Applying for Canadian citizenship is the final step in securing a Canadian passport. Every year, more than 250,000 people from all over the world apply for Canadian citizenship. Here is what you need to know about the application process.
To be eligible for citizenship, candidates must:
Remember all documents must be translated by a certified Canadian translator into either English or French depending on your area of residency.
The processing time for an application is 12 months. You can check your application status online . Eligible applicants will be invited to a citizenship test, an interview and, if required, a hearing.
This test is solely required of people for people aged 18 to 54 and is essentially a short multiple-choice test (in English or French) about Canada. It is 30 minutes long and contains 20 questions about Canada’s history, geography, political system and national symbols, 15 of which must be answered correctly in order to pass. The test is usually written but may also be oral.
You must bring:
To prepare, you can take citizenship classes (which are generally free) and/or download a study guide and revise from it by yourself.
The interview is conducted by a citizenship official, usually, directly after the citizenship test.
During, the official will give you your citizenship test results, verify your English or French skills, your documentation and application and ask you any questions they may have regarding them.
Important: to become a citizen of Quebec, citizenship tests (both spoken and written) must be taken in French.
The hearing will be conducted by a citizenship official, lasts between 30 and 90 minutes and is conducted either in person or via videoconference.
If you should not pass these stages, you may reapply and if applying with family, you can request their applications to be paused while you do this.
As mentioned above, if you pass this application process, you will be invited to a citizenship ceremony. You must bring the same documentation to this ceremony as you did the citizenship test, except, as well as your Ceremony Notice and the Permission Release and Consent form included with it.
During the ceremony you swear the oath of citizenship (you may bring a holy book if you wish to use one), get your citizenship certificate, sign an oath or affirmation of citizenship form and sing the national anthem.