This graphic shows changes to Canada’s citizenship decision-making process.
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.
Thanks to Economic Action Plan 2013 funding and recent improvements to the citizenship program, Canada welcomed a record 262,000 new citizens in 2014 – more than twice as many new Canadians as the year before.
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.
