A Global News review found that citizenship revocation cases in Canada often take more than 10 years, even when the government has significant evidence of fraud or misrepresentation.
Immigration lawyers say the process is slow because revoking citizenship is legally complex and must include strong procedural fairness safeguards. Legislative changes over the past decade have also forced some cases to be restarted or delayed.
Under current Canadian law, citizenship can generally be revoked only if it was obtained through fraud, false representation or concealment of material facts. The immigration minister or Federal Court must approve revocation.
The Rana case has intensified debate over whether Canada’s citizenship system is strong enough to identify fraud before citizenship is granted and whether the revocation process moves quickly enough in serious national security cases.
Critics argue that when citizenship is allegedly obtained through false information, particularly in cases tied to terrorism or war crimes, the process should not take decades.
Government officials say revocation remains rare and is handled carefully because citizenship is a serious legal status with major consequences.
Since 2024, Canada has revoked citizenship in about two dozen cases, while several others remain before the Federal Court. Officials also reviewed dozens of additional cases but decided not to proceed due to personal circumstances.
The case has been especially painful for survivors of the Mumbai attack. Canadian survivor Michael Rudder, who was shot multiple times during the attack, said he supports revoking Rana’s citizenship.
The controversy now leaves Canada facing two difficult questions: how someone accused of serious deception received citizenship in the first place, and why undoing that decision has taken so long.