Canada Citizenship

2021 How to apply for Canada Citizenship

Index

Intro

After immigrating to Canada, applicants can apply to be a permanent resident of Canada. Permanent residents are not Canadian citizens and do not have Canadian citizenship.
Canadian citizens and permanent residents both have the right to enter Canada, study, work and seek a livelihood in any province or territory of Canada. In most fields (such as education, healthcare, taxation, work, etc.), there is no difference between permanent residents and citizens.

Also check：2021 Canada Immigration or Citizenship Application Processing Time Canada

Canadian Citizen vs Permanent Resident

The main differences between Canadian permanent residents and Canadian citizens:

1. Permanent residents need to meet residency obligations. If they do not live in Canada for a long time, they may lose their permanent resident status. Canadian citizens do not have to worry about this.
2. Permanent residents may lose their permanent resident status due to serious crimes, false statements submitted to IRCC, etc. Citizens can only lose their citizenship status due to false statements submitted when applying for immigration or naturalization in the past, and the procedure is much more complicated than that of for permanent residents.
3. Permanent residents cannot apply for a Canadian passport. Canadian passports are exempt from visas to more than 170 countries around the world
4. Permanent residents have no right to vote, nor can they hold certain government positions

Requirements

Canada Citizenship Requirements

To apply for Canadian citizenship, the applicant must be a permanent resident of Canada (often referred to as PR), meet all the obligations of a permanent resident, and the following requirements as a permanent resident:

• Have lived in Canada for no less than 1095 days/3 years in the 5 years prior to submitting the application
• In the 5 years prior to the submission of the application, the applicant has filed a tax declaration under the Income and Taxation Actthere for at least 3 fiscal years,. Tax declaration does not mean that the applicant need to have income., and citizenship application does not require the applicant’s income status.
• If the applicant is 18-54 years old, he needs to have sufficient ability to use of English or French, must be able to prove that he has sufficient knowledge of Canada and the obligations and rights of being a Canadian citizens via English or French
• Reach the level of CLB4 in the language requirement, which is equivalent to 4.5 points for IELTS listening, 4 points for speaking, which means the user need to be able to carry out simple daily conversations and use basic grammar
• Has not been issued deportation order etc.

Permanent residents under the age of 18 can directly apply to become Canadian citizens and is not required to meet the number of days of residence. The requirements for citizenship application are:

• A parent helped the child submit an application
• At least one parent is a Canadian citizen, or is about to become a Canadian citizen with the child

Calculating Physical Presence

Physical Presence Calculation

In the 5 years before submitting the application, each day before the applicant becomes a permanent resident can be converted into half a day as the time to live in Canada provided the applicant is living legally, that is, have temporary resident status (visitors, students, staff) or is a protected person.

After becoming a permanent resident, every day of residence is counted as one day.

Submission

Canadian Naturalization Procedures

1. Submit the application to become a Canadian citizen
2. Receive examination notice, written test and interview
3. Receive oath notice
4. Take the oath at the designated time and place, and become Canadian citizen on the same date
5. You can apply for a Canadian passport immediately after the naturalization oath

Documents Checklist

Canadian Citizenship Documents Checklist

• CIT 0007e Official Documents Checklist
• CIT 0002e Application Form
• CIT 0407e Physical Presence Calculation Form
• Photo（Click to see IRCC Photo Requirements）
• Passport
• Language Test Transcript (IELTS, CELPIP etc.), or your Degrees/Graduation Certificate from a English/French-speaking institution
• ID (PR card, driver’s license, NEXUS etc.）
• Police Certificates (for any countries you have spent longer than 183 days other than Canada in the past 4 years)
• Change of name, birthday, or gender application form (if applicable)

Q&A

Fees

Canada Citizenship Application Service

• The service fee does not include the fees charged by the government, translation fees, notarization fees, courier fees and other third-party fees