What To Do If Your Canadian Citizenship Application Is Rejected, According To An Expert

You can submit a new application

Often, one of the first questions people have is if they can submit a new application for Canadian citizenship after getting rejected. The answer is yes, you can submit a new application.

Being rejected does not stop you from future applications for Canadian citizenship, but there is one small catch.

When you reapply, Rodriguez specifies that your new application will be subjected to current processing times, not the processing time from when you first submitted.

Let's say that when you applied for Canadian citizenship the first time, the processing period was 12 months.

Then, when you submitted your new Canadian citizenship application, the processing time jumped to 24 months.

Your new application will be subjected to the 24-month wait time and not the 12 months.

There's no time limit on when you can apply again

Do you want to submit a new application for Canadian citizenship? There are no time restrictions on when you have to do it.

"You can submit a new application the next day," says Rodriguez. "There is no waiting time between applications."

You need to "overcome" the reason for refusal

If you're thinking about submitting a new application, it's important to "overcome" the reason the last one was denied, or chances are the new one will be rejected as well!

To do this, you first need to know why your last application was rejected.

"Immigration will send you a refusal letter, and this will tell you why it was rejected," says Rodriguez.

In some cases, this can be a very simple fix.

For example, if the reason for rejection is that you haven't completed the mandatory days required within the country to be eligible, you just need to meet that time requirement before applying again.

Or, if it's because you failed your citizenship test, you can take it again.

If your application is rejected because you haven't paid your taxes, then you have to ensure you have filed taxes for at least three years before applying for Canadian citizenship.

"Even if you haven't filed your taxes correctly, that becomes a CRA issue, and as long as Immigration knows that you're pursuing this or fixing this, they're okay," Rodriguez clarifies.

If the reason for rejection is that you didn't show proof of language, you can solve that by providing official college transcripts. You could also retake a language test like the IELTS to prove your language ability.

Another reason for failing your citizenship application could be that you didn't attend your citizenship ceremony.

In that case, "you would have to submit an explanation letter along with supporting documents to show why you didn't attend your citizenship ceremony," says Rodriguez.

For more complicated cases, it can take more time and effort to overcome the rejection.

"If you got rejected because of a criminal record, now you have inadmissibility based on criminality, which you have to overcome," says Rodriguez.

"For this, you would have to seek rehabilitation or a pardon on your criminal record. I would recommend going to an immigration expert."