Unfair treatment to online applicants. Is there anything we can do?

[medwiz]

And one more thing to add in this very important discussion:
Citizenship applications in general (online or paper based) are NOT (and should not) be a priority. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is.
For the government, it is more important to clear other backlogs ASAP eg: Passports (because of the big media attention this is getting), PR applications and work permit applications ( because it's a hot political issue especially with labor shortages and the need to fulfill the government's political promises of admitting more immigrants). Even study visas are more important because they are usually time sensitive and because they are also another stream of admitting more potential immigrants.
As a PR applying to be a citizen...what's the worst that can happen if Ur application gets delayed? I realize some ppl may need this quickly to get Passports since they may be already stateless etc but again those are in the minority unfortunately...
So everyone hang in there

 

[cara269]

And one more thing to add in this very important discussion:
Citizenship applications in general (online or paper based) are NOT (and should not) be a priority. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is.
For the government, it is more important to clear other backlogs ASAP eg: Passports (because of the big media attention this is getting), PR applications and work permit applications ( because it's a hot political issue especially with labor shortages and the need to fulfill the government's political promises of admitting more immigrants). Even study visas are more important because they are usually time sensitive and because they are also another stream of admitting more potential immigrants.
As a PR applying to be a citizen...what's the worst that can happen if Ur application gets delayed? I realize some ppl may need this quickly to get Passports since they may be already stateless etc but again those are in the minority unfortunately...
So everyone hang in there

Exactly, there plenty to enjoy in Canada wile your citizenship application is in process .




Latest IRCC processing times
https://immigrationnewscanada.ca/know-ircc-latest-processing-times-as-of-august-30-2022/

 

[mbaleine]

Evidence of IRCC prioritizing paper over online? There's plenty of evidence. ATIP responses acquired by multiple people on this forum clearly indicated that it is their STRATEGY to prioritize paper over online applications until they clear all the paper applications. Their rationale was that once all the paper apps were gone, they could then focus their energy on online. Might make sense at first glance, but practically it is dumb AF because people are not stupid and people talk to each other -- once people find out that paper apps are being processed faster, they will opt for paper app instead of online, thereby creating a NEVER ENDING stream of paper app workloads for IRCC to "clear".

I think people who applied online and are being de-prioritized over paper apps absolutely should complain. Make it loud and clear. No point coming to a country that prides itself of being part of the "free world" only to be a sheep who's afraid to make your own voice heard. I doubt mass emails to politicians make any difference though. Those accounts are monitors and handled by their assistants anyways. Whether those assistants report these complaints to their bosses is entirely unclear. What I do think people can and should do, though, is to talk to the media. Traditional media (newspaper, CBC, etc), new media (TikTok, FB, etc) -- things that the public consume and that get the public riled up. After all, politicians and the government work for and answer to the people.

 

[Varunaimar]

And one more thing to add in this very important discussion:
Citizenship applications in general (online or paper based) are NOT (and should not) be a priority. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is.
For the government, it is more important to clear other backlogs ASAP eg: Passports (because of the big media attention this is getting), PR applications and work permit applications ( because it's a hot political issue especially with labor shortages and the need to fulfill the government's political promises of admitting more immigrants). Even study visas are more important because they are usually time sensitive and because they are also another stream of admitting more potential immigrants.
As a PR applying to be a citizen...what's the worst that can happen if Ur application gets delayed? I realize some ppl may need this quickly to get Passports since they may be already stateless etc but again those are in the minority unfortunately...
So everyone hang in there

All valid points there, but the reason people need the passports quickly is because it would hamper long term travel plans and disrupt schedules. Again, in IRCC's perspective they may have the lowest priority at the moment but unfortunately for those who are waiting for new passports (and new visas) and cannot travel without them, it becomes a setback.

 

[nlhugh]

Thanks for your post, by the way do you think it is fair that people applied in Feb 2022 by paper already did their oath ? Also kids attending schools in person from last year while IRCC still working from home because they may got Covid 19 ?

It's crazy that the liberal government keeps their Covid-19 measures till this moment at federal jurisdiction. You can look at any other Western or Asian countries with more restrictive measures during the pandemic, they now have more common sense then this federal government of Canada does. We the tax payers have all returned to work, business as usual, while these public servants getting wage from tax, still work from their cages.

My wife applied on paper in Jan 2022 and she took her oath this month - well good for our family, I can't be happier for her result. I applied online half a year before her, and didn't get update since my test completed.
To me, the fact that the new Canadians still have to take the oath via sloppy online ceremonies now in summer 2022 is just embarrassing to the rest of the world.

 

[medwiz]

It's crazy that the liberal government keeps their Covid-19 measures till this moment at federal jurisdiction. You can look at any other Western or Asian countries with more restrictive measures during the pandemic, they now have more common sense then this federal government of Canada does. We the tax payers have all returned to work, business as usual, while these public servants getting wage from tax, still work from their cages.

My wife applied on paper in Jan 2022 and she took her oath this month - well good for our family, I can't be happier for her result. I applied online half a year before her, and didn't get update since my test completed.
To me, the fact that the new Canadians still have to take the oath online now in summer 2022 is just embarrassing to the rest of the world.

I honestly don't mind them.keeping COVID restrictions..working from home and everything Virtual etc...hey I'm still WFH am not complaining...as long as they process quickly it doesn't matter how they do it lool

 

[RickyT]

Yeah, it's ridiculous that paper applications are STILL being prioritized and makes me so mad that someone who APPLIED TODAY! via paper will get processed faster than myself who applied several months ago. Until they start processing these applications in the order they arrive then we might see some hope. Heck, even just cancel paper applications altogether, we are in the 21st century so start processing applications quickly via the Online method as it should be a much quicker process to check everything SINCE ITS ONLINE.... Paper applications mean someone needs to manually go check every piece of paper, its so slow.

I don't know what the processing team or management are thinking its just general common sense to process things in which the order they are received.

I also can't believe that some people don't think paper applications are being prioritized... Just go look at every damn Excel spreadsheet tracker over the last 2 years, FIX THIS PROCESS.

 

[atzquebec]

And one more thing to add in this very important discussion:
Citizenship applications in general (online or paper based) are NOT (and should not) be a priority. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is.
For the government, it is more important to clear other backlogs ASAP eg: Passports (because of the big media attention this is getting), PR applications and work permit applications ( because it's a hot political issue especially with labor shortages and the need to fulfill the government's political promises of admitting more immigrants). Even study visas are more important because they are usually time sensitive and because they are also another stream of admitting more potential immigrants.
As a PR applying to be a citizen...what's the worst that can happen if Ur application gets delayed? I realize some ppl may need this quickly to get Passports since they may be already stateless etc but again those are in the minority unfortunately...
So everyone hang in there

Totally agree. Being a Canadian a PR is absolutely amazing. Billions would die to be one.

 

[trumprefugee]

The Canadian government REQUESTED you apply for citizenship and to do so using the online procedure? Was that a personal request to you?

In recent months, the page actually has been updated to imply that those who are eligible to apply online are encouraged to apply online, by putting "Apply online, if you can" first on the page, before the "Apply on paper" heading, as opposed to last year when the link to apply online was not as easily findable and people were "randomly selected" to apply online:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/become-canadian-citizen/apply.html

Apply online, if you can

 

[trumprefugee]

Well said...

Bottom line, being frustrated and annoyed at how slow IRCC are moving along is one thing... resenting other applicants for having better luck is just silly

It is reasonable to resent IRCC for not being at all transparent about how they are prioritizing applications. Common sense and fairness say that applications should be processed FIFO, but here we have 2022 paper applications processed in 4-6 months while 2021 applications wait 10-18 months, 2020 applications 2+ years, and 2019 applications 3+ years. At least strive to minimize the variance and process all applications in say 20 months instead of 4 months for the 2022 ones and 40 months for the 2019 ones.

 

[trumprefugee]

As a PR applying to be a citizen...what's the worst that can happen if Ur application gets delayed? I realize some ppl may need this quickly to get Passports since they may be already stateless etc but again those are in the minority unfortunately...
So everyone hang in there

Totally agree. Being a Canadian a PR is absolutely amazing. Billions would die to be one.

In reality, being a Canadian PR is like being a prisoner on parole for many of us with geographic restrictions. We have a few different classes of PRs, all of whom face different restrictions, but restrictions nonetheless that can severely damage their quality of life.

Let's start from the bottom, the refugees. They aren't even allowed to visit their home countries or even keep or renew their home country passports. And they are processed most slowly. Look in the refugees forum to see those who have had to forego visiting sick or dying family members for fear of losing their PR status.

Next from the bottom are PNP PRs, who must stay in their province of nomination as long as they are PRs. This is similar to the strict geographic restrictions placed on parolees. If these PNP nominees continue to like their province of nomination, that's all well and good, but sometimes the province does not work out and they really need to move to keep their sanity.

On a similar level are spousal sponsorship PRs, who must stay married to their spouses. If the marriage stays good, then all is great, but if there are bad marital problems if not abuse, that can put the PR in a pretty miserable situation while they wait indefinitely for citizenship.

Finally, the FSW EE PRs have the most rights, so they are likely the ones to say what's the big deal of citizenship being delayed, since they can live anywhere except Quebec. But if they happen to want to try out Quebec, they still have to wait for citizenship. And I have to point out the irony of the government strongly urging all immigrants to become proficient in French and making a stink when certain government officials or company leaders don't speak French, but not allowing any PR except those who specifically immigrated to Quebec to live there. Well, full immersion in a Francophone environment is the best way to learn the language! That's why many government workers outside Quebec who need to learn French well for their jobs still struggle to do so.

These limitations are all in addition to those that apply to all PRs, like being excluded from a number of government jobs and not having the freedom to spend much time living or traveling abroad. Cross border truckers are one example of people for whom the PR restrictions very negatively impact their work.

The government should either speed up citizenship applications or relax the restrictions placed on PRs after a certain number of years.

 

[firstax]

I disagree with some of the comments on this thread. Demanding to be treated fairly is not unreasonable. If there was maybe a few weeks or even a month or 2 gap between the processing of Online vs Paper, I would live with it. Instead there is not a single Online applicant that has been processed this year. An ATIP request shows that they are only attending to 5000 online applicants from October 2021. When a new request was made about the plan for the other Online applicants to date, IRCC has not responded. Citizenship applicants are tax payers that contribute immensely to the Canadian system, they should be treated fairly and transparently.
All IRCC had to do was to put in a disclaimer that says that Online Apps may be delayed due to whatever reason so that people that are in no rush could choose for themselves. And the pandemic is no longer an excuse to slow down anything, there's lots of vaccines and high quality masks are now readily available. One would think that they would love Online apps since they dont have to quarantine the paper applications first and have a staff go through all the pages and then scan the documents. Nothing IRCC does makes any sense

 

[wink]

Whoever refuting the claim is basically refusing to see the evidences available right in front of them. IRCC's internal memo itself enough to support the claim. And then the tracker sheets from Oct'21 to till now supports the IRCC's memo. If someone is will fully looking away, there is no point in trying to convince them, maybe?

I am sure someone going to say that the sample size here is small and may not reflect what's happening outside this forum.

 

[mbaleine]

Whoever refuting the claim is basically refusing to see the evidences available right in front of them. IRCC's internal memo itself enough to support the claim. And then the tracker sheets from Oct'21 to till now supports the IRCC's memo. If someone is will fully looking away, there is no point in trying to convince them, maybe?

I am sure someone going to say that the sample size here is small and may not reflect what's happening outside this forum.

Lifting from ATIP from IRCC:

"Most importantly, this will also allow the Citizenship Program to concentrate on processing the aging paper inventory while building digital processing capacity and gradually transitioning to an electronic inventory. Not focusing on eliminating the paper inventory first and prioritizing processing of new e-apps would result in a large stagnant paper inventory with processing times reaching at least four years, if not longer."

https://www.docdroid.net/P3J2BG6/atip-eapp-pdf#page=3

 

[trumprefugee]

Lifting from ATIP from IRCC:

"Most importantly, this will also allow the Citizenship Program to concentrate on processing the aging paper inventory while building digital processing capacity and gradually transitioning to an electronic inventory. Not focusing on eliminating the paper inventory first and prioritizing processing of new e-apps would result in a large stagnant paper inventory with processing times reaching at least four years, if not longer."

https://www.docdroid.net/P3J2BG6/atip-eapp-pdf#page=3

Sooo .... why are they not finishing up the very aged 2020 and 2019 paper inventory before processing the 2022 paper applications?