Changes to Citizenship Processing

[S_A_L]

Hello people,

I would like to draw your attention to the following link from Governmentweb site.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/2014-12-31.asp

The link clearly says that the process has been reduced 3 levels to 1 level.

What exactly means by this?

Does it mean that applications will not be refered to citizenship juges anymore?

All decision will be made by the CIC officer who looks after the file of an applicant?

Please let us have your thoughts around this issue.

Thanks
S_A_L

[SettlementOrgMod]

Hello S_A_L,

Thank you for sharing this link and your questions with us.

You can find a helpful and detailed explanation in this Canada’s citizenship decision-making process infographic.

Here is an excerpt,

Canada’s previous decision-making model for citizenship applications was a three-step process: an application went from a citizenship officer to a citizenship judge and then went back to a citizenship officer. Under this model, we had a large backlog and more applications than we could process in a timely manner. As of February 2014, the average processing time was 24-36 months and the backlog was more than 320,000 applicants.

Under the amended Citizenship Act, the decision-making model is a single-step process: applications will be processed by a citizenship officer. Under this model, we will see an even further reduced inventory of applicants and we will have the ability to process all applications in a timely manner. In 2015/16, processing times as expected to be less than one year and the inventory will be reduced to allow for real-time processing.

I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions and if there is any follow up to your question/situation.

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Anna
Settlement.Org Content and Information/Referral Specialist, CIRS
Settlement.Org