Canada Timeline vs USA, UK, Australia, Newzealand.

[polarbear]

Processing times of Citizenship applications by country:

USA : 5 months

U.K: 6 months

Australia : 60 days, yes you heared it right 60 days ( Not Kidding!!!)

Newzealand : 4 months.

and now,

CANADA : 21 months without RQ
With RQ, only god knows ( may be 3 to 4 years)

Minister is closing more CIC offices accross the country.
What an intelligent & brilliant move from the minister.
CIC and management is totally messed up.
Who is gona question these guys???

God bless Canada

 

[ZYXWVU98]

it is a globalized society. but canada's citizenship requirement asks immigrants to sleep in canada in 3 out of 4 years (75% of the time). an immigrant working hard and paying taxes to canada every year cannot qualify for citizenship just because his job require frequent international travels.

some lazy immigrants, without working for a single day and just sleep in canada to sit on canada's social system and drain canadian's tax dollars will qualify for citizenship simply because he is in canada doing nothing every day. the citizenship requirement is just a joke.

 

[Leon]

If you really want to compare:

US: Harder to get a green card unless you win the lottery. Many skilled people are in the US on work permits for many years waiting to get a green card. Once you have the green card, you must live in the US for 5 years before you can apply for citizenship. You must only have been in the US for 30 months during that time. So.. faster citizenship processing cancelled out by the fast that getting a green card is harder and you must wait 5 years before you can apply.

UK: You must have been a resident for at least 5 years to apply for citizenship. During that time, you may only have been outside the UK for 450 days total. Out of the 12 months previous to applying, you can only have been outside for 90 days. You must intend to continue to live in the UK. Faster citizenship, yes but again, 5 years instead of 3.

Australia: You must have been living in Australia on a valid Australian visa for 4 years immediately before applying, including 1 year as a permanent resident, and you must not have been absent from Australia for more than 1 year during the 4 year period, including no more than 90 days in the year immediately before applying. Here 4 years instead of 3.

New Zealand: You must have been present in New Zealand; for at least 1,350 days with New Zealand residence during the 5 years immediately before you make your application; and for at least 240 days with New Zealand residence in each of those 5 years; and you must intend to continue to live there. Here 5 years again.

You must also take into account if they are posting the average processing times or like in the case of Canada, the time it takes to process 80% of all applications. I am also quite sure that the other countries have cases where your residency is in question and your application therefore takes longer.

 

[ajslp]

Leon is absolutely right! People always love to complain. Grass always looks greener on the other side.

I am not defending Canada's immigration system or CIC. But few things to ponder. If it were so bad in Canada, why would there be such a long queue? Why don't people go for other easier options?

There is a reason why 3 out of 4 years were put in place. It gives an opportunity of a new immigrant to assimilate into Canadian society. There are lots of people who just want to acquire a Canadian passport and then leave. 3 years rule is not going to completely change that. But still it is some an attempt rather than doing nothing at all. Some people might love the life style and country after staying here for 3 years. I understand ZYXWVU98 concerns that people with a job that requires frequent International travels are going to affect them. But I believe that is a tiny fraction. If they relax the law to accommodate those tiny fraction of people, many more will exploit that rule to their advantage.

All Canada is asking is to make a commitment for 3 years(likely +21 months). Is that too hard? I think it is one of the easiest requirements. There are countries in Asia and Europe, there is no way you can acquire a citizenship unless you have some blood connection. You could live in some country for generations and you still don't become a citizen. Some countries require you to be a resident for at least 10 or 15 years before they give you a citizenship. I read somewhere that in Gulf countries, you might buy house. But in reality you are only leasing it for maximum of 99 years(I might be wrong. I have not verified this information). It is almost impossible to get a citizenship.

I understand that the processing is bit higher compared to few countries mentioned. IMO, that is because, the overall rule is so easy in Canada, everybody wants to take advantage of it. When there is a high traffic volume, there is going to be a congestion.

 

[polarbear]

No matter whatever you guyzzz justify ...

i simply don't agree with the fact 2 to 3 years processing time

i am living in Canada for 5 years, payed taxes for the last 5 years, i am a genuine resident of 1095 days,

why should i suffer

with the number of applications in queue, backlogs and RQ'S, it looks like processing time is going to get even uglier in 2013

 

[Leon]

Why are you suffering? What are you suffering from? If your intention is to continue to live in Canada, you can accomplish that just fine with a PR. Short processing time for citizenship really only matters for the people who are intending to leave.

Back when the average processing time was a year, my own citizenship application ended up taking 2.5 years. I never got an RQ and have no idea why it took so long and I never asked. Did I suffer? Not at all. I was happily living in Canada with my PR the whole time.

IMO, if immigration must prioritize, they should focus on family applications because families are being torn apart because of long processing times. Citizenship however does not need to be a priority.

 

[polarbear]

mmmmmmmm.....different people have different priorities and commitments in their life ... !!!

there should be a reasonable processing time, people have commitments in their life,

thats what i am trying to say

anyways,

I agree with you, CIC should give importance to spouse and family applications.

 

[ZYXWVU98]

leon, you are not suffering any damage in the citizenship process does not mean other people are not suffering. everybody's situation could be different. unless you are in their shoes, you wouldn't understand it. In canada, some jobs or occupation (especially those require intensive travel to the US) simply need canadian citizenship. lengthy citizenship process could cost some immigrants jobs. in tough economy like today, it is not easy to jump into different occupation and does affect some people's career. it might be a small fraction to the whole immigrant population, but when it comes down to those specific individuals, it is 100%.

but at the end of the day, canadians could always argue that immigrants in canada are in a foreign country, it is them to choose to live in canada, it is indeed canada's mercy to allow them to stay here and canada as a country has full discretion to grant them citizenship or not. no rights to complain from those foreigners indeed. but that does not mean people are not suffering any damages in this slow citizenship process.

 

[Leon]

In canada, some jobs or occupation (especially those require intensive travel to the US) simply need canadian citizenship. lengthy citizenship process could cost some immigrants jobs. in tough economy like today, it is not easy to jump into different occupation and does affect some people's career. it might be a small fraction to the whole immigrant population, but when it comes down to those specific individuals, it is 100%.

I am not buying that explanation. If your occupation requires frequent travel to the US and you can not do this with only a PR, how did you manage to land this job and do this job for 3+ years with only a PR?

 

[ZYXWVU98]

this is a public forum. there is no need to dig into one individual's specific details. believe it or not is really up to you, i am not looking to win a debate. in the end there is no complaints from that individual. the canadian taxpayers will foot that individual's employment insurance, more than 16,000 dollars for ten months period, next year that he/she will also qualify for various child benefits which was not originally eligible for that person because of that person's previous job's income, that person will also probably receive GST rebate, it is all canadian taxpayer's money. that person's child before went to private school, because of loss of income, that child will go to public school, again it is canadian taxpayer's dollar.

the reason i call this whole process stupid is because the citizenship law only require 3 years canadian residency, not physical presence. and parliament on various occasions refuse to amend the law and change the language into physical presence. but some politicians like to use extreme examples to show that people are abusing the law. they convinced people that once that person is not in canada regardless of its reason, he is not a canadian resident. so under that theory, if i make a short vacation trip to the US, under canadian citizenship law, i am not a canadian resident. I wish canada revenue agency could buy that theory too and not requiring me to pay the taxes for that part of the year while i am out of the country. Canadian government is just choosing whatever part of the formular in favor of them.

 

[Leon]

in the end there is no complaints from that individual. the canadian taxpayers will foot that individual's employment insurance, more than 16,000 dollars for ten months period

1. You are saying that the person managed to do this job for 3+ years without a problem while they were a PR and suddenly they lost the job because their citizenship took too long.

2. Now this formerly well paid person can not find any job that pays more than $485 per week which is the maximum he will get from EI and therefore he will be content to try to support his family on that. By the way, EI is not paid from your taxes. You actually pay into EI every paycheck and are therefore insured.

3. Now you will probably tell me that when the person runs out of EI benefits, they will go and apply for welfare which truly is tax money and will try to support their family on that. I am not sure how much welfare is but surely a lot less than minimum wage in any province.

For real? If this is true, I am not sure I would consider this individual to be citizenship material, just because of their attitude. However, unfortunately attitude is not a requirement for citizenship

 

[mrnice]

totally agreeing with everything that Leon said........ one hundred precent!