All,
There has been some discussion about what we can do regarding the fact that many of us have been waiting disproportionately longer than others based on our application date. I have resigned myself to the fact that we cannot force CIC to process out PR applications any faster, and although their system is unfair, it's in place and does seem to be working, albeit slowly.
However, another impact of this is yet to come when we look to apply for Citizenship. The current rules state that you must have been in Canada for 3 years before you can apply for Citizenship, but 2 years of those must have been as a permanent resident! This means that people who arrived after us and had their PR processed in a matter of months are much further along on their road to citizenship. Through no fault of our own we are being asked to wait an extra 2 years before we can apply for citizenship despite the fact we have been living in Canada, becoming Canadianized and contributing to the economy and to the government with our taxes.
I am now seeking to rectify this with an amendment to the Citizenship Act that would recognise the time we have spent in Canada waiting for our PR applications to be processed as being the same as time spent after PR is granted. I hope that the result of this will be that for those of us who have been in Canada for over 3 years before being granted PR status, we will be eligible to apply for Citizenship as soon as our PR is granted.
If you would like to find out more about the campaign please look at the website http://citizenshipact.ca, join the facebook group linked on there and spread the word to other immigrants in the same situation.
Thanks
