Ottawa making it harder to become Canadian
Posted February 6, 2014 11:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’ll be harder for immigrants to become Canadian if the federal Conservatives have their way.
The government wants applicants to spend more time in Canada before applying and wants them to be more proficient at either official language.
The changes would require immigrants to spend four out of six years in Canada, up from the current three out of four years.
Applicants between 14 and 64 will have to pass language tests. Currently, the language test only applies to those 54 and under.
Vancouver immigration lawyer Dennis McCrea likes the fact that the proposed legislation promises to streamline the application process. The government says that will be achieved by better defining residency requirements.
“Current processing times are very long. They’re up to 28 months for simplest cases. For anything more complex, it’s at least three years,” McCrea explains.
The government hopes to reduce the wait for processing applications down to less than a year.
McCrea doesn’t like a proposal that would transfer the power to revoke citizenship from the courts to the immigration minister.
“Removing that is very problematic because it allows the minister to make decisions more on politics than on the facts.”
As of Feb. 6, processing fees for citizenship applicants tripled to $300.
