Indian migrants’ love for Canada seems to be scaling new heights if we go by this new report. It says that a growing figure of the Indians residing in the overseas hotspot are becoming citizens via successfully applying for getting Canadian citizenship, post fulfilling the mandatory residence period duration, as permanent residents in the country.

The report adds that during the 10-month duration, ending October 2018, close-to 15000-odd Indian pocketed the prized status even as in case one compares the figure with 2017, a sharp increase of 50% is seen.

If one talks about India as a nation of birth, it found a place at the second spot, in terms of the number of petitions submitted for claiming citizenship. The Philippines led the charts by a small margin, and 15600-odd Filipinos successfully acquired citizenship through the 10-month time-frame. However, it was a minor jump of 11%, in relation to the traffic from the Philippines for the whole 12 months of the year gone by.

The data obtainable on the subject adds that 1.39 permanent residents received citizenship in the 10 months that ended on October 30, and out of this, the share of the aspirants with Indian roots was roughly 11%.

Since October 2017, it has become easier to make the cut for citizenship. What’s more: the duration for which it is compulsory for a permanent resident to be physically present in the Maple Leaf Country, before submitting an application for citizenship, has been cut down. Vis-à-vis a 4-year residency condition out of 6 years presently, and under the new rules a permanent resident has to be physically present in the hotspot for only 3, out of the total of 5 years.

Contrasting a Permanent Residency, which is similar to a Green Card in the US; citizenship proffers more benefits, with more mobility, eligibility to do a job in the government segment, and obtaining the right to vote, etc., being just some of such benefits.

Significantly, India has surfaced as the leading source nation for permanent residents. For the period of 2017, 51000-odd Indians received the nation’s Permanent Residency.

According to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), roughly 1.53 lakh people may have acquired citizenship by 2018 –being a year from the date the latest easier rules for citizenship became effective. The ballpark figure is a jump of 40%, in relation to the 1.08 lakh individuals who received citizenship through similar time-frame in 2017.

The IRCC adds that post the changes in the guideline during the 9-month duration, from October 2017 to June 2018 2.42 lakh applications for citizenship were presented to it, and this is more than 200% the previous parallel duration. In spite of this, the processing time continued to be inside 1 year.