How Much Does It Cost To Become A Canadian Citizen?

Canada is one of the most beautiful and prosperous countries in the Americas and it is no wonder that the country sees thousands of citizenship applications from across the world. Many people wish to call the country their home but are still relatively unaware of how the citizenship application process works and how much charges you need to pay.

Not knowing the fee structure and the intermediate details about the process can have really adverse consequences and greet you with undesirable surprises. To ensure that doesn’t happen, there are various tools and websites that are dedicated to improving your chances of getting your citizenship request accepted and you can check here if you are interested in them.

That being said, the questions still remain – how does the citizenship process work? What do I need to do? And most importantly, how much does it cost? These are all extremely crucial questions that need to be answered before you apply for citizenship of your own.

In this article, we will help you do exactly that and tell you everything you need to know to ensure that you get your Canadian citizenship without considerable difficulty. Read the article till the end so that you don’t miss out on crucial details.

How much does it exactly cost to become a citizen of Canada?

Let’s greet the elephant in the room headfirst – how much exactly can you expect to cash out so that you get your own Canadian citizenship? Well, the exact amount you need to pay for that, as an adult, is CAD$630 out of which CAD$530 is the transaction fee for your application and CAD$100 is the fee to obtain your rights as a Canadian citizen.

Fortunately, if you are a child falling below the age of 18, the fee is considerably less raking at only about CAD$100. However, applying for citizenship as a child has various restrictions of its own which can add up to the citizenship cost of a minor. A child applying for Canadian citizenship either needs to have parents that already are citizens or parents who are applying at the same time as the child.

Additionally, the children cannot fill out their own forms and are required to do so by their guardians or parents who act as their representatives, and sadly, representatives need to pay their own fee cost when applying. In case your application gets rejected, you will be reimbursed with a lump sum amount of CAD$100 and no more.

If you are applying for citizenship with another family member, we strongly advise that you apply at the same time to reduce the hassle and have your family member’s comfort throughout the process. To put things into perspective, if you are applying for a citizenship by yourself with your son, the total cost you will incur will be around –

CAD$630 + CAD$100 + additional fees for acting as a representative for your child = around CAD$730 or more.

Thus it is always a good idea to have some excess funds when you are filing your application for Canadian citizenship, especially when you have children with you. Failure to provide sufficient funds during the process will have your application returned straight back to you. On the other hand, if you pay more funds than the required amount, your excess will be calculated and refunded back to you with due haste.

How do I pay the citizenship fees?

Now that you know how much money you require for paying the citizenship fees, you might be wondering where exactly you are supposed to pay them. Unfortunately, you cannot pay the fees in any offline form such as cash transfer, actual cash, or cheque.

Your only way of doing this is by accessing the IRCC website, looking for the relevant application, and submitting your active email address after which you will be prompted to pay the required amount. Before you proceed with the payment, ensure that you have several things necessary for the payment like:

• A working and active Credit card from reputable companies like MasterCard, Visa, or American Express.
• A debit card from either an authorized Canadian Bank or from Visa.

You will have to pay from either of them. After you are done with the transaction and the payment, you will be given a payment receipt on the spot as well as one on your email account. Simply print it, attach it to your application and send it along the way to the assigned IRCC office and simply wait.

After the committee evaluates your application, you will be immediately informed of the results. If your application gets rejected, you will immediately be sent a CAD$100 of your fee back to you as compensation.

What payment methods can I utilize?

You can utilize either your debit card or credit card. However, your credit cards and debit cards need to be of an internationally accepted company such as Visa or the committee won’t recognize your card. If by chance you have a bank account in a Canadian bank, then the debit card they issue is acceptable for payment as well.

What should I know before applying for Canadian citizenship?

Many people think that filling out an application and paying the citizenship fees are the only things required to be a Canadian citizen. However, it couldn’t be further from the truth because the application process also has a citizenship test attached to it that you are required to give if you fall between the age of 18 to 54.

This citizenship test checks your basic knowledge about Canada, its history, geography, and culture. If you fail on this test the first time, you are given an opportunity to try again and if you fail that too, you may be made to sit in front of a Canadian judge and then answer the question which can be extremely nerve-wracking, to say the least.

You also need to be a permanent resident, know English and French adequately well and have all the necessary documents for your tax filings.

Conclusion

It is not at all easy to be a Canadian citizen and depending on your age, you may have to pay a hefty amount of money to file your application. We hope this article proved to be insightful for you, and if it did, then please consider following our website for regular updates as it will help us out immensely.

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