Canadian Citizenship for Kids. Citizenship Procedure for Seniors

Individuals who wish to become Canadian citizens should meet the following basic requirements - age, permanent residence status, years residing in Canada, language abilities, clean criminal records and knowledge about Canada. Permanent residents between the age of 18 and 54 are eligible for the Canadian citizenship provided they have adequate English or French acquaintance and demonstrate enough knowledge of Canada in the citizenship test. Children and senior citizens can also become Canadian citizens but their eligibility criteria and basic requirements are completely different from adults.

Citizenship application processing for minors and seniors:

1. All immigrant children under 18 years of age must complete “Application for Canadian Citizenship – Minors” form in the citizenship processing. If you have more than one child, a separate form must be filled and submitted for each child. However, seniors also follow the same procedure like adults and produce similar documentation including personal identification, immigration documents, passport, travel documents relevant to the four years preceding your application form etc. Only thing that differs is there is no Canadian citizenship test for seniors and kids, and they get exemption from the language requirement.

2. Parents or the guardians who have the custody will lodge the application form on behalf of the minor children under 18 years of age. For senior citizens above the age of 55, the application processing will be the same but they do not have to take the test like other adult applicants. However, all senior applicants may have to attend an interview with a citizenship judge for the review of their original documents.

3. Unlike adults, for seniors and kids the Canadian citizenship test is not obligatory and they do not receive any notice to appear to write the test. Only senior applicants will receive a notice to appear at the local office for identification and documentation evaluation.

Do seniors and kids enjoy the same citizenship benefits?

Even though there is an exemption for Canadian citizenship test, all citizenship candidates above the age of 14 are required to show their faces when they take the oath of citizenship to demonstrate that they are speaking aloud the words of the oath. No matter what age the immigrants belong to, once they are granted with the Canadian citizenship, they enjoy all the benefits and privileges of a normal citizen.