Canada is now permitting candidates who have representatives to apply for citizenship online; however, the country has still not allowed representatives to make an application on their behalf.
Effective November 30th, the online citizenship portal has been extended by the federal department of IRCC (Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada) to allow applications from candidates who have representatives.
IRCC suggested in an email, “These applicants will still need to complete, sign, date, and submit the application themselves and must not share their account access or password with anyone, including their representative. Representatives cannot yet apply online on behalf of an applicant, but they can still provide advice on completing the application, and they can communicate with IRCC on the applicant’s behalf after the online application is submitted.”
Allowing candidates with representatives to apply online for citizenship is the most recent shift made by the IRCC in transforming the citizenship application system. Prior to this, with effect from August, single applicants are also included in the category of people eligible to apply for citizenship online. Furthermore, as a result of recent changes, Canada has also started to accept online submissions of proof of Canadian Citizenship applications. These documents enable foreign-born children of Canadians to claim their right to Canadian citizenship.
IRCC has suggested that next year, it will open online applications for candidates falling in below categories:
- Minors,
- Families,
- Representatives applying on their clients’ behalf, and
- Clients are claiming residency in a foreign country as a Crown servant or with a family member who is a crown servant.
Canadian Citizenship: Who is eligible?
Canadian citizenship enables a person to hold a Canadian passport, the right to vote, and as well as run for office. Canadian citizenship is greatly regarded as a source of pride among many people.
Canadian permanent residents can apply for Canadian citizenship if they are above 18 years of age and meet the residency requirements. Residency requirement means a candidate is required to be physically present in the country for a minimum of 1,095 days within the past five years of applying for Canadian citizenship. On the other hand, children may also be eligible for Canadian citizenship; however, they are not mandatorily required to fulfill the residency requirement.
The candidates between the age group of 18 to 54 years applying for Canadian citizenship are required to show their language proficiency in French or English and must achieve a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 4 or higher. Furthermore, the applicants under this age group are also required to take a citizenship test.
Also, candidates must not have a criminal record that would prevent them from being granted Canadian citizenship.
Once the application for citizenship is accepted, the candidate is required to follow below steps:
- Taking the citizenship test, if required,
- Attend a citizenship ceremony (if the candidate passes the test), and
- Taking the oath of citizenship.
After all the above-mentioned is done, the candidate will officially be granted the status of a Canadian citizen.
