Citizenship Fee Remission Order

Summary#

The Fee Payable for the Right to be a Citizen Remission Order cancels unpaid increases to the citizenship “right of citizenship” fee that were not charged between March 31, 2020 and March 30, 2025. It wipes out about $9,074,409.42 in foregone fees that would have affected roughly 1.2 million applicants, with per-person amounts from $2.20 to $14.89.

What it does#

• Remits (forgives) the uncollected annual fee increases to the “right of citizenship” charged under the Citizenship Regulations for the period March 31, 2020 to March 30, 2025. The order was made under the Financial Administration Act.
• Notes that the increases were required under the Service Fees Act (they follow the Consumer Price Index), but the department did not apply them until March 31, 2025.
• Reports the total unpaid amounts as $9,074,409.42 and explains why the government will not try to recover the money.
• Gives a year-by-year breakdown of the uncollected increases:
  • 2020–2021: $2.20 increase; 26,233 cases; $57,712.60 foregone
  • 2021–2022: $4.24 increase; 204,448 cases; $867,677.31 foregone
  • 2022–2023: $4.04 increase; 299,106 cases; $1,207,045.85 foregone
  • 2023–2024: $7.57 increase; 324,386 cases; $2,456,484.16 foregone
  • 2024–2025: $14.89 increase; 301,289 cases; $4,485,489.50 foregone

Who's affected#

• Adult applicants for Canadian citizenship whose applications were finalized between March 31, 2020 and March 30, 2025.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is the department involved; it will report the remissions in its fees reports and public accounts.
• The order mainly affects many former applicants who would otherwise have been asked to pay small amounts; it does not target a specific demographic beyond those applicants.

Why it matters#

• People who applied for citizenship during that five-year span will not be contacted to pay small past increases (between $2.20 and $14.89 each).
• Trying to collect these small amounts from about 1.2 million people would be expensive and difficult because many applicants finished their files up to five years ago and contact details may have changed.
• The remission avoids the administrative and IT work needed to track and bill a large number of people for small sums, and the total waived amount ($9,074,409.42) will be shown in IRCC’s financial reports.