Overseas students' pathway to Citizenship eased by Canada

Overseas students pathway to Citizenship has now been eased by Canada. They will be able to count a part of their time spent as students in Canada towards residency requirement for Canadian Citizenship. It is applicable to all Canada PR holders who arrived in Canada on a Canada Student Visa.

The physical presence requirement has also been reduced from 4 years to 3 years. This implies that overseas students’ pathway to Citizenship has now become easier and faster. The five amendments that have come in to effect benefit not just overseas students but also PR holders who were earlier on a temporary resident visa. Individuals on a work permit, study permit or Work Permit Post-Graduation are also benefitted from the changes, as quoted by the Canada Study News.

Earlier, the time spent by overseas students on a temporary status in Canada did not add up for citizenship. This implied that overseas students pathway to citizenship commenced only after obtaining Canada PR. Apart from this Canada PR holders had to remain in Canada for 4 out of 6 years for being eligible for citizenship application to cater to the physical presence requirement for Canadian citizenship.

From now onwards, applicants of Canadian citizenship are not required to be physically present in Canada for more than 183 days out of the previous 6 years to their application. The percentage of overseas students who are enrolling themselves in a post-secondary program increased more than 16% in the year 2015 - 2016.

The amendments to Canada Citizenship Act and improvements to the national Express entry system reveal the objective of the Government of Canada to maintain and attract more overseas students and graduates in Canada.

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