Canadian Citizenship

Obtaining Canadian Citizenship


Acquiring Canadian citizenship offers these advantages:

  • No more residency obligations
  • Issuance of a Canadian passport
  • Right to vote

Permanent residents are eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship after having lived in Canada for at least three years out of the four preceding the date of filing their citizenship application. The permanent resident must be at least 18-years-old and have been physically present in Canada for at least 1095 days out of the four years preceding the signing of the application (children don’t need to meet this requirement).

The applicant must also be able to communicate in either English or French. Those between 18 and 54, must take a citizenship test to examine the applicant’s understanding of voting rights and electoral procedures, civic rights and responsibilities, and Canadian history and geography.

Note: an otherwise eligible applicant might be refused Canadian citizenship on a variety of security and criminal background issues such as a recent conviction resulting from the commission of indictable offenses, the existence of a current charge for an indictable offense, or the issuance of a removal order.