Improving
the Citizenship Application Process
Ottawa,
June 3, 2013 — Citizenship
applicants who fail their first citizenship test will now have the
opportunity to rewrite the test rather than wait for an appointment with a
citizenship judge, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister
Jason Kenney announced today.
“The
Government of Canada remains committed to maintaining Canada’s tradition
of high numbers of permanent residents taking up full citizenship, and
this is one of many recent improvements that have been made to the
citizenship process to ensure the timely welcoming of new citizens,”
said Minister Kenney. “Since 2006, Canada has welcomed the highest
sustained levels of immigration in Canadian history. Accordingly, the
demand for citizenship has increased by 30 percent, with Canada averaging
approximately 200,000 new citizens each year.”
In
the past, individuals who failed their knowledge test would be required to
wait a number of months for an appointment with a citizenship judge, who
would make a final decision on their case. However, as of today,
applicants will be informed of their results immediately following their
test. Individuals who fail but have met all other criteria will be
provided with a date to rewrite the test a few weeks later. Those who pass
their test will be scheduled for a citizenship ceremony.
Moreover,
individuals who are currently waiting to see a citizenship judge because
they had previously failed the test will also be invited to rewrite the
test.
Minister
Kenney also announced that all family members listed on one application no
longer need to be approved at the same time. Previously, there were cases
where all family members who had applied together were held up in
obtaining citizenship when only one family member had failed a knowledge
or language test. Successful applicants will now be informed that they may
have their applications processed independent of other family members. As
such, fewer people will need to wait for their applications to be
processed and can proceed directly to being granted citizenship.
These
changes means shorter wait times for some citizenship applicants.
In
addition, with the increase in citizenship judges, there will be more
decisions on citizenship applications and more citizenship ceremonies.
Eight additional citizenship judges
have been appointed since the beginning of this year.
Under
Economic Action Plan 2013, the Government of Canada announced an
investment of $44 million over two years to put toward improving
citizenship processing. These funds will enable CIC to better tackle the
growing demand for citizenship grants and proofs, and assist in processing
the existing inventory.
“We
know that newcomers look forward to acquiring their Canadian citizenship
and we are committed to helping qualified applicants acquire this
privilege in a timely manner,” said Minister Kenney. “Together,
these measures combined will result in faster processing of citizenship
applications.”
For
information on determining if you are eligible to apply for a grant of
Citizenship, please visit: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/become-eligibility.asp.
