Just found out only 14 countries actually have a path to citizenship for refugees

I was looking up something totally different the other night about visa stuff and stumbled on this. Turns out there's only 14 countries in the whole world that let refugees become full citizens after they come. I always thought more places had that option but nope. The UN Refugee Agency had a report from 2023 that broke it all down. Mexico was one of them which surprised me because I always think of them as a transit country. Syria and Turkey are not on that list which kind of blew my mind since they host so many people. Australia and Canada are on it but the process takes like 10 years minimum from what I read. Does anyone here actually know someone who made it through the whole citizenship process in one of those countries? I want to know if it's just a paper thing or if people really do get citizenship in the end.

2 comments

2 Comments

robin48911d ago

That "14 countries" number really threw me too when I first saw it, I mean I always assumed most places had some path. Actually, I know someone from Somalia who went through the whole citizenship process in Australia. It took them about 12 years from when they first got refugee status, not just the minimum 10. The paperwork is insane, they had to prove everything like their whole life story over and over, plus language tests and waiting periods. But yeah, they finally got it, so it's not just a paper thing, people do make it through. The main thing is you gotta stay out of legal trouble and keep up with all the appointments, because one slip up can reset the whole timeline. I'd say for anyone thinking about it, start the process as soon as you're settled, don't wait for things to be perfect.

evan_stone10d ago

@robin489 that's wild it took 12 years, I heard Canada's process drags out even longer lol.