Delays in Obtaining Canadian Citizenship

Consistent with reports, immigrants are facing a coming up period of 15 to 19 months to obtain the approval for their Canadian citizenship applications. This is because the CIC office in Sydney which caters to these applications is finding it tough to arise with the hiked demand.

As said by CIC operations manager Paul Snow, it has been long-established that it is a matter of sufficient resources that are required to procedure these applications that are received by the office. The problem is that the department has limited quantity of resources but when it comes to an increased figure of applications, the area needs to be worked upon.

Snow go on to say that the figure of applications have hiked by an enormous limit since the year 2009. It started when changes were seeing in the Immigration Act. Formerly, all those applicants who were failing to complete their eligibility criteria are now finding it easier to meet the criteria for the same. Therefore, the department is facing problems to cater to the applications.

In addition to this, thousands and thousands of applications for PR Cards are due for regeneration, and the same liability is handled by the CIC office in Sydney.

In accordance with Edward Chung, president of the Korean Association of P.E.I., it is customary routine to face the processing of applications and so, the procedure should take countless time. He gave his example saying that only four months were taken when he applied for the same roughly thirty years ago. He went on to say that extra working staff should be hired when it comes to handling thousands of immigration applications coming in the office each year.

How To Get Canadian Citizenship

A permanent resident (landed immigrant) of Canada who has been living in Canada for at least of 3 years within the last 4 years can apply for Citizenship in Canada. Having Citizenship in Canada let you to submit an application for a Canadian passport, apply for definite jobs, run in elections, and vote in elections in Canada. Additionally, Canadian citizens do not need to be anxious regarding residency compulsion since Canadian citizens can live outside of Canada with no risk of the loss of their residency status in Canada.

To Get Citizenship in Canada you must be:
- At least 18 years of age.
- Be a permanent resident or landed immigrant of Canada.
- Have lived in Canada for an overall of 3 within the last 4 years
- Be able to converse in either English or French.
- Be able to pass the citizenship exam.

Note: Days spent in Canada previous to becoming a permanent resident can be counted as 1/2 days (up to 365 days) if they are within the 4 years previous to your application date.

You are not entitled to become a Canadian citizen, if you are:
- Under a removal order
- Presently being charged with an indictable criminal offence
- Have been offender of an indictable criminal offence in the past three years
- Have been in jail, on parole, or on trial in the past four years
- Are being investigated for or have been convicted of war crimes
- Had your Canadian citizenship cancelled in the last five years

Canadians are permissible to hold their foreign citizenship while keeping their Canadian citizenship (dual citizenship) depending on their country of residence.

Steps of Citizenship in Canada:
Apply for the Citizenship -> Citizenship Exam (If you are between 18 and 54 years old) -> Citizenship Ceremony

Documents Required for Citizenship of Canada

Certain standards have been set by the Canadian High Commission when it comes to looking for citizenship of Canada. It is compulsory that any immigrant applying for a Canadian citizenship should have been inherent in in Canada for a minimum of 1095 days out of the whole last 4 years.

With reference to the citizenship of Canada, it is essential to document that period of residence. This means that several forms of data have to be provided for the same. It would be easier for your application to be accepted if you contain one of the following documents.

1- A driving license
2- Provincial medical coverage
3- It would also be easier if you are either working or studying full-time in Canada.

4. Passports:
Alternatively, if you travel repeatedly on work purposes, it becomes vital to document the particular number of days that an immigrant has been located in in Canada. In this case, it is essential that you have your passports integral to be produced when asked for. This also includes all your expired passports in the last four years also. If you are not capable of producing a passport for an appropriate period of time, it might impact harmfully on your application.

5. Tax Returns and a Reference Letter from employer:
Tax returns are an additional aspect that proves your residence in Canada. With this is an indication letter from the Canadian employer which verifies you as a full time employee in that particular organization.

6. Purchases from a Credit Card:
A credit card receipt is an added document that could be asked for as a reference. This would show that you made purchases in a local store and that you were actually present in the country.

Though, these cannot be considered as the most essential of all the documents but would surely prove to fill in where the documents have been found to be lacking. Then again, it cannot be said whether it would be sufficient for the immigration official or the citizenship judge.

With the intention of checking the eligibility of the candidate, there are several tests approved by the citizenship officials. Nevertheless, a final result could only be known when the judge announces. Therefore, it is always better to maintain all the documentary proofs so as to get your citizenship hassle free.