Nearly 1,200 residents of Calgary and the surrounding communities, with ties to countries around the globe, are among the newest citizens of Canada following a busy April for local swearing-in ceremonies.

This month, 1,164 Calgarians, who immigrated to Canada from more than 100 countries, were officially recognized as Canadian citizens. The number is a drastic increase from April 2013 when 284 new citizens were recognized in Calgary.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada views the increase as a sign the citizenship program is becoming more efficient and will continue to improve if the government’s proposed changes to Bill C-24 receive the green light.

"The impressive number of individuals participating in these ceremonies and taking on the full responsibility of Canadian citizenship demonstrates that our government’s efforts to improve the citizenship program and decrease wait times are working,” said Chris Alexander, Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister.

Proposed amendments to Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, are expected to reduce wait times during the approval process for residents seeking Canadian citizenship. Officials with Immigration Canada predict the changes will reduce the average processing time of an application time to less than one year, allowing authorities to address and reach decisions on the current backlog of pending application cases.

In the first three months of 2014, Canada welcomed 75,900 new citizens.