
How Can a Foreigner (Like Nigerian) Obtain Canadian Citizenship?
To become a Canadian citizen, you must
- be a permanent resident
- have lived in Canada for 3 out of the last 5 years
- have filed your taxes, if you need to
- pass a test on your rights, responsibilities and knowledge of Canada
- prove your language skills
Depending on your situation, there may be additional requirements.
Canadian Citizenship Requirements

Minor Application (under 18 years of age)
If you are a Minor under 18 years of age, you can apply for citizenship if you have permanent residency and have a parent who is either a Canadian citizen or who is applying for citizenship at the same time. All that is required from you is to complete the application and pay the processing fee — you don’t need to take the citizenship test.

Factors that may make you ineligibile for Canadian citizenship;
Citizenship Revocation Process
The revocation of Canadian citizenship is a very serious matter that will likely have a tremendous impact on the life and future of the person concerned. Depending on the reasons provided for seeking revocation, a person who loses their citizenship may also lose their permanent residence and face removal from Canada. If you or a family member is facing the revocation of citizenship and want to challenge this decision, legal counsel is important as this is a highly complex area of law.
Why can the Government seek to take citizenship away?
If Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) believes that you obtained your citizenship through “false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances”, they can start proceedings to take citizenship away from you. This means, that if you were untruthful in setting out your period of residence in Canada or, for example, did not disclose a criminal record that you are at risk of losing your citizenship.
Recently the Government has passed new amendments to the Citizenship Act that will also allow – when the new provisions come into force – IRCC to take citizenship away from individuals who are believed to be involved in acts of terrorism and/or has committed treason against Canada.
What happens if my citizenship is revoked?
If you were honest on your application for permanent residence, and so the only errors are with your citizenship application, then on loss of citizenship you become a permanent resident. For example, if your days of declared residence in Canada were wrong, you would again become a permanent resident of Canada.
It is possible that on return to being a permanent resident that you will face additional challenges. If, while you were a permanent resident of Canada, you committed a crime overseas and did not disclose this on your citizenship application, then on return to being a permanent resident (after loss of citizenship) you may face allegations that you are inadmissible to Canada for criminality.
On the other hand, if you also misrepresented yourself on your permanent residence application then loss of citizenship will lead directly to loss of permanent resident.