Canada relaxes legislative changes to Citizenship Act

#AhmedHussen, #CanadianCitizenshipAct, #Bill C-6

Ottawa, Oct 6 (Canadian-Media):  Federal Refugees and Citizenship Minister, Ahmed Hussen, announced Wednesday at an event in Brampton, Ontario that more relaxed rules for obtaining Canadian citizenship will take effect on Oct. 11, Immigration, media reports said.

​"As a country that's committed to the settlement and integration of newcomers successfully so they can restart their lives and make contributions to our society, we have to ensure the path to citizenship for permanent residents," Hussen was quoted by the media, CBCNews reports said.

Ahmed Hussen. Image credit: Facebook page

The new rules said that requirement for the people's physical presence in Canada would be reduced from four out of six yearsto three out of five years.

Temporary workers and students would be given credit for  portion of time spent in Canada before permanent resident status and will count toward residency requirements.

The new rule also signified the reduction of the age range for language and knowledge requirements would be reduced from  the previous requirement of 14 to 64 to 18 to 54 years old.

Applicants must file Canadian income taxes, according to new rules, if required to do so under the Income Tax Act, for three out of five years, matching the new physical presence requirement.

These changes are part of changes of the Citizenship Act, Bill C-6, which passed in the House of Commons in June.

Bill C-6, according to official reports is an Act to amend the Citizenship Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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