زمان پردازش Citizenship

IRCC publishes a processing time of 12 months for a Canadian citizenship grant, measured from the day it receives your application to the oath ceremony. That figure was last updated by IRCC on August 10, 2026, and roughly 328,200 people are in the grant queue. Proof of citizenship, which is a citizenship certificate rather than a grant, is a separate and much slower line at about 25 months, up from 19 months in July and 10 months in January 2026. Its queue reached 121,800 people, which is roughly 22,300 more than a month earlier. Two things drove it: Bill C-3 removed the first-generation limit on citizenship by descent for anyone born before December 15, 2025, and IRCC then paused finalizing new descent applications for about a month while it reviewed certificates it had already issued. Both figures come from IRCC's own processing-times tool and are reproduced here without adjustment. Complex files involving residency reviews, tax verification, or security checks run longer than the published standard.

The full timeline breaks down as follows: application receipt and acknowledgment of receipt (AOR) takes 2-4 weeks; physical presence and tax review takes 4-7 months; the citizenship test invitation arrives 4-6 months after AOR (applicants aged 18-54); the test itself is online for most candidates and takes 30 minutes; the decision and ceremony invitation follow within 4-8 weeks of test approval; and the oath ceremony is currently scheduled 2-4 months after approval due to ongoing ceremony backlog.

To be eligible for citizenship, you must have been physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days (3 years) within the 5 years immediately before your application, filed income taxes for at least 3 years within the 5-year period (if required to do so), demonstrate adequate knowledge of English or French, and pass a citizenship test on Canadian history, values, institutions, and symbols. Applicants aged 18-54 must take the test; those under 18 or over 54 are exempt.

Processing times vary based on individual circumstances, including complexity of travel history, language evidence clarity, tax filing verification, background checks, and whether an interview is required. Applications with gaps in documentation, unclear physical presence, or security concerns will take significantly longer. Most applicants between 18-54 will need to wait several months after application processing before receiving their citizenship test invitation.