Mary Keyork gives Immigration Legislation companies for tons of of immigration purposes in all classes and has appeared earlier than all three divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board in addition to on the Federal Courtroom of Canada, efficiently representing shoppers in complicated immigration purposes and hearings.
Since 2014, there have been a number of important adjustments to the Citizenship Act and the necessities to changing into a Canadian citizen. At this time’s guidelines look rather a lot just like the earlier guidelines that have been in place earlier than 2014.
Present Eligibility Guidelines
Initially, what are the present citizenship guidelines? What standards does a Canadian everlasting resident want to fulfill to develop into a citizen and get a Canadian passport?
There are 5 major areas that you will want to fulfill, in addition to some standards that can inhibit you from making use of for citizenship, outlined within the desk beneath.
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We wish to be clear that the principles above apply to people making use of for a grant of citizenship, or who wish to develop into naturalized Canadian residents. Completely different guidelines apply to those that have a proper to citizenship and have to acquire proof of their citizenship. Look out for a future weblog for particulars on who can apply for proof of citizenship, or get in contact and ask our agency.
What Modified After 2014?
Earlier than 2014, the principles have been similar to these we’ve got immediately (which simply reverted again in 2017). From 2014 to 2017, the principle variations included: candidates wanted to show their intent to reside in Canada after changing into residents, candidates needed to have resided in Canada for 4 of six years earlier than making use of (in comparison with three out of 5 years presently), candidates wanted to indicate earnings tax returns for at the least 4 years out of these six years, candidates between 14-64 wanted to show language talents and take the citizenship take a look at (in comparison with 18-54 presently) and candidates weren’t capable of depend days in Canada as a short lived resident towards their bodily residence requirement.
What was the purpose of all of the backwards and forwards? Partly, a change in authorities noticed adjustments to many immigration insurance policies and legal guidelines, together with citizenship guidelines. In 2014, there was a big backlog of purposes within the citizenship processing queue – some candidates needed to wait 3 years or extra for a call. With the stricter guidelines that got here into impact in 2014, individuals needed to wait longer to develop into eligible and there was a dip within the variety of individuals making use of. This allowed the federal government to get some respiration room to work by means of the backlog of purposes.
In 2016, the federal government elevated the submitting charges for citizenship purposes which appeared to additionally decrease the variety of candidates making use of that yr. There was a 50% lower within the variety of purposes obtained from January to August 2016, in comparison with the identical interval in 2015 [Sources: 1 2]. This gave the federal government one other alternative to work by means of the backlog and lower down on utility processing occasions.
On the shut of 2017, we noticed citizenship utility processing occasions down to 1 yr, as printed on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) web site. We should wait and see how the newest rule change will affect processing occasions and if it is going to result in a marked improve.
On a optimistic observe, the rule adjustments have advantages for many who have been ready to use. Everlasting residents can apply as quickly as they accumulate three years of bodily residency throughout the 5 years earlier than they submit an utility (together with any qualifying time as a short lived resident).