June 1, 2025 — A new study indicates that most Filipinos in Canada are committed to staying for good.
This finding was established as part of a broader research conducted by Statistics Canada, in collaboration with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Released on May 16, 2025, the report looked at two factors: rate of acquisition of citizenship, and active presence, as measured by filing of income taxes.
The study examined data related to immigrants who were admitted to Canada from 2003 to 2012, and who were aged 25 to 54 upon arrival.
Among the top three source countries of immigrants to Canada, newcomers from the Philippines had a higher citizenship rate of 73.7 percent, compared to China, 48.6 percent, and India, 63.8 percent.
As for active presence, which is filing of income taxes, immigrants from the Philippines, and who had acquired Canadian citizenship, also had a higher rate of 96.7 percent, compared to China, 89.7 percent, and India, 94.6 percent.
Even for Filipinos who did not take on Canadian citizenship, they have a higher percentage in terms of filing of taxes, with 75.7 percent, compared to China, 71.7 percent, and India, 65 percent.
The study is titled “Citizenship Acquisition and Active Presence of Immigrants in Canada”. It was prepared by Feng Hou and Garnett Picot of Statistics Canada.
The research explored the relationship between Canadian citizenship and active presence in Canada, as measured by the filing of income taxes.
The authors noted that their findings “suggest that immigrants who choose to become Canadian citizens are highly committed to staying in Canada”.
“Overall, the proportion of immigrants who were active after 10 years was much higher among immigrants who were citizens than among those who were not,” the authors wrote.
The study also found that the rate of acquisition of Canadian citizenship varies depending on where immigrants came from.
“By country of birth, immigrants from developed countries tend to have a lower citizenship rate than others. This well-known observation is related to the fact that such immigrants already have a “valuable” passport, and acquiring a Canadian passport is not a significant advantage for them,” the paper stated.
“Also, the possibility of return migration to wealthier nations is greater than the likelihood of returning to a lower-income country. Anticipating such a possibility, immigrants may not apply for Canadian citizenship.”
The study noted that the citizenship rate among immigrants from developed countries, such as the United States, France, the United Kingdom and South Korea, was 35 percent (the U.S.) to 54 percent (South Korea) 10 years after admission.
“Interestingly, in recent years, China (49%) has joined the ranks of these countries with lower citizenship rates. Immigrants from developing countries, such as Colombia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Iran, had citizenship rates of 74% to 82%.”
The study dovetails with previous findings about Filipino immigrants in Canada.
One is titled “Filipino Canadian proud with a strong sense of belonging”, and this released by Statistics Canada on June 19, 2023.
“Although most Filipino Canadians are relative newcomers to Canada, over 9 in 10 (92.0%) reported a somewhat strong or very strong sense of belonging to Canada in the spring of 2022, compared with 84.2% of Canadians overall,” the 2023 reported stated.
“In fact,” the report also noted, “Filipino Canadians overall reported a much stronger sense of belonging to their province, town or city, or community than Canadians overall.”
On February 13, 2025, Statistics Canada presented a report titled “Perceived health and well-being indicators among racialized groups, 2023”.
This abovementioned paper noted that among the seven biggest racialized groups in Canada, Filipinos are doing largely better than South Asian, Chinese, Black, Latin American, Arab, and Southeast Asian peoples in terms of physical and mental health.
In short, Filipinos feel good about their lives in Canada.
“A majority (94.1%) of the Filipino population who immigrated between 2013 and 2023 reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their life as a whole. In comparison, 84.8% of the Canadian-born population reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their life as a whole, a lower proportion than the Filipino population who immigrated before 2013 (90.9%),” the February 13, 2025 paper stated.
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