Citizenship: Conditional permanent residence

Effective June 11, 2015, all applicants for a grant of citizenship under subsections 5(1), 5(2), and 11(1) of the Citizenship Act must have no unfulfilled conditions under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) relating to their status as a permanent resident in order to be granted citizenship. This requirement applies to applications received prior to, on, and after June 11, 2015, including Canadian Armed Forces applications.

Outstanding terms and conditions (Ts & Cs)

Local offices must pay close attention to any outstanding Ts & Cs except for those in the entrepreneur class to ensure the applicant has no unfulfilled conditions under IRPA related to their status as a permanent resident. Citizenship officers should not communicate with applicants on behalf of Immigration officers to confirm that terms and conditions have been met.

Types of Ts & Cs

Applicants can have one or more Ts & Cs imposed on them when they arrive in Canada and become permanent residents. The most common Ts & Cs include the following:

• Entrepreneurs (in the entrepreneur class): required to control a certain percentage of equity of a Canadian business.
• Permanent residents under medical surveillance: required to report to public health authorities in Canada as required.

Other less common Ts & Cs also exist (e.g., conditions from the previous fiancé class to marry within 90 days and/or marry within 90 days and provide proof of compliance). If local offices come across such cases, they are encouraged to follow-up with the Citizenship Program Delivery Division for guidance, if required.

Entrepreneurs

As of February 1, 2012, active monitoring of terms and conditions for entrepreneurs under section 98 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) ceased (see OB 360-A). As a result, some entrepreneurs in Canada could permanently have outstanding conditions attached to their permanent residence status.

Citizenship officers should not delay applications for a grant of citizenship if an entrepreneur has outstanding Ts & Cs under section 98 of the IRPR and there is no other information that may have a negative impact on the entrepreneur’s immigration status.

Permanent residents under medical surveillance

Applicants with outstanding medical Ts & Cs must fulfill these conditions in order to be eligible for citizenship. However, because of the nature of medical Ts & Cs, there may be occasions where applicants are not able to have the condition permanently lifted (e.g., the need to report for medical observation, as required). Citizenship applicants who have outstanding medical Ts & Cs that are not expected to be permanently lifted will not be prevented from acquiring citizenship. If officers come across cases with outstanding medical Ts & Cs, they must contact their Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada immigration counterparts and ask whether there is a possibility of enforcement action on the case. If no enforcement action is expected, the application may move on to the next processing step.

Procedure

All applications

In general, citizenship staff will need to pay close attention to the applicant’s Field Operations Support System (FOSS)/GCMS record for outstanding Ts & Cs when reviewing the applicant’s immigration records as part of the required FOSS/GCMS check.

Staff should be aware that FOSS has been decommissioned, and as time goes by, more applicants will have their entire immigration history in GCMS. GCMS immigration history must be carefully reviewed for outstanding Ts & Cs.

If the Ts & Cs are unclear, staff must contact Immigration for clarification.

If it appears that an applicant has outstanding Ts & Cs (other than those that are not being enforced), the application must be processed to completion by level 2 (PM-03) citizenship officers.

Applications received before June 11, 2015

Local offices are not expected to re-triage the existing inventory to assess Ts & Cs. Applications will be assessed during the next FOSS/GCMS check:

• If the applicant has not been tested/interviewed, conditions will be assessed during the pre-interview GCMS check, and any concerns regarding Ts & Cs should be noted in the comment section of the Citizenship Application Record of Decision form (CARD).
• If the applicant has already been tested/interviewed, conditions will be assessed as part of the GCMS checks done prior to making a decision on the case or prior to the ceremony, if a decision has already been made, and any concerns regarding Ts & Cs should be noted in the comment section of the CARD.

Applications received after June 11, 2015

For cases received after June 11, 2015, officers will review the applicant’s FOSS/GCMS record, as per current practice, in order to determine if outstanding Ts & Cs exist.

Procedural fairness

If an applicant has one or more outstanding Ts & Cs, the procedural fairness letter is to be sent. In the letter, it should be explained to the applicant that it appears they have outstanding Ts & Cs. The applicant is to be given 30 days to respond. If the applicant does not provide information to show that the Ts & Cs have been complied with, the application must be refused.