Citizenship

To be eligible to become a Canadian citizen, you must meet the conditions in all these areas:

Age

You must be at least 18 years old to apply.

To apply for citizenship for a child under 18:

Permanent resident status

You must have permanent resident (PR) status in Canada. Your PR status must not be in question. That means you must not be:

Time you have lived in Canada

You must have resided in Canada for at least three years (1,095 days) in the past four years before you apply. This does not apply to children under 18.

You may be able to count time you spent in Canada before you became a permanent resident if it was during the past four years.

Use CIC online tool to find out if you have lived in Canada long enough to apply to become a citizen.

Language abilities

Canada has two official languages—English and French. To become a citizen, you must show that you have adequate knowledge of one of these languages. In general, this means you can:

If you are between 18 and 54, you must send documents with your citizenship application that prove you can speak and listen in English or French at this level. The citizenship application guide also contains the type of proof CIC will accept.

Second, CIC will note how well you communicate when you talk to staff or a citizenship judge interviews you.

A citizenship judge will make the final decision on your application, including how well you can communicate in English or French.

Criminal history (prohibitions)

You cannot become a citizen if you:

If you are on probation or are charged with a crime and waiting for a trial, you should wait until after the probation is done or your trial is over to apply to become a citizen.

Time in prison or on parole does not count as time you have lived in Canada. Time on probation also does not count if you were convicted of a crime.

If you were on probation due to a conditional discharge, that time may be counted toward the time you have lived in Canada.

How well you know Canada

To become a citizen, you must understand the rights, responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, such as voting in elections and obeying the law. You must also show you understand Canada’s:

All you need to know is in the free study guide, Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship. The questions in the citizenship test are based on this study guide.