Breaking news! Canada's citizenship processing slowest within G-8 & G-20

[Flute]

I did some research on the internet to ascertain how G-8 and G-20 countries fare vis-à-vis Canada as far as processing turnaround time for citizenship applications are concerned. Please refer to below info for Canada's performance vis-à-vis G-8 countries:

Country Average time for processing citizenship application
UK 41 days
USA 90 days
Canada 2 to 3 years
France 24 months
Germany 12 weeks
Italy 1 year
Japan Official: 6 to 12 months; Unofficial: 18 to 24 months
Russia 6 to 12 months

Source of this data was either official immigration department website of respective countries or from blogs and discussion forums. It was hard to find data for certain countries because this is a non-issue in many countries, so they don't track or publish data. So I relied on anecdotal evidence obtained from blogs, expat forums and the like; because some data (howsoever rudimentary) is better than no data at all. The results are shocking ! Canada is the worst performer, taking an average of 2 to 3 years to complete the processing. Other G-8 countries take far less time. Further continuing this analysis; here some more info on G-20 countries (G-8 is a subset of G-20; so I am not repeating the info given above for G-8 countries, but consider it carried forward into the G-20 list below).

Argentina Average is 1 year, max time is 2 years
Brazil Unofficial: 1 to 2 years
China Not available
India Not available
Indonesia Unofficial: 3 ½ years
Mexico 1 year
Saudi Arabia Saudi citizenship is rarely granted to foreigners
South Africa 1 to 2 years
South Korea 2 unofficial sources:
(a) 7 months in one blog (b) Another website states that it takes 1 to 2 years
Turkey 2 unofficial sources: (a) 6 to 12 months (b) 15 months
Australia 80 calendar days

Methodology followed for G-20 countries was the same as that for G-8 countries. Now, this research could be refined further by emailing the immigration department of each country in the G-20 list and ascertaining from them, average processing time. In cases, where immigration department does not respond, you could poll immigration lawyers from that countries (atleast 3 lawyers) and take the average time as a reliable proxy in lieu of official confirmation from that country's immigration department. In my research for G-20 countries, I found that Indonesia takes the cake as the slowest country, taking three and a half years; followed by Canada, which takes 2 to 3 years on an average.

Friends - this is a national shame. How can Canada, which is a G-8 developed country (also a member of OECD) have the slowest processing time? After all, the immigration departments of UK, US and Australia also receive high volume of citizenship applications, and yet, they are able to demonstrate great efficiency, as shown by their turnaround time. So clearly, CIC has been grossly under-performing.

 

[scylla]

Is Canada still 2-3 years on average given how quickly some people are getting through now?

 

[CanadianCountry]

Yes. We still have to say 2-3 years, unless the CIC updates the avg processing times on their site.

Processing time on the site is still 24-36 months.

Is Canada still 2-3 years on average given how quickly some people are getting through now?

 

[djoli]

This is not only a National shame it is also a tragedy. Yes things have improved a bit in the last few months for new applicants but there are still awfully a lot people like myself that have been waiting for more than 42 months, incomprehensible. To even think that most third world countries perform better than Canada in the processing of citizenship applications is mind boggling.

 

[Flute]

Unfortunately, 2 to 3 years is the average time taken by CIC to process a citizenship application. As per anecdotal evidence; few applications are being processed under one year, but there is a huge number of RQ applications and other backlogged cases which remain pending around the 2 year or beyond mark. 246,702 applications are pending with CIC as of Nov 2014.

 

[CanadianCountry]

@scylla,

Current improvement you see is not nationwide. A lot of local offices are much slower. Also any slight improvement that is visible may just be an election gimmick to score brownie points with the immigrant community.

Is Canada still 2-3 years on average given how quickly some people are getting through now?

 

[ABscientist]

The praire offices sill take 17 months - 24 months on routine cases, so nothing has changed here. Its only Mississauga which is fast - and its possibly an election gimmick.

 

[Canuckguytorontotdot]

Such a disgrace for us we are doing like this

 

[51smoker]

that actually doesn't surprise me at all. Canada is almost the slowest in any aspect. The first and foremost thing that I learned in Canada is waiting and be more patient because nothing you can do.

 

[hoping_canadian]

Patience is a virtue ;D ;D

I have few friends from Montreal took less that a year , they even get the oath right after the test. Lucky huh!

 

[CanadianCountry]

Everybody should move to Mississauga or Montreal.

Key to winning election it seems is appeasing the Ontarians and Quebecers since they have more number of seats in the House of Commons.

Patience is a virtue ;D ;D

I have few friends from Montreal took less that a year , they even get the oath right after the test. Lucky huh!

 

[wilbur]

Well, you also need to consider the residence time you need to have before applying for Citizenship, Canada is not as bad as US for example... Anyway, it is what it is, just sit down and wait.

 

[djoli]

At least in the U.S they do not care about stupid stamps in your passport, they do not care about spending some vacation time abroad, they do not care about if you have visa or residency in another country, and your application is processed within 90 days.
People like myself have been waiting for 42 months and they still have not reviewed my RQ. In your case it has not even been a year since you applied so evidently your patience cannot be the same as for some of us.

Well, you also need to consider the residence time you need to have before applying for Citizenship, Canada is not as bad as US for example... Anyway, it is what it is, just sit down and wait.

 

[CanadianCountry]

@djoli,
Who knows maybe @wilbur has the patience to wait for 42 months or even 60 months.

@wilbur,
First of all, to point about slower processing times is not like criticizing Canada or the CIC. But to shed light on the truth behind recent paid advertisements on social media that CIC has fastened the process. It's too early to advertise unless they can say that average processing times have reduced to under 1 year and post that on their website. The truth is average processing times is still 24/36 months.

I hope you don't encourage FALSE advertising.

At least in the U.S they do not care about stupid stamps in your passport, they do not care about spending some vacation time abroad, they do not care about if you have visa or residency in another country, and your application is processed within 90 days.
People like myself have been waiting for 42 months and they still have not reviewed my RQ. In your case it has not even been a year since you applied so evidently your patience cannot be the same as for some of us.

 

[Flute]

Today, I spoke to the constituency assistant of a Liberal MP in my area. I told her about the research that I did and what I discovered. To my argument that many G-8 countries such as Australia, US and UK are processing citizenship applications much faster, she said that all those countries have bigger budgets than Canada. So they are able to process faster. This is true to some extent. You see, immigration is a federal subject as per Canada's constitution. So only the federal govt has the power to take any action. The conservative government has a few electoral considerations, which are import for appeasement of its voter base. Examples of such electoral considerations are - tough on crime, tough on fraud, tough on immigrants, fiscal prudence (ie spend less), social conservatism (eg; anti-abortion, no burqa/niqab/hijab, opposition to homosexuality) etc.

Its clearly a case of inadequate resource allocation at CIC. If the conservative govt wishes, it can make this whole problem go away in no time by hiring extra people and clearing the backlog. But making immigrants wait for a long time, dove-tails neatly into their narrative that they are making citizenship more valuable by making immigrants wait for a long time, thereby making them realize the true value of their "hard-earned" citizenship. Long wait times make the conservative voter base happy, because it ties into the party's narrative that they are being tough on immigrants and only the most deserving are being admitted into Canada's fold. RQs, excessive scrutiny, unreasonable amount of paper-work etc ties into the narrative that the party is being tough on fraud. And lower allocation of resources for CIC ties into the fiscal prudence narrative, thereby sending the signal that govt spending has been lowered overall, and consequently taxes have been reduced. So there are larger forces at play here, that are influencing the plight of all immigrants. Now, I am not trying to take any sides here, but just stating the obvious facts.

Across Canada, there is a backlash against immigrants. Many long time Canadian citizens of European ancestry feel overwhelmed and over-run by the immigrant community. They have a sense of nostalgia for the bygone era, a longing for what might have been. In Toronto, over 60% of the population is foreign born and this has changed the contours of their idea of Canada, although immigrants (most of whom belong to the minority community) constitute only 20% of the overall population across Canada. They (non-immigrants) find it difficult to come to terms with this altered reality. But friends, immigration is a necessary evil. Decades of low birth rates have resulted in lower consumer spending which in turn caused huge budget deficits. Lower consumer spending also resulted in fewer jobs which in turn means lower tax collection for the govt. So its a self perpetuating cycle. To end that cycle, immigration is a necessity. It is mainly due to immigrants that Canada withstood the 2008 recession, because all of us propped up the housing market and increased labour productivity and consumer spending, which in turn boosted tax collections. But the Conservative Party wants to tap into the anti-immigrant resentment. This has caused them to reverse decades old statutes, policies and social benefits. But even they realize that immigration is good for business, and business houses are generally very supportive of economic immigration. Conservative party is known to be pro-business. So there is a dichotomy here - of wanting to be tough on immigrants and thereby pander to their voter base. But yet, wanting to be pro-business, and thereby wanting to continue having an influx of immigrants. Moreover, immigration has counter-acted against the negative effects of Canada's demographic trends, thereby propping up the economy, which in turn makes the Conservative party look good (because they control the federal govt). So the middle path is to let the immigrants in since Canada needs them, but not treat them nicely, which placates the conservative voter base. A suitable analogy is that on a plantation, you need slaves since the work needs to get done, but the owners are not under any obligation to treat them nicely.

The 2 to 3 year wait times for processing citizenship applications, my friends, is by design, and not a mere coincidence. Once into the country, you are trapped since you are not going to abandon your citizenship applications and flee Canada. So you are held captive, and your life is held to ransom. This makes us (PRs wanting citizenship) a constituency that is lower on the list of the party's priorities. The money saved by not deploying adequate resources is better spent elsewhere or even helpful in lowering taxes for Canadian citizens, thereby differentiating them from previous Liberal governments. But the conservative govt is grossly mis-calculating the fall out from these inexplicable wait times. Following are the likely consequences:

1. There are over 300,000 of us, waiting for our turn for what should be legitimately ours within a reasonable time-frame. These immigrants will surely go to their citizen friends within their respective communities, relatives, co-workers etc and will narrate their story. That surely makes the conservative govt look inefficient and ineffective, which is bad publicity. This will translate into the conservative party losing immigrant votes in several ridings.

2. These 300,000 people and others who got their citizenship very late, will go and inform all their friends, relatives and other acquaintances that acquiring Canadian citizenship involves a lot of red tape and that they better try their luck with other countries such as Australia, UK, NZ etc. So this will have the effect of driving prospective applicants away from Canada, which is a loss to this country. Now, that is not a positive outcome for the Conservative govt.

3. CIC is a public facing department. The experience of immigrants with CIC will often act as a proxy for their perception of the overall functioning of the Canadian government. Under performance on the part of CIC causes the immigrant community to lose faith in the effectiveness of their govt and it results in loss of public trust. Loss of trust in the govt can often have unintended consequences, as world history has taught us.

So its in the conservative govt's own interest to fix the under-performance of CIC. There is a part of Canada that deeply impresses me. But then there is also a side of this country that evokes deep fear. As a keen student of history, I am reminded of events leading upto the Nazi rule in Germany. Back then, right after the depression, right wing elements took advantage of a downturn in the economic conditions, and pinned the blame on jews, who were the minority there. That kind of rhetoric brought them into power, enabling them to form the government. A series of subsequent events led to World War II. I often fear that the same will happen in Canada. If the economy deteriorates any time in the future, right wing elements will stoke the anti-immigrant sentiments within the majority population and tell them that "immigrants have taken away your jobs, they are responsible for your current plight". That in turn could cause riots and social anarchy, causing immigrants to flee Canada in droves, mostly to their home countries. Those who are left behind will have to put up with the social injustice. Often, many immigrants don't have the luxury of returning to their home countries. In such a case, they might have to seek refuge in other countries. Many countries don't allow dual citizenship, which means that if we acquire Canadian citizenship, we forfeit our rights to the citizenship of our home country, thereby burning our bridges and preventing an escape route, should we need it in future. So giving up the citizenship of our home country and placing our trust in Canada is a very big step that could have personal consequences. Most of the time, immigrants are perceived by host country residents as needy, hungry, greedy, desperate, helpless and opportunistic. The sacrifices that we made in terms of giving up our home-country citizenships and re-aligning our personal loyalties to our adopted countries; the discrimination and exploitation that we confront in the workplace and society; the economic/personal/social hardships that we face - all of this is discounted by host country residents. In spite of all these odds, immigrants continue to strive and excel in every endeavour. If it were not for the artificial barriers enacted, immigrants would have broken the glass ceiling in many spheres and you would see an immigrant at the top of the pyramid. So today, I salute the indomitable spirit of all immigrants, who have braved great adversity, and have chosen to venture into this country, making it a vibrant, diverse and a very interesting place to live in. Their sense of industry and achievement has brought them this far, and I am sure, in no time, they will conquer new bastions. Long live, all immigrants !