For many new Canadians, taking the country’s national oath is a rite of passage.
But changes to the ceremony could soon be on the horizon for those who no longer want to get caught up in long waitlists in order to snag their citizenship, the government announced Saturday.
“Technology offers the potential to vastly transform client service by helping to address long processing times and application inventories. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (the Department) has launched digital and online initiatives aimed at modernizing the Citizenship Program and reducing inventories and wait times to improve client service,” the federal government said in a statement.
The government says the pandemic has contributed to backlogs that have gotten so bad it has resulted in “processing times well beyond the published service standard of 12 months.”
“As of October 2022, there was an inventory of approximately 358 000 citizenship applications with clients waiting 24 months from the time of application to the taking of the Oath of Citizenship, which is the final legal requirement to becoming a citizen,” the statement continues.
As immigration continues to spike across Canada, and with the country’s target of 500,000 permanent residents for 2025, the government believes something has to give.
The modernization of the ceremony as we know it would include processing electronic citizenship applications, conducting online citizenship tests, holding virtual citizenship ceremonies, and offering electronic certificates.
The government hopes to process 300,000 new citizenship applications during the 2022- 2023 year, which would be an increase of around 34 per cent compared to 2021- 2022.
The new changes could come as early as June.
