Changes to citizenship language assessment take effect

12/28/2012

Citizenship applicants between 18 and 54 years of age are now required to provide up-front objective evidence of their language ability at the time they apply. The change took effect on November 1, 2012.

Since the first Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947, most citizenship applicants have been required to demonstrate an adequate knowledge of one of the official languages. However, this marks the first time that applicants have been required to demonstrate that knowledge with objective evidence at the time they submit their application.

Applicants must submit one of three types of evidence to satisfy the new requirement:

· the results of a CIC-approved third-party test; or

· the evidence of completion of secondary or post-secondary education in English or French; or

· the evidence of achieving the appropriate language level in certain government-funded language training programs.

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