IMMIGRATION SERVICES
Canadian Citizenship
You’ve earned the right to call Canada home, let’s make it official.
Becoming a Canadian Citizen
Citizenship is the final step of the immigration journey, but applications still fail over avoidable issues: miscalculated physical presence, incomplete travel history, or unanswered residency questionnaires. As a Vancouver-based Canadian immigration lawyer, I make sure your citizenship application is right the first time, from the physical presence calculation to the oath.
I also act in complex situations: residency questionnaires, refused applications, proof of citizenship for those born abroad, and urgent processing where jobs or travel depend on it.
The final step
Citizenship and everything around it
Citizenship is the destination, but the road there runs through PR status, residency obligations and paperwork that has to be exactly right.
The application
Citizenship grants
The main route for permanent residents: physical presence, tax filings, language ability and the citizenship test, with precise calculations that reward care.
- Physical-presence calculation (1,095 days)
- Language & test preparation (ages 18–54)
- Current fees & recent changes
By descent
Born abroad to a Canadian parent? The first-generation limit is changing under Bill C-3, some people are already citizens without knowing it, and others soon will be.
- Citizenship by descent & Bill C-3
- Proof of citizenship applications
- Certificates for children born abroad
PR status & documents
Before citizenship comes keeping PR intact: card renewals, the residency obligation, and travel documents when you’re caught outside Canada without a valid card.
- PR card renewals
- Residency-obligation assessments (730 days)
- PR travel documents from abroad
Citizenship Services
Citizenship Applications
- Citizenship grant applications
- Physical presence calculations
- Applications for minors & families
- Citizenship test & interview preparation
- Urgent processing requests
Complex Situations
- Residency questionnaires (RQ)
- Refused citizenship applications & appeals
- Proof of citizenship & certificates
- Renunciation & resumption of citizenship
- PR card & residency obligation issues
Before you apply
The citizenship checklist that matters
Most citizenship refusals and delays trace back to four things, all checkable before you file:
- Physical presence: 1,095 days in the five years before applying, counted precisely
- Tax filings for the years required by the Citizenship Act
- Language ability at the required level if you\u2019re 18–54
- No prohibitions, certain charges and convictions pause eligibility
Good to know
Citizenship questions, answered
1,095 days of physical presence in the five years before you apply, with partial credit possible for certain time before becoming a PR. Days are counted precisely, travel history errors are a leading cause of returned applications.
Applicants aged 18–54 must demonstrate adequate English or French (CLB/NCLC 4), through accepted evidence such as prior test results or education. Outside that age range, no language requirement applies.
Applicants aged 18–54 take a test on Canada’s history, values, institutions and symbols, based on the official study guide. Most people pass with preparation, and a failed first attempt gets a retake.
It depends on the generation and timing, the first-generation limit has excluded many, and Bill C-3 is changing that. Some families are already citizens without documentation; a proof-of-citizenship application settles it.
Yes. PR carries its own residency obligation (730 days in any five years), assessed every time you renew a card or re-enter. Letting PR lapse while saving up citizenship days is a costly and avoidable mistake.
Make it official.
Tell me about your time in Canada and I’ll confirm your eligibility, calculate your physical presence, and prepare an application that sails through.