New Citizenship Bill Thursday Feb 6th

[sazid]

farrous13 and others;

Regarding the income tax requirement; does this mean that everyone in the family has to work, what about a mom staying home caring for very young children, does this mean that she won't be able to apply as she won't have any income to be taxed on?

You are suppose file taxes irrespective of wheather you work or not . I have been doing that for my spouse even though she is not working

 

[Felixo]

Wasn't the citizenship fee for an adult CAD 200 till now ?

 

[zardoz]

The details -> http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2014/2014-02-06a.asp
Also -> http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2014/2014-02-06.asp

What is changing -> http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2014/2014-02-06e.asp

 

[farrous13]

Yes $100 for processing and the other $100 refundable if citizenship is refused.

Wasn't the citizenship fee for an adult CAD 200 till now ?

 

[ramsfe]

It means everyone has to file taxes - not that everyone has to work. People who don't work can still file taxes.

Apparently, the new fees will start applying as of today

 

[farrous13]

Guys this is just a Proposal. DID NOT TAKE EFFECT!

 

[wadelmaki]

torontosm, scylla and sazid,

Thanks. I was just wondering filing an income tax with zero income, how that helps reduce the backlog. To me this shouldn't be a requirement rather it is should be the norm.

 

[ramsfe]

Guys this is just a Proposal. DID NOT TAKE EFFECT!

They have a little margin Farrous, the already have an agreement for the fees from the last budget!

 

[wadelmaki]

They have a little margin Farrous, the already have an agreement for the fees from the last budget!

That means they have a room to apply this law retroactively!

 

[on-hold]

The 'intent to reside' is meaningless -- one of the basic Charter rights is a right to mobility, and the Charter will trump this law. This is the most controversial part of this proposal, as another poster put elsewhere, imagine if citizenship applicants were asked to sign away:

- their right to a federal job
- their right to vote
- their right to worship a particular religion

Basically, you can't be asked to give up the rights of citizenship to gain citizenship; if it were enforceable, it would create a two-tiered Canadian citizenship. But it's not.

Aside from that, I think this is a great law (and I was going to apply for citizenship in November this year). It should speed things up, and it looks like they've actually tried to write it so it didn't inconvenience people who were counting on the previous timeline. 4/5 years would have been a jerk move.

 

[ramsfe]

There you go!

Not retroactive!

"all of those who now have applications in will not be affected by these new rules!"

 

[on-hold]

It's partly retroactive. The new system (one step instead of three) will be applied to existing applications; but existing applications will be judged by the previous eligibility rules.

 

[wadelmaki]

There you go!

Not retroactive!

"all of those who now how applications in will not be affected by these new rules!"

What about others who are applying today?

 

[torontosm]

The 'intent to reside' is meaningless -- one of the basic Charter rights is a right to mobility, and the Charter will trump this law. This is the most controversial part of this proposal, as another poster put elsewhere, imagine if citizenship applicants were asked to sign away:

- their right to a federal job
- their right to vote
- their right to worship a particular religion

Basically, you can't be asked to give up the rights of citizenship to gain citizenship; if it were enforceable, it would create a two-tiered Canadian citizenship. But it's not.

I disagree. Under the current system, a Canadian citizen residing overseas must demonstrate their intent to return and reside in Canada in order to sponsor their spouse for PR, which is not viewed as a violation of their fundamental right to mobility. How is this any different?

 

[on-hold]

Because they are applying for a benefit that is based on residency (or intent to reside) -- just like a Canadian has a right to mobility, but not a right to be covered by a provincial health insurance program (if they move away). There's a difference between a service and a right.