Top 5 Benefits Of Becoming A Canadian Citizen: Why It’s Worth Pursuing
The United States News & World Report ranks Canada as the world’s second-best country for 2023, only behind Switzerland. Earlier, The United States of America, Sweden, and Australia were the other three nations in the top five.
When compared to 2022, when Canada came in third among all nations by U.S. News, the rise to second place indicates an improvement. Having said that, U.S. News rated 87 nations in their final tally after breaking them down into 10 subcategories, with the top 20 nations placed in each.
U.S. News classified these nations based on the following 10 subcategories, which were determined by a poll of more than 17,000 people representing 36 countries: corporate leaders, middle-income or higher college-educated persons, and “nationally representative” inhabitants of each country.
- Business startup
- Standard of Living
- Influence of Culture on Social Objectives
- Embrace Opportunity, Take Risks, Preserve History, and Move Quickly
With several positives already witnessed in the first few words, here are a few details you must know before securing Canadian citizenship.
How to Apply Become a Canadian Citizen?
To submit an application for citizenship in Canada, you must:
- Give evidence that you are fluent in one of the two official languages of Canada: English or French.
- Gain permanent resident status (PR)
- Reside in Canada as a permanent resident for at least 1,095 days out of the five years before your application.
- Filed your taxes for a minimum of three years in the past five years and settled any outstanding income taxes.
In the absence of satisfactory evidence of sufficient proficiency in either English or French, IRCC will reject your application because it is incomplete. You may get additional information regarding the linguistic requirements for citizenship on the IRCC website.
A streamlined application procedure may be available to current and former members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
To determine if your time as a permanent resident in Canada is sufficient to apply for citizenship, you can utilize the Residence Calculator. It will let you know if you will be able to apply even though you haven’t been in Canada for the required amount of time.
Another Program One Must Know!
One well-liked program that offered high-net-worth individuals the chance to become permanent Quebec residents in return for a CAD 1.2 million investment over five years was the Quebec Investor Program, which is no longer accepting new applications as of 2021.
Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) exist in other Canadian jurisdictions, like Ontario and British Columbia, that allow foreign people to become permanent residents of Canada via economic investment or job creation. Currently, the Canadian SUV program is the best option because it requires the least amount of initial expenditure.
Canadian Citizen:Investment Citizenship in Canada
To apply for Canadian citizenship by investment, one must first have been a country resident for a certain amount of time. Canadian Citizenship by Investment is not an official program.
Citizens of Canada make up the great bulk of the population.
More than nine out of ten Canadians (91.2%) were citizens of Canada in 2021. Approximately 27.0 million, or 74.42%, were citizens of Canada by birth, whereas 6.1 million, or 16.8%, were citizens by naturalization. Another 8.8%, or around 3.2 million people, were not citizens of Canada but were either permanent residents, landed immigrants, or non-permanent residents; they did not have citizenship issues.
A Canadian passport has several advantages, but what exactly are they?
1. More travel freedom and access to visa-free destinations
Unlike permanent residents, who are required to maintain a physical presence in Canada at all times, citizens and holders of passports are free to enter and leave the country as they want.
Canadian passport holders have not just the freedom to travel anywhere in the world but also the prestige of holding one of the world’s most widely recognized passports.
Besides, Canadian passports are among the most powerful in the world, allowing citizens to travel visa-free to more than 185 countries worldwide.
Importantly, these travel privileges do not apply to permanent residents.
2. Canadian Citizen Can Cast ballot
Anyone residing in Canada has the right to cast a ballot in federal, provincial, and local elections. If you want a voice in who rules your neighborhood, city, school district, state, province, or nation, you need to cast a ballot.
As a citizen, you have the right and the duty to vote. Voting is a crucial part of democracy, and Canada depends on its citizens to participate. That way, the people who end up in charge of Canada’s government will be a true reflection of the will of the people.
3. You are immune to deportation as a Canadian Citizen
Deportation is not a possibility if you do not hold dual citizenship. When Canadian immigration officials tell you to leave the country, it’s called deportation. The destination of a deportee is their home country.
Some reasons why someone can be deported from Canada include criminal offenses, immigration law violations (such as getting your status illegally), or posing a security risk to fellow citizens.
There is no possibility of deportation for Canadian citizens who do not have dual citizenship or any other foreign citizenship.
4. Canadian Citizen Can Engage in politics
Democracy is a right that you enjoy as a Canadian citizen. Being able to run for government is a part of this. What this implies is that you have the option to run for office at the federal, provincial, or even local level.
You are free to seek public office without being affiliated with any particular political party if you so want. Alternatively, you might become involved with the youth organizations of Canada’s main political parties:
- The Young New Democrats of Canada’s Bloc Québécois
- Canadian Youth Communist League
- Emerging Canadian Greens
- Canadian Youth Liberals Campus Republicans
5. You have access to counseling services.
A Canadian passport is available to citizens of Canada. You can obtain assistance from the Canadian embassy if you are traveling with a Canadian passport.
In the following cases, you may be able to get assistance from the Canadian consulate:
- If your passport is misplaced
- When you’re overseas, problems might arise
- If you or a loved one disappears without a trace
- Get in touch with your Canadian relatives if you require assistance.
- In case you find yourself in a dire financial bind,
Canadian consular officers may be unable to assist you if you hold dual citizenship, meaning you are citizens of two countries.
In the end!
Canada has one of the highest citizenship rates among Western nations, at over 86%. Still, according to Stats Can, the rate of citizenship applications has been falling for some time now.
The process of permanent residents becoming citizens of Canada is mutually beneficial. According to some research, it allows immigrants to franchise, empowers them to shape government policy, and may even increase their economic chances.