Fewer immigrants are applying for citizenship despite record immigration: report

'A more significant decline was observed among recent immigrants who arrived in Canada five to nine years before each Census,' said Statistics Canada. 'Their citizenship rate peaked at 75.4 percent in 1996 and declined to 45.7 percent by 2021, falling by 29.7 points over 25 years.'

  • By Alex Dhaliwal
  • March 01, 2024
  • News Analysis
Fewer immigrants are applying for citizenship despite record immigration: report
The Canadian Press / Justin Tang and The Canadian Press / Sean Kilpatrick
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According to Statistics Canada, fewer immigrants are applying for citizenship despite record immigration.

“Assessing why the citizenship rate of recent immigrants has declined since 1996 is beyond the scope of this paper,” said a StatsCan report The Decline In The Citizenship Rate Among Recent Immigrants To Canada. 

On Wednesday, the federal agency could not explain the 30-point drop in citizenship rates, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. “At this point, the reasons are not well known,” the report reads.

Census 2021 figures showed only 46% of recent immigrants became Canadians compared to 75% a generation ago in 1996. 

Census data indicated Canada’s citizenship rate rose slowly from 1991 to 2016 then declined for the first time in 2021. “The citizenship rate among recent immigrants has decreased significantly,” wrote analysts.

According to Citizenship Rate, most immigrants become citizens within nine years of being in Canada. Relatively few become citizens after being in Canada for more than a decade. 

“A more significant decline was observed among recent immigrants who arrived in Canada five to nine years before each Census,” said the report. “Their citizenship rate peaked at 75.4 percent in 1996 and declined to 45.7 percent by 2021, falling by 29.7 points over 25 years.”

“Even after accounting for the pandemic effect the citizenship rate declined at a faster rate,” said Citizenship Rate.

Current immigration quotas are 500,000 in addition to 227,000 annual permits for temporary foreign workers and 983,000 study permits for foreign students. 

The Commons on February 13 voted 173 to 150 in support of a Bloc Québécois motion to urge a federal review of immigration quotas “based on the integration capacity.”

Despite the record immigration levels, opposition continues to grow to how much governments tax Canadians. According to in-house research by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Nigerians and Syrians believe Canadians pay too many taxes.

Among those interviewed by CRA researchers, the consensus is that “taxes in Canada are expensive,” reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

“Canadians pay a lot of taxes,” said one immigrant. “It’s scary,” said another. “They add up,” said a third.

“Newcomers often mentioned it being an ‘expensive’ part of living in Canada,” said a CRA report, Qualitative Research On First Time Tax Filing With Newcomers To Canada. “Especially because [they] often earned little or no income in their early years in Canada,” it reads.

“They emphasized the need to keep as much of their income as possible,” the report noted.

Last year, the average Canadian family of two or more people paid $64,610 in taxes, representing 46.1% of their annual gross income ($140,106). In 2022, the average family paid 45.2% of its income to the government.

An earlier Leger poll confirmed over half (52%) of Canadians believe the average family should pay 25% or less of their income to the government. Four in every five support paying the government less than 40% of their income.

Despite the reservations from newcomers, researchers said many understand that taxes are an “important part of living in Canada” — to pay for critical infrastructure like roads and hospitals.

“The fact roads are drivable and health care is free makes newcomers feel the tax they pay is being used to improve everyday life,” said Newcomers.

But Leger uncovered that nearly half (44%) of Canadians believe they're getting poor or very poor value from government services. Less than three-quarters (74%) believe a family of two or more people is over-taxed by all levels of government.

As a result, more and more immigrants believe the Canadian dream has died, and are returning to their homeland or going elsewhere.

According to Emigration of Immigrants: Results from the Longitudinal Immigration Database, 5.1% of immigrants who became permanent residents between 1982 and 2017 emigrated from Canada within five years of their admission. That jumps to 16% of newcomers within 20 years of residency.

"While some immigrants may have planned to leave Canada at some point, emigration may also attest to the difficulties many immigrants encounter in integrating into the Canadian labour market or society," the study reads.

Those permitted entry through investor and entrepreneur categories are more likely to emigrate, it said.

At least one in three (30%) of immigrants from the investor and entrepreneur categories emigrate within 20 years of admission. The departure of highly skilled labour negatively impacts the country's economic growth, StatsCan explained.

Conversely, less-educated immigrants, refugees and those admitted through caregiver streams are more likely to stay, typically including immigrants from the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Jamaica, said the federal agency.

Canada Immigration Economy News Analysis Trudeau Must Resign
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