According to recent reports from Postmedia News, the Canadian government is going to be allowing citizenship applicants who fail the citizenship test to re-take the test within four to eight weeks. However, if the applicant fails the test a second time, they will have to be assessed by a citizenship judge and this may take some time. 
It’s also been determined that the citizenship test had been made to be more difficult in recent years, with more applicants failing than ever before.
Currently, when someone fails a citizenship test they have to meet with a citizenship judge before they can become a Canadian citizen, and they will have to demonstrate a number of different things to the judge.
More details on the process are expected to be released next week.
Should applicants for citizenship be allowed to re-take the test?
Our own immigration lawyer Michael Niren was quoted in the Yahoo News article, saying that the new policy is a great idea.
“Many qualified applicants may just have test anxiety the first time around and fail not because they do not have sufficient knowledge of Canada but rather because they have issues taking tests under pressure,” he said. “Allowing applicants to have a second try will hopefully result in more worthy candidates for Citizenship being approved. If they don’t become citizens, they will be subject to residency restrictions, they can’t vote and could be deported at any time should they be convicted of certain criminal offenses.”
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.
