Fewer immigrants getting citizenship amid the pandemic
According to the official figures by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the number of new citizens to Canada drastically decreased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis. According to IRCC, 103,020 applicants attained Canadian citizenship from Jan. to Oct. in 2020, a decrease from 212,147 people becoming citizens in the same period of 2019. Surprisingly, 14,757 newcomers from the Philippines obtained Canadian citizenship in 2020, making up the biggest portion of new citizens, followed by 14,535 new citizens from India. The other countries in the top ten were Iran, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, the USA, Egypt, Iraq, and France.