Obtaining citizenship in Canada is already a long process. It is extremely worthwhile and a dream for many residents in Canada, but it is still a lengthy process regardless.
Canadian Citizenship Applications Take Longer To Be Processed
For one, a permanent resident already has to live in Canada for three years before applying for Canadian citizenship, and that is not taking into account the amount of time it may take to become a permanent resident in the first place.
Questionnaire Exceeds Expected Process Time
Now, disturbing information has been published by the Toronto Star, saying that the residence questionnaire the Canadian government introduced last May as an added security measure on Canadian citizenship application is taking far too long to process.
When it was introduced, it was supposed to take 15 months to process the four-page form, which includes things like pay stubs and tax returns. Now, applicants are finding that it is taking four more years to fully processing them.
Injustice for Applicants Meeting Citizenship Requirements
The additional processing time means that applicants who have already met the requirements for Canadian citizenship and have passed the citizenship test are finding out it is going to take another 48 months to process their citizenship applications because of this additional questionnaire.
There are approximately 11,000 applications that included the questionnaires, which were added to applications that were flagged for a further examination last year. About 300,000 permanent residents have Canadian citizenship applications in process, while the application denial rate has increased from 1.4 per cent to 3.5 per cent over the last five years.
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President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
