three years digitizing and modernizing the licensing process, allowing customers to instantly download licenses instead of waiting an average of 33 hours for manual processing.
The shift eliminated a previous 20-week backlog entirely, with applications now assigned in the same week they are received. Vancouver became the first municipality in Canada to issue digital business licenses through BC Wallet, which enables secure, real-time verification and automated service delivery.
The upgrade was highlighted in the "Final Report of the Mayor's Budget Task Force Implementation Oversight Committee," which identified the licensing overhaul as a key example of how the city is leveraging technology to optimize operations and improve customer satisfaction.
