The Interpretation of ‘Residence’ by Canadian Citizenship Judges

Abstract

To obtain a Canadian citizenship, a foreign national from every country should comply with various conditions. One of them is the residency obligation in Canada for a period of time fixed in the Canadian Citizenship Act (“the Act”). The term residence is not defined by the Act in its previous version and it needs to be interpreted. The previous version of the Act was amended in June 2015. However, it’s still relevant today for citizenship applications submitted before the amendment and waiting for a citizenship judge decision, knowing that an interview with a citizenship judge may take three or more years of waiting time. In this paper we approach the definition of residence concept in the Canadian citizenship Act, and the interpretation tests that a citizenship judge may use, showing the incoherence caused by their discretionary power, and the related debate at the Federal Court level. We approach a very recent decision of the Federal Court which seems to close the door for an eventual solution.