Canadian Citizen

Benefits of Being a Canadian Citizen

According to therichest.com, a reliable website, which assessed countries members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) to select the best place to live in 2014, Canada is the third best country among them. With a long history about how peaceful this country is and how kind and nice the Canadian are, it is no surprise when therichest.com reveals that there is 81% of people feel safe walking alone at night and only 1.3% rate of criminal risk compare to 4% of the OCED statistic.

Eligibility Criteria to Become a Canadian Citizen

Age

Applying for yourself:

• you must be 18 years of age

Applying for a child under 18 years of age:

• must be the child’s parent, adoptive parent or legal guardian
• the child must be a permanent resident
• one parent must be a Canadian Citizen or apply to become a Canada Citizen at the same time ( including adoptive parent)

Permanent Resident Status

• In case, your permanent resident status is expired, you are still able to apply for Canadian Citizen if you don’t have your permanent resident card

Time You Have Lived In Canada

1. Must be a permanent resident at least 2 years before applying
2. Living in Canada in total at least 3 years (1,095 days) in the past 4 years immediately before applying ( not apply to child under 18 years old)

How to calculate:

• Before becoming a permanent resident, 1 day is counted as 0.5 day
• After becoming a permanent resident, 1 day is counted as 1 day

Language Ability

• These requirements only apply to people from 18 to 54 years old to prove that you have adequate knowledge of English or French

To prove it you must provide with one of these language proofs:

1. Result of an third party test
2. Proof of completion of a secondary or post-secondary program conducted in French or English, either in Canada or abroad
3. Proof of achieving Canadian Language Benchmark/Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (CLB/NCLC) level 4 or higher in speaking and listening skills through certain government-funded language training programs

There are few additional and few different requirements among provinces. There are also some priorities for people with disability. So, check the cic.gc.ca for more details you may need.

Criminal History

• You are prohibited from applying for Canadian citizen if you have been convicted of a criminal offence within 3 years before applying.

Citizenship Test

• These requirements only apply to people from 18 to 54 years old to write a test. Its purpose is to prove your adequate knowledge of Canada and the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship.

If you satisfy all critical conditions, you may move on to the next level which is how the legal procedure works such as how to apply, online or by mail; which documents you need; how long to process your application; how to know your application is approved or rejected. It is important for you to cover all aspects in advance before taking specific step.

Complete the Form

You can find the form from cic.gc.ca website. If you are older than 18 years old, the application you will need is called Application for Canadian Citizenship-Adult. If you are applying for your child you will need Application for Citizenship-Minors. This level has 3 steps:

1. Fill out the form

• Referring to the instruction guide.
• All photos must be clear and legible
• All information must be reliable. Do not make up stories.
• Remember to not leave any gaps. If your application is not completed because of missing information, it will be send back to you and you will have to pay the fee again.

1. Pay the fee

• You can pay online if you created a bank account already. Your fee for adult includes:

• Citizenship processing fee for adult grant application: $530
• The Right of Citizenship fee: $100

1. Mail the application to Case Processing Centre: Sydney, Nova Scotia

How Long Do I Have To Wait?

It takes 5 months to process your application, starting from receipt of your application to the final decision.

In case you reside outside Canada or your children live outside, you may have to wait for 11 to 13 months. If over 5 months, you have not received any feedback from government, you should contact the Call Centre to check your application. It is better for you to open an online account on government website to check any announcement every month.

Contact Akrami & Associates

If you like to obtain your Canadian citizenship and need help filing your application, feel free to contact us and one of representative will be glad to assist you with your matter.

With Akrami and Associates there is always a way!!