Fewer immigrants applying for Canadian citizenship — this could be why

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Significantly fewer immigrants are getting their Canadian citizenship compared to decades past, raising questions about the appeal of citizenship in the eyes of newcomers.

Only 46% of recent immigrants got their Canadian citizenship in 2021, a major drop from 1996 when 76% of recent immigrants went on to acquire citizenship. The number of new arrivals choosing to proceed with citizenship has decreased by nearly a third in 25 years.

The sharpest decline in citizenship applications happened between 2016 and 2021, suggesting the trend has become more pronounced in recent years.

The figures are examined in a new study released Wednesday by Statistics Canada and Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada.

Immigrants from Asia were less likely to move forward with Canadian citizenship than new arrivals from the US and Europe.

Newcomers who earned less and had fewer education credentials used to seek citizenship in greater numbers, but now that trend has reversed — high earners and those with university educations are more likely to take the Oath of Citizenship.

What are the benefits of Canadian citizenship?

Citizenship offers some key benefits over and above permanent residency status. People with a Canadian PR card can live, work, and study anywhere in Canada and access social benefits including healthcare. PR holders need to spend two out of every five years living within Canada, or they risk losing their status.

Only those with citizenship can carry a Canadian passport, vote or run for office, and live outside Canada for an unlimited amount of time.

But for many new arrivals, it appears those benefits aren’t enticing enough to go through the citizenship process.

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Home country restrictions and costs could discourage Canadian citizenship applications

The study’s authors pointed to several factors that may be contributing to the lack of appetite for Canadian citizenship.

First, there’s been significant economic development since the ’90s in China and India, two major source countries of new arrivals to Canada. Immigrants from those nations may want to maintain their home passports since both countries don’t allow dual citizenship.

Statistics Canada

As well, Canadian rules about citizenship made the process more onerous in the 2010s. The government hiked fees, strengthened the knowledge test, and increased the required number of years spent living in Canada between 2006 and 2016. Some of those changes were later reversed in 2017 and 2018.

Back in the ’90s, immigrants who earned less were more likely to seek Canadian citizenship, whereas their higher-earning peers had lower citizenship uptake. The study defined high-income earners as individuals or couples making $100,000 per year or more (adjusted to 2015 constant dollars for inflation purposes).

Now, that trend has reversed. In 2021, high-income families were 1.4 times more likely to pursue citizenship than people earning $10,000 to $30,000 annually.

Statistics Canada

When it comes to education levels, citizenship uptake is on the decline for all levels. It’s falling faster for newcomers with less education. Among people arriving in Canada with a high school education or less, only 30% went for their citizenship in 2021.

Overall, the study’s authors noted the appeal of Canadian citizenship is shifting. Pandemic delays impacted citizenship processing, but those challenges alone weren’t enough to explain the steep drop. Newcomers are less likely now to seek citizenship than they were 20 to 30 years ago, with many preferring to stick with permanent residency.

The new study comes as stories emerge about Canadian immigrants leaving the country after only a few years, often because of the high cost of living as the country faces a housing crisis.