Permanent Residence & Citizenship

It depends entirely on the category. Express Entry applications, once an Invitation to Apply is issued, have historically been processed relatively quickly, but the time spent in the pool before an invitation can be far longer than the processing itself and depends on your score.
Provincial nominee applications add a provincial stage before the federal one. Family sponsorship timelines vary considerably between inland and overseas applications, and between spousal and parental categories. We give you a realistic range for your specific category at the outset rather than quoting the shortest number available.

No. Many people obtain permanent residence with no Canadian job offer at all, particularly through Express Entry and through family sponsorship, which is not an economic category.

A job offer can help in certain provincial nominee streams and in some regional pilots, where it may be a hard requirement. Be extremely cautious of anyone selling a job offer or an LMIA. Paying for a job offer is unlawful, is a common fraud against newcomers, and can result in a finding of misrepresentation that bars you from Canada for five years.

At least seven hundred and thirty days within every rolling five year period. The five years is not fixed at the date you landed. It moves with you, so the assessment is made against the five years immediately preceding the moment you are examined.

Certain days abroad may still count, including time accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse, common-law partner, or parent, and time employed full time abroad by a Canadian business or by the federal or a provincial public service. These exceptions are narrower than most people assume and must be properly documented.

You may apply once you have accumulated at least one thousand and ninety five days of physical presence in Canada within the five years immediately before the day you sign your application.

Yes, pre-PR days count, but at half value. Time in Canada as a temporary resident, such as a student, worker, or visitor, or as a protected person, is credited at one half day for each day, up to a maximum credit of three hundred and sixty five days. That maximum is reached at seven hundred and thirty pre-PR days. Use the calculator on this page for an estimate, and let us verify it before you file.

Yes. The most common cause is failing the residency obligation. Status can also be lost through a finding of serious criminality, through misrepresentation in the original application, or by voluntarily renouncing it.

Importantly, permanent residence is not lost automatically the moment you fall short. A formal determination must be made, and you generally have a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division, which can consider humanitarian and compassionate factors including the best interests of any child affected. If you have been reported at the border or refused a travel document, contact us before the appeal deadline expires.

Canada permits dual and multiple citizenship. You are not required to give up your original nationality when you become Canadian.

However, your country of origin may not permit it, and some countries automatically strip nationality on naturalisation elsewhere. That is a matter of your own country's law, not Canadian law, and you should confirm it with your embassy. Note also that Canadian citizens are generally required to travel to Canada on a Canadian passport.

For most economic permanent residence categories, yes. You will need an approved language test result, and your score directly drives your Comprehensive Ranking System points. French ability has become substantially more valuable in recent years through category based selection and francophone streams.

For citizenship, applicants aged eighteen to fifty four must demonstrate adequate knowledge of English or French. Applicants outside that age range are exempt from the language and knowledge requirements. Family sponsorship has no language requirement for the sponsored person.

In almost all economic categories your spouse or common-law partner and your dependent children are included as accompanying family members on the same application, and they receive permanent residence at the same time as you.

Two points are frequently missed and cause serious problems later. First, dependent children must meet the age and dependency definition at the point the application is locked in, so timing matters. Second, every family member must be declared and examined even if they are not coming with you, or you may be permanently barred from sponsoring them in future.

The initial eligibility review is free and carries no obligation. Beyond that you receive a written retainer with a fixed professional fee before any work begins, separate from government fees, and there are no hidden charges.

We do not guarantee approval, and you should treat any representative who does as a warning sign. Canadian law prohibits guaranteeing an immigration outcome, because the decision belongs to IRCC or the province, not to your consultant. What we commit to is an honest assessment before you spend anything, including telling you when the answer is that you should wait or change something first.