The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, John McCallum, Liberal Member of the Canadian Parliament, has announced the introduction of the Bill C-6, a bill that represents a stepping-stone to the goal of improving the immigration process to Canada and revert changes made by the Conservative government in the past years.
The changes to the Citizenship Act will benefit international students planning to immigrate to Canada, facilitating the process and shortening times.
Potential candidates who want to apply for Canadian citizenship will find the changes favourable, as the number of days they must have lived in Canada as a permanent resident in order to apply will be lowered from 1,460 days (four years), to 1,095 days (three years) out of five years.
Another highlight of the Bill C-6 is that the days a full-time student or worker spent in Canada before becoming a permanent resident will count towards their Canadian citizenship application. Once the new laws become effective, each of these days will count as half a day, accumulating up to one year out of the three years that are mandatory to apply.
Among the changes to the Citizenship Act introduced through the Bill C-6 are also the removal of the law that allows revoking Canadian citizenship, the removal of the declaration of “intention to reside” when applying for permanent residency, and the change of the language requirements needed in order to become a Canadian.
To learn more about the Bill C-6, please read the full text of the bill here.
Gabriela Garcia
