Eligible to apply citizenship(stayed3years 7months in 4 years), can I apply now?

[martian]

Seniors please respond. Im delayed in filing citizenship due to severe health issues in last 2months.

 

[h3a3j6]

Unfortunately not.

As of mid-June of this year, you can only follow the new rules (4 years of physical presence out of 6). What I would suggest is for you to use the residence calculator, enter your dates in and out of the country and validate your total presence.

Cheers.

 

[manianz47]

Please check the updated requirements. It is 4 Years/ 6 Years now

 

[screech339]

Seniors please respond. Im delayed in filing citizenship due to severe health issues in last 2months.

You be wasting your time in submitting your application if you went ahead with it. It will be rejected and returned due to not meeting the 4 / 6 year rule. Basic residency requirement no longer applies any more. You have to be physically presence in Canada for 1460 days out of 6 years. You cannot claim any pre-PR days if you had any towards qualification.

If you have been in Canada as PR for 3 years 7 months and haven't left Canada since, you can apply for citizenship in another 5 months.

 

[martian]

Thanks everyone.

Screech - that helps that I can apply in 5 months. I had heard from someone, if you missed the bus now, you can apply after 2017 or so. Seems its not accurate news I got.

 

[screech339]

Thanks everyone.

Screech - that helps that I can apply in 5 months. I had heard from someone, if you missed the bus now, you can apply after 2017 or so. Seems its not accurate news I got.

The people who have to wait up to 2 years longer are those who wants to claim 2 years of Pre-PR days towards their 3 / 4 year qualification. Now that the new law did away with pre-PR days, these people have to wait another 2 years to meet the 4/6 rule.

 

[martian]

Thanks Screech.

How do you see lead times for approvals if I apply in 6 months, especially if you are in GTA?

 

[dpenabill]

Thanks Screech.

How do you see lead times for approvals if I apply in 6 months, especially if you are in GTA?

Given the huge reduction in the number of PRs who become eligible to apply in any given month (or other time period), due to the sudden increase in minimum presence required (at least an additional year), these days the number of new applications being received by CIC is probably a mere trickle, at the least only a slice of what CIC ordinarily received in the past (often in the range of 3000 to 4000 per week).

Thus, while there is no guarantee, it is probably safe to anticipate relatively short timelines for the processing of new citizenship applications in the coming year.

Of course how long it will actually take is specific to the individual and that individual's circumstances, including history of course.