#Americansabroad in Canada eligible for Canadian citizenship should apply quickly!

Canada has a very large number of resident U.S. citizens. Some of them are Canadian citizens and some not. Those who are NOT Canadian citizens and plan to become Canadian should move quickly. It’s no secret that the attitude of the Government of Canada toward Canadian citizenship is that:

“Canadian citizenship should be harder to get and easier to lose!”

The article referenced in the above tweet is well worth the read. It includes:

Some of the changes being proposed include extending the qualifying period for residence to obtain Canadian Citizenship from the current three years in a four period to a longer time frame. Minister Alexander suggested that it was “time to consider increasing the threshold.”

“I think the balance of considerations is in favour of a longer requirement,” he said. “There’s only one way of truly understanding what it means to be Canadian, what it means to participate in Canadian life and that is by living here.”

The Canadian government has already been cracking down on “alleged fraud” in reported physical presence in Canada for renewals of Permanent Residence Cards and for the granting of Canadian Citizenship. However, Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) is reportedly investigating over 11,000 suspected cases of fraud. Despite investing huge amounts of time and money to date only “twelve (12) people have had their citizenship revoked for fraud, despite more than 3000 investigations.”

Another expected change is the elimination of the automatic grant of Canadian Citizenship for those born in Canada. Reportedly Canada and the United States are the only developed countries in the World that grant citizenship to individuals born on their territory.

For a number of years Conservatives, and other commentators, have been complaining about “birth tourism” or tourists who come to Canada with the purpose of giving birth in Canada so that the child will acquire Canadian Citizenship.