This just might be the most efficient program run by Canada’s immigration department.

It has no application fees, takes an average of 14 days to process and applicants have a success rate as high as 97 per cent.

Ottawa’s new program that allows immigrants to voluntarily give up their permanent resident status has attracted a lot of interest since its inception in November 2014, despite a lack of any publicity.

According to government data, 5,205 applications were submitted in 2015 from immigrants who wanted to relinquish their permanent resident status for various reasons. Only 17 were rejected.

In the first six months of this year, officials received 7,378 applications — 7,146 were granted, 20 rejected and the rest are pending a decision.

“No question these numbers are high,” said Ryerson University professor Myer Siemiatycki, who teaches immigration and settlement studies. “Possibly part of the storyline is dashed immigrants’ dreams and that Canada really isn’t for them or it has less to do with Canada but the policies of their homeland on things such as recognition of dual citizenships.”

The renunciation program was introduced by then-immigration minister Chris Alexander as a way out for newcomers who failed to meet the residency obligation and have no desire to remain in Canada as permanent residents, but still wish to visit Canada to see friends and family without being barred from entry.

In other cases, individuals may be required to provide proof that they have given up Canadian permanent resident status in order to obtain benefits from their country of origin or a third country, such as accepting a diplomatic posting, renewing civil documents (national identity cards, health or pension coverage) or entering military service.

“Prior to this, there was no legislative mechanism to voluntarily renounce permanent resident status,” said immigration department spokesperson Nancy Caron.

“In the past, officials only had an administrative procedure to follow, known as relinquishment, to allow a permanent resident to give up their status in favour of being treated as a foreign national. The new regulation aimed to close that gap.”

By voluntarily giving up their status, immigrants lose all the privileges and benefits of permanent residents such as government assistance and health care, and are simply treated as foreigners. They will need to apply for a visa if they come from a visa-required country, and must meet all travel security requirements in order to be admitted.

Instead of being barred from entry with a removal order for failing to meet residency requirements, those who give up their status voluntarily face no negative consequences if they choose to re-apply for immigration to Canada in the future, said immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman.

Under immigration law, a person can’t lose their status until officials make a finding that they’ve breached their residency obligations — a situation that often involves a lot of red tape that clogs up the system.

With tens of thousands of immigrants who have left the country for all sorts of reasons with no intention of returning, Waldman said the voluntary renunciation program is a great alternative.

“If fills the gap in the legislation and allows people to give up their permanent resident status in a painless way. It’s good to give them that option,” noted Waldman, who believes the number of renunciation applications will remain high.

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Isabella Antonette D’Cunha, a former immigrant originally from Pakistan, said she was not surprised at the number of people giving up their permanent status.

In June, the 59-year-old retiree from the World Bank in Washington, D.C. applied to relinquish her status after calling Mississauga home for nine years because of what she called a bureaucratic mess-up over her citizenship application that began with a residency questionnaire demanding proof she had been physically in Canada long enough to become a citizen.

“I had no interest in renewing my permanent resident card. I was simply fed up, frustrated and totally aghast,” said D’Cunha, who moved to the United States in 1993 for her job and immigrated to Canada in 2007 after marrying a Canadian. She has since moved back to the United States.

“I thought if after nine years of being a permanent resident, they don’t know me, then they never will. I just gave up on the system. I feel I wasted nine precious years where I could have gotten the citizenship four, five years ago and done some things differently in and with my life.”