Those hoping to apply for Canadian citizenship are facing a wait time of up to 25 months, a significant increase from six months a few years ago. Immigration lawyers attribute this primarily to the policies of the Donald Trump administration in the United States and the surge in applications triggered by the federal government’s revision of the Citizenship Act (Bill C-3).Bill C-3, which came into effect last December, removed the first-generation restriction on citizenship by bloodline, making more people with Canadian ancestors eligible to apply for citizenship, resulting in a surge in applications.
Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland stated, “The Trump effect on citizenship certificate applications has led to a significant increase in applications, resulting in a substantial increase in waiting times. What used to take only a few months now takes more than a year or even longer.” According to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (IRCC) obtained by Kurland through information retrieval applications, there were 58,000 pending citizenship certificate applications at the end of July 2022, with an estimated waiting time of 15 months.
The waiting time was shortened to six months between November 2023 and April 2024, and the Federal Immigration Service also committed to maintaining a processing time of “12 months or less” in a document issued in December 2023.However, the situation subsequently deteriorated sharply. Ottawa immigration lawyer Cedric Marin said that the waiting time has surged from nine to ten months at the beginning of this year to the current 25 months. “I estimate that by the end of the year, the reasonable expected waiting time will reach three years.” Marin pointed out that the federal government is currently prioritizing “more urgent” cases, including applicants who are concerned about being harmed because of their gender identity, and people whose work permits are about to expire and who urgently need citizenship, which has further slowed down the processing of general applications.
Currently, approximately 121,800 applications are being processed, with applicants outside of Canada and the United States potentially experiencing longer processing times. Immigration Department spokesperson Anahita Beladi stated that the department processes applications “fairly and as quickly as possible” and confirms that they are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. However, the estimated waiting time is “not guaranteed” and will be updated monthly based on the number of applications and inventory levels. Kurland warned that if the government does not increase manpower to expedite the processing of the large backlog of applications, “there are serious problems ahead.”