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ARTICLE · 27 AUGUST 2014

Canada's New Citizenship Rules

Miller Thomson
Miller Thomson
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The summer is always a busy time for immigration reforms. This summer brought in significant changes to Canada's citizenship laws.

CanadaImmigration

The summer is always a busy time for immigration reforms.  This summer brought in significant changes to Canada's citizenship laws.  On June 19, 2014 the "Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act" received Royal Assent fundamentally changing many key aspects of Canada's citizenship laws.  A bulletin on CIC's website states as follows:

These reforms will strengthen the rules around access to citizenship to ensure that Canadians are better prepared for full participation and integration into Canadian society with the goal of fostering in new Canadians a stronger attachment to Canadian values and traditions.

So what's new?

Residency Requirements - Defined and Increased

For the first time "residency" is actually defined.  In previous Citizenship Acts residency was not defined, which meant that it was left to be interpreted by the courts under judicial review challenges.  Judicial pronouncement on what constituted residency varied drastically, resulting in

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