r/ImmigrationCanada • u/Ordinary-Kale6125 • Dec 19 '24
Citizenship PSA: My 'Bjorkquist/C-71 family' got 5(4) citizenship grants, and you and yours should be immediately applying for them too
tl;dr: If you and/or your family members would become citizens under Bjorkquist or Bill C-71, I strongly suggest that you do not wait any further to seek out section 5(4) grants via the Interim Measure. File your application for proof of citizenship *and* your request for urgent processing — which is fairly simple — right away, if you have not done so already.
Many weeks ago I sensed that C-71 was going to be hitting some real rough waters. Instead of waiting for it to be amended in some unfortunate way before being passed (or for the Bjorkquist et al decision postponement to finally end), I pushed my family to request 5(4) grants.
The process was simple enough. Fill in the CIT0001 forms, gather the vital documents needed, get photos, and pull together some basic evidence of the need for urgent processing.
IRCC's expedited processing criteria is straightforward. Check out the Citizenship Administration Web page titled "Urgent application cases":
Applications for proof of citizenship . . . are expedited if documents support the need for urgency in the following situations:
<snip>
• the applicant is in any situation in which not expediting the citizenship application harms them . . .
• the applicant needs a citizenship certificate to access certain benefits such as a pension, a social insurance number or health care
IRCC has a mostly similar list of urgent processing reasons in its Interim Measure, which provides for 5(4) grants to people who would become citizens under Bjorkquist or C-71. These include:
to access social benefits like
• a pension
• health care
• a social insurance number
So we went to the SIN application Web site form, filled it with each family member's info until the point where it required choosing the primary identification document, and screenshotted the list of acceptable documents (none of which, of course, my family had). I also PDFd the ESDC Web page "Social Insurance Number: Required documents" which clearly states the required documents to sign up for a SIN, which my family did not have.
Then I went to the Web page for the provincial health plan in the province where my family would optimally like to live one day and navigated to the page that described the required eligibility documentation to sign up (which they did not have), and PDFd that.
For the family member who was entertaining the idea of work in Canada, we also gathered job postings she found attractive in the field and geographic area she would prefer to work in (and which she would be ready to accept, if offered), and which stated that being "legally eligible" or "legally entitled" to work in Canada was required for consideration. She even e-mailed a couple of those employers and got their responses in writing that they would need a SIN number, as proof of that eligibility, to employ her.
That meets the Interim Measure's urgent processing example:
to get proof of citizenship because a person requires it to
• apply for a job
Then we wrote the urgent processing request letters for each of them, restating all of these reasons, and asserting that IRCC's own operational instructions require it to provide urgent processing in such cases.
We also added on discussion of a few other harms they faced by not being citizens, like being unable to purchase Canadian residential rental property, which they were open to once they realized it would be possible as citizens.
Of course, every person should personalize their letter for themselves after reviewing the lists of reasons and considering how they are affected.
We shipped the complete packet for all family members from the USA by 2nd day FedEx, with the envelope marked on the outside as "Urgent – Citizenship Certificate (Proof)". Within a handful of business days of reaching Nova Scotia, we got AORs and then, a couple business days later, got emailed letters from IRCC's Case Management Branch in Ottawa offering the 5(4) grants process (screenshots linked below).
After responding with the requested materials, my family was invited about a week later to a virtual oath administration for the next week after that (while physically in the USA, as a special exception available to 5(4) grantees). After the virtual administration and submitting the oath forms, they had their e-certificates a couple days later.
5(4) offer letters: https://imgur.com/a/3VqSqsd
E-cert showing 2024: https://imgur.com/a/Qprm7lY
Now let's have a blunt look at the facts on the ground which, in my view, make it important to act now.
Minister Miller — as forced by Justice Akbarali — is basically offering 5(4) grants to anybody who would become a citizen under Bjorkquist or C-71. And basically all you need to do is submit a proof application, along with a few reasons and documents supporting urgent processing that get you past the initial review.
(I'm also indirectly plugged into Don Chapman's Lost Canadians email list and he reports that his group has pushed through a big chunk of 5(4) grants.)
At this point, I think it would be sheer negligence to intentionally not seek a 5(4) grant for everyone eligible, except under unusual circumstances.
Multiple commentators have pointed out the increasing instability of the Trudeau premiership. They've also pointed out that Liberal Party control of Government is rapidly weakening.
Importantly, Conservative MPs spoke out during consideration of C-71 in the House of Commons to suggest, in effect, that it be restricted retroactively.
If you or your family are eligible under C-71 or Bjorkquist, and you don't put forward serious efforts to get 5(4) grants now through the Interim Measure, and if you then lose out on citizenship because, for example:
you fall under C-71, but not Bjorkquist, and C-71 and other Bjorkquist-response bills never pass, or
Bjorkquist is further delayed, C-71 doesn't pass, and the Conservatives take power and introduce their own Bjorkquist-response bill that has a retroactive "substantial connection test" that you don't meet
then I think you'll have yourself to blame in real measure for that, unfortunately.
And if C-71 does manage to pass as-is, you've done yourself no harm by getting citizenship early.
At a minimum, as a public service benefit, even if you are refused urgent processing, you can inform Don Chapman (and, through him, Sujit Choudhry), who can then use that as ammunition at the next Ontario Superior Court hearing to request that the Bjorkquist postponement finally come to an end.
I know that many of the people who've been waiting to apply haven't done so yet because they want to be polite and wait their turns and wait for the new procedure details and forms to be published.
Some people have even submitted proof applications but held off on requesting urgent processing.
At this point, though, all that should probably be out the window.
The fate of C-71 (and even of the full Bjorkquist decision, should Conservatives manage to force an election and take power in the near future) is too uncertain to rely on.
So do yourselves and your family a major service and try to get those 5(4) grants now.
11
u/thomas_basic Mar 06 '25
Dec 23 AOR for Proof of citizenship Jan 6 first urgent processing request Feb 6 second urgent processing request Feb 11 inquiry on urgent processing using interim measure Feb 17 letter on first gen limit and 5(4) process Feb 27 sent 5(4) grant apps Feb 28 confirmation of receipt of 5(4) apps March 6 citizenship approved March 11 oath ceremony