Applying for Canadian Citizenship

To apply for citizenship, you must meet certain eligibility criteria and complete an application.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to apply for Canadian citizenship you must:

Provide proof that you know how to speak and write in 1 of Canada’s official languages (either English or French)
Be a Permanent Resident (PR)
Have lived in Canada as a PR for at least 1,095 days out of the 5 years before you apply
Have filed your taxes for at least 3 years during the last 5 years and any income tax you may owe must be paid

IRCC will return your application as incomplete if you do not send acceptable proofthat you have adequate knowledge of English or French.

If you are or have been a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, you may be eligible for a fast-track application process.

You can use the Residence Calculator to find out if you have been in Canada long enough as a PR to apply for citizenship. If you have not been in Canada long enough, it will tell you when you will be eligible to apply.

The applicant must be a Canadian citizen or be applying to become a Canadian citizen. Minors do not need to meet the residency requirement.

If one of your parents was a Canadian citizen when you were born, depending onwhen you were born, you may already be a citizen. If that is true, to be recognized as a Canadian citizen you need to apply for proof of citizenship.

You cannot become a Canadian citizen if you have recently been or are in prison, on parole or probation, are serving a conditional sentence or have been charged or convicted of an indictable crime. If you are under a deportation order, you also cannot apply.

Dual Citizenship

Dual citizenship refers to an individual who is a citizen of more than one country. Having dual or multiple citizenships is allowed in Canada but may not be legal in the other country of your citizenship.

An individual with dual or multiple citizenships should know the laws of the country or countries they hold citizenship and abide by them.

In traveling, make sure to find out if your citizenship requires a visa to enter another country. You can be refused entry if you don’t have the proper or required visa to enter a particular country.