Citizenship
1) Citizenship : Canada is rated one of the best citizenships in the top 5 countries worldwide. Canada has been named as the best country in the world as of 2021. A person is eligible to apply for Canadian Citizenship after living for 3 out of 5 years in Canada.
Difference between permanent residency and Canadian citizenship : Being a permanent resident of Canada, you can live in Canada for an indefinite amount of time, however, you still hold the citizenship of another country. In certain scenarios (eg. Criminality), a person can be deported to their country of citizenship.
Benefits of becoming a Canadian Citizen : After becoming a Canadian citizenship, you are definitely able to avail a few more benefits than a permanent resident would and are listed below:
- You get the right to vote in elections
- You get to be eligible for certain job postings, especially in the government departments, campaign managers etc (the ones that require high level of security clearance)
- You get to be able to travel almost 135 countries without a visa on a Canadian passport.
- You would have to renew your passport only once in 10 years when the permanent resident card needs to be renewed every 5 years.
- If the country of your citizenship allows, Canada allows you to hold dual citizenship. The benefit of this would be that you could live and work in both the countries freely, could own property in any country and could travel back and forth easily.
- You do not need to worry about losing your Canadian Citizenship even if you’re convicted of a crime that would normally lead to deportation for a Permanent Resident.
How much does it cost to apply for Canadian Citizenship : $630 for an adult and $100 for a minor (if the application is submitted before they turn the age of 18).
Processing Time : Usually the processing time of the citizenship application is 12 months however due to the backlogs of the COVID-19, it is taking longer than expected (27 months as per the IRCC website).
Note: After applying for the citizenship, you are then sent the request to take the
Citizenship test. In order to pass that exam, you would have to get 15 questions correct
out of 20.
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