Am I free to travel when I have applied for citizenship?

[BritinCNDA]

In another years time I will be able to apply for Canadian citizenship, after spending 3 years as a permanent resident present in Canada. I own and occupy a property in Montreal and have a full-time job in a Canadian company.

My question is: when I submit my citizenship application (having met the requirements) will I be free to travel or even reside outside Canada as I please?

This is important to me as there some work opportunities abroad but it appears it currently takes up to 2.5 years to receive your passport.

 

[Dejaavu]

You can leave Canada as many time are you like however you need to maintain your PR status (2 years of physical residence out of 5 years); also if you are leaving Canada for more than 2 weeks, you have to notify CIC since they may send your a test invitation etc.

 

[BritinCNDA]

So essentially, until you have your passport in your hand, you are obliged to live as a permanent resident?

 

[manianz47]

As indicated earlier, you should maintain the PR status at the time of Citizenship application as well as during the Citizenship Test/Oath
However it is not mandatory to be physically present with in Canada. You need to maintain the PR status

 

[BritinCNDA]

Thanks, very helpful.

Whilst understanding they did not expect the current backlog times, I do wish CIC would make these kind of added constraints to getting a passport public. I wonder how many professional people in their prime earning years would emigrate if they thought it could take 5-6 years (of constrained travel) to get a passport...? Maybe some thought should be given to fast tracking passports for those with post-grad degrees and valuable skills. Just a thought, it would be a great help for those of us who work on contract.

 

[scylla]

Something like this will never happen in Canada. Providing select individuals with access to passports faster based on their education / experience / profession would be viewed as discriminatory and elitist.

If the rules ever change, they will change for everyone.

 

[Dejaavu]

CIC is transparent when it comes to processing times. I know they are long and frustrating but that is the reality that we can not control unfortunately.

 

[Leon]

Whilst understanding they did not expect the current backlog times, I do wish CIC would make these kind of added constraints to getting a passport public. I wonder how many professional people in their prime earning years would emigrate if they thought it could take 5-6 years (of constrained travel) to get a passport...?

Staying 3 years to be able to apply though, is among the shortest I have heard, so you have to offset that against the long processing time. In other countries, it tends to be 4-8 years you have to stay before you can even apply.

Canada doesn't gain anything from handing out passports to people who aren't intending to stay either.

 

[keesio]

As indicated earlier, you should maintain the PR status at the time of Citizenship application as well as during the Citizenship Test/Oath
However it is not mandatory to be physically present with in Canada. You need to maintain the PR status

Note that while it is not a requirement, being in Canada for the whole process will likely reduce the risk of getting something called a Residency Questionnaire (RQ). This is basically an extra form that CIC can request where you have to provide supporting documentation that you meet the residency requirements for citizenship. The issue with the RQ is the extremely slow processing time for this additional form. It can add YEARS to the processing time of a citizenship application.

 

[Dejaavu]

Leon,

I agree.

Most countries require at least 4 years such as Australia if not more to reside before one can apply for citizenship.

Finland is six years and US is five years.

 

[BritinCNDA]

Thanks for all the comments, very helpful. It is also interesting to hear different view points.

3 years is a relatively short period compared to some other places but the requirement to be physically in the country is what I find restrictive, I am prepared to pay the taxes and keep a house and my family here but would appreciate the freedom to travel to earn my pay during this period.

The process whereby CIC treats all applications the same is in my opinion a folly, although I agree with scylla that I cannot see them changing it. If you want to see the effects of uncontrolled immigration look at the UK and France. The social and medial services are collapsing under sheer weight of numbers and the non-professional citizens are fighting for jobs with ever lower wages due to the huge influx of unskilled immigrants, a bitter pill to swallow when your taxes are paying for the immigration in the first place.