New Rules for Citizenship

[links18]

But becoming a permanent resident of Canada was an informed choice for the current PRs.
As of today, the citizenship rule says, "As a rule, you must be a PR of Canada for three years and actually residing in Canada in the year immediately preceding your application for Canadian citizenship.". Also, the pre-PR one year count was also assumed before becoming a PR.
It can be validly argued that if the PR applicants were informed otherwise, the choice could be a different one.

I agree with you on a policy level, but legally there isn't much ground to stand on here. You'd have to hope this part of the bill gets changed by amendment through political lobbying.

 

[txboyscout]

I dont think existing PR will be exempted from the proposed bill. In fact, we are not sure if this law will pass in the house.

There are 5 stages bill has to pass through before becoming law.

The committee stage is the harder because they will study each clause of the law. Everybody should relax 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

While I appreciate your optimism, let's be real here. There is no chance in he** that this bill does not pass in either the house or the senate. The Cons have a majority and as anal as Harper is, he will strangle any CONS MP who votes against this bill with his bare hands

 

[Mr. Wannabee]

Harper will lose most Canadian of Philippine descent votes especially those that came under TFW, they have been consistent loyal PC voters.

The "intent to reside" declaration and revoking citizenship of Canadian with dual nationality I think create 2 class of citizen.....that violates Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees that every Canadian is entitled to equal treatment under the law. A Canadian by birth Mr. "Paddy Macpherson" caught selling secret to Russia will keep his citizenship while a Mr. "Abdusalam Aduwahab" with dual nationality is treated differently for the same offence! I am confident a freshly minted judge wouldn't have problem striking down that section if it ever become law.

And 14 year old child writing the qualification English language and life in Canada exam instead of concentrating in their school work!

I will keep my popcorn and soda ready....

With due respect to Filipino community --- The purpose of Canadian immigration is to bring in skilled work force where there is skill shortage. But Harper culminate temporary foreign worker program (TFW), Live in Care giver program, provincial nominee program by making it a scheme to bolster vote bank by bringing in 100's of thousands of unskilled Punjabi and Filipino people. In early 2000 Filipino immigration was steady about 13,000 people per year but in last 3 years Harper jacked it up to almost 35,000 people per year when we still have unemployment rate of 7 to 8 percent. Now recently Harper's TFW program is under fire following series of allegation of underpaid and abused Filipinos working in Tim Hortons etc. This type of scheme is extremely unfair for international student graduates like myself who are charged 3 to 4 times than Permanent Residents/Canadians fees. For this notorious TFW program -- international students with post graduation work permit finding it difficult to find decent job these days. My request to tories to STOP abusing Canada's immigration period.

 

[Suin]

- By 2015-2016, CIC says your application will be processed in less than a year (currently, wait times can be up to 36 months).

- However, you will have to wait longer before you can apply in the first place; you will have to maintain a “physical presence” in Canada for four out of six years before applying for citizenship, compared to the previous requirement of three out of four years.

- You will also need to be physically present in Canada for 183 days each year for at least four of those six years.

- You will have to file Canadian income taxes to be eligible for citizenship.

- You may have to officially declare your “intent to reside” in the country.

- If you’re between the ages of 14-64, you will have to meet language requirements and pass a knowledge test before attaining citizenship. (Previously, the age range was 18-54).

- Your application will only have to go through a one-step approval process, instead of three; your application will be approved or denied on the authority of an immigration officer, as opposed to an immigration officer and citizenship judge. Judges will still preside over ceremonies.

- You may be required to provide more upfront proof that certain requirements are met.

- If your application is incomplete, it may be returned to you.

- Your fees will increase to help offset costs of resources needed to process all the applications. Adult citizenship application fees will be increased from $100 to $300, as of Feb. 6, 2014. The $100 Right of Citizenship fee for successful applicants remains the same.

 

[Suin]

Will the temporary residence time (working or visitors status) before becoming PR actually count towards the residency requirements?

 

[PMM]

Hi

Will the temporary residence time (working or visitors status) before becoming PR actually count towards the residency requirements?

No, not under the new Act, if it is passed as proposed.

 

[Soleil2020]

The residency requirements are terrible news.

That will toss out the two years (at half time) I lived here before PR, then add another year on top of that, so now I'm looking at August 2017 instead of 2015 before I can apply. I feel like I've been punched in the gut, I'm so upset about this.

I need to renounce my US citizenship as soon as possible, and this has added two more years to my waiting to get my life back to normal.

I feel your pain. Why do you have to renounce your US citizenship ASAP though? Is that some new requirement to becoming a Canadian Citizen?

 

[Soleil2020]

Because the US is the only country besides Eritrea that taxes citizens worldwide. Which is not a problem in itself, but there are myriad forms to be filled out every year, and crushing financial penalties for even simple honest errors. Plus the fact that I would have to inform the US government annually, with dozens of pages of financial filings, of any company that I own, as well as account numbers and balances of my bank accounts. And US citizens are being denied mortgages and even chequing accounts all over the world, because of FATCA. Go to isaacbrocksociety.ca for more information about it.

In order to have financial freedom and business ownership, Americans need to ditch their citizenship if they do not live inside the borders of the US.

So effectively my life is on hold until I am no longer an American. I am 50 years old now, time is running out, and two years can make a big difference.

Plus I have despised the US government with a white hot fury ever since I was about 15 years old. I want the divorce ASAP.

Oh..i understand now. Yes, I know about the tax mess. So incredibly unjust!! I have thought of that if I should ever decide to become a citizen of Canada ( still waiting pretty indefinitely at the moment for my PR, so that's a loooong way off.)

I couldn't do that , though, as long as my children are still in the States. I wouldn't be able to stand having to ask permission to go enter the country where my children are. Now, if they were to decide to permanently leave the US, that might be a different story. I hate the thought of the US gov. getting it's grubby hands on my husband and my financial future when neither of us have plans to live there.

And yeah, I get what you mean about time can start to get short. I'm 50 too.