So the final preparations have been done, as Canada’s online citizenship application is open now. Finally, IRCC, from 11 August through its online portal will be accepting applications for citizenship for candidates over 18. The online portal can be found here. In order to use the citizenship portal online, the candidates must be:
- the primary applicant and not a family applicant
- over 18
- living in Canada
- a general immigrant and not a crown employee
- applying by themselves and not through a representative
Not only this, but the IRCC will also open this portal to those under 18 and family applicants soon. The crown employees and application through representatives will also be possible in 2022.
Benefits of online citizenship application of Canada
Undoubtedly, there are many benefits of applying for citizenship application online. Since Canada, decided to modernize its immigration system back in 2020, it has always been working on such projects. So, the major benefits of this will be:
- applying from home,
- speedy processing,
- online fee payment,
- applying, saving, and editing the data forms of your ease,
- uploading documents online,
- getting online payment receipts,
- access to a designated portal,
- fast receiving of notifications from the portal if there are required more documents.
Citizenship eligibility checking tool
In order to determine your eligibility for a Canadian citizenship application, you can check this tool.
Canada citizenship eligibility requirements
Since you have decided to apply for Canadian citizenship online, you must fulfill the following requirements:
Language skills
You must be fluent in any of the two official languages of Canada; English and French. If you’re 18 to 54 years of age on the day you sign your application, you must show that you can speak and listen at a specific level in one of these languages. In either case, you must show that you have a language proficiency level of CLB level 4.
There are certain tests for showing English language proficiency. For the English language it is (both in General format):
- CELPIP: Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program
- IELTS: Internationa English Language Testing System
For French approved tests are:
- TEF Canada: Test d’évaluation de français
- TCF Canada: Test de connaissance du français
Long stay Residence in Canada
You must prove that you have lived in Canada for 3 out of the last 5 years (1,095). You can also calculate here how many days have you lived in Canada.
Tax paid proofs
Taxpaying is a path to citizenship. This simply means you may need to file taxes in Canada for at least 3 years during the 5 years right before the date you apply. Tax-filing information can be gathered here.
Holding Permanent Residency
An important requirement for applying for citizenship in Canada is PRstatus. In other words, regardless of your age, if you’re applying for citizenship, you must have permanent resident (PR) status in Canada.
Passing a citizenship test
Applicants aged between 18 and 54 must pass the Canadian Citizenship test before they apply. The test is in English or French and its duration is 30 minutes. There are asked 20 questions with pass marks: 15 correct answers. The test format is multiple-choice and true or false questions based on the official citizenship study guide. The citizenship test covers history, geography, economy, government, laws, and symbols.
– files from visa-guru.com, canada.ca, and Umer Rasib