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The final text of the proposed Bill has not yet been presented to the Canadian Parliament. However, it is safe to bet that the changes will be significant and will further restrict access to Canadian Citizenship to Permanent Residents of Canada and perhaps also their Canadian born children.
Some of the changes being proposed include extending the qualifying period for residence to obtain Canadian Citizenship from the current three years in a four period to a longer period. Minister Alexander suggested that it was “time to consider increasing the threshold.” “I think the balance of considerations is in favour of a longer requirement,” he said. The Canadian government has already been cracking down on “alleged fraud” in reported physical presence in Canada for renewals of Permanent Residence Cards and for the granting of Canadian Citizenship. However, Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) is reportedly investigating over 11,000 suspected cases of fraud. Despite investing huge amounts of time and money, to date a grand total of only 12 people have had their citizenship revoked for fraud, despite more than 3000 investigations.
“Birth tourist” are those who come with the purpose of giving birth in Canada so that the child will acquire Canadian Citizenship by right of birth. Apart from the United States Canada is one of the few countries in the World that automatically grants citizenship to individuals born on their territory. In the United States describe these American born children as “anchor babies.”Former immigration minister Jason Kenney was adamantly opposed to this current practice.
“Granting citizenship based on place of birth is “outdated” and the rules need to change to prevent the proliferation of passport babies.” he said
The new Minister of Citizenship and Immigration echoes this concern. Chris Alexander said, “It’s something we need to look at. There is clearly abuse… People who come here as birth tourists solely for the purpose of acquiring citizenship for newborns and without any intention of immigrating and living here permanently — we need to find a way of addressing that.”
Anti-immigration proponents in the US are calling for the elimination of this policy of granting United States Citizenship to all individuals born in the country. They propose limiting the granting of citizenship to babies where at least one parent has permanent residence or citizenship status in the United States.
Taken from here
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