Reply from IRCC to reschedule Oath Ceremony

[jmvisa76]

Hi everyone, I wish this information was explicitly available in IRCC's FAQ so sharing it here for everyone's benefit.
I asked IRCC if I could reschedule my (online) Oath Ceremony (schedule for early November) due to booked travel to see Family in early December (booking was made prior to receiving notices for Citizenship Test and obviously the subsequent Oath Ceremony notice to appear was received).
My challenge is during the Oath I have to destroy my PR card, which means I need a Canadian Passport to re-enter Canada if I travel.
In order to get a Canadian passport, I'll need my Citizenship Certificate, which may take anything between 2 to 6 weeks to arrive by Canada Post + whatever delay is needed to process a Canadian Passport to a new Canadian for the first time. Tight!
Here is the answer I have received (almost 20 days after submitting the question and 2 days before the Oath Ceremony...), which is (thankfully) a lot more specific than what one will find on IRCC's website:

Good Day,
You have been sent a Notice to Appear in Federal Court for the Oath of Citizenship under sections 13.2(1)(b) and 23.1 of the Citizenship Act. Please note the Notice to Appear is not an invitation as there is no discretion on whether or not to attend.
A request to reschedule a Citizenship Ceremony event is only considered under exceptional circumstances, ie death of an immediate family member, hospitalization of an immediate family member, or other situation of emergency/ critical nature etc. Each request must be made in writing and must be accompanied by the supporting documentation ie death certificates, doctor’s notes, or documentation to support the request etc.departure and return airline tickets (Tickets submitted on their own will not support your request).
If you feel that your circumstance warrants review under this criteria you may submit a request via email to this address. This request should clearly outline why your situation is exceptional and needs to have all supporting documentation included when you submit the request. Once received it will be reviewed and you will be notified whether your request will be accommodated.
If you have already missed your Citizenship Ceremony, please submit a detailed explanation as to why you were unable to attend and include any documentation you may have to support your request.

Now I have to hope to be lucky to get my certificate early enough in order to be able to travel with my whole wife and kids to see family I haven't seen since before COVID, or pay some unwelcome additional fees to reschedule my flights to whenever... and postpone another Christmas with the family...
I am very fortunate and grateful to get my citizenship, but the absolute lack of visibility of when things may occur and the lack of control over dates can be a little bit of a frustration.

Does anyone know if there is any way to request for an expedited Certificate of Citizenship? I am willing to go pick it up myself in Niagara Falls office if this is possible...

 

[Miss bee]

Hi everyone, I wish this information was explicitly available in IRCC's FAQ so sharing it here for everyone's benefit.
I asked IRCC if I could reschedule my (online) Oath Ceremony (schedule for early November) due to booked travel to see Family in early December (booking was made prior to receiving notices for Citizenship Test and obviously the subsequent Oath Ceremony notice to appear was received).
My challenge is during the Oath I have to destroy my PR card, which means I need a Canadian Passport to re-enter Canada if I travel.
In order to get a Canadian passport, I'll need my Citizenship Certificate, which may take anything between 2 to 6 weeks to arrive by Canada Post + whatever delay is needed to process a Canadian Passport to a new Canadian for the first time. Tight!
Here is the answer I have received (almost 20 days after submitting the question and 2 days before the Oath Ceremony...), which is (thankfully) a lot more specific than what one will find on IRCC's website:



Now I have to hope to be lucky to get my certificate early enough in order to be able to travel with my whole wife and kids to see family I haven't seen since before COVID, or pay some unwelcome additional fees to reschedule my flights to whenever... and postpone another Christmas with the family...
I am very fortunate and grateful to get my citizenship, but the absolute lack of visibility of when things may occur and the lack of control over dates can be a little bit of a frustration.

Does anyone know if there is any way to request for an expedited Certificate of Citizenship? I am willing to go pick it up myself in Niagara Falls office if this is possible...

So you sent them request to reschedule ceremony and they replied that message?
This is really weird. Mostly they reschedule and ask to send boarding pass when you are back .

 

[akbardxb]

Hi everyone, I wish this information was explicitly available in IRCC's FAQ so sharing it here for everyone's benefit.
I asked IRCC if I could reschedule my (online) Oath Ceremony (schedule for early November) due to booked travel to see Family in early December (booking was made prior to receiving notices for Citizenship Test and obviously the subsequent Oath Ceremony notice to appear was received).
My challenge is during the Oath I have to destroy my PR card, which means I need a Canadian Passport to re-enter Canada if I travel.
In order to get a Canadian passport, I'll need my Citizenship Certificate, which may take anything between 2 to 6 weeks to arrive by Canada Post + whatever delay is needed to process a Canadian Passport to a new Canadian for the first time. Tight!
Here is the answer I have received (almost 20 days after submitting the question and 2 days before the Oath Ceremony...), which is (thankfully) a lot more specific than what one will find on IRCC's website:



Now I have to hope to be lucky to get my certificate early enough in order to be able to travel with my whole wife and kids to see family I haven't seen since before COVID, or pay some unwelcome additional fees to reschedule my flights to whenever... and postpone another Christmas with the family...
I am very fortunate and grateful to get my citizenship, but the absolute lack of visibility of when things may occur and the lack of control over dates can be a little bit of a frustration.

Does anyone know if there is any way to request for an expedited Certificate of Citizenship? I am willing to go pick it up myself in Niagara Falls office if this is possible...

If this is an in person oath, you will likely get your certificate on the day itself. The next step is the passport. Don't apply by mail - go a Passport Canada office with evidence of travel within 25 days and you can get your passport within 48 hrs as. The weakest link in this chain is if you need a visa as a Canadian to travel back to your country of origin; if not, then there doesn't seem to be much of an issue with travel in December.

 

[jmvisa76]

Well, the answer seems like an annoyed "a notice to appear is not a meeting you can reschedule lightly" kind of message. The justification I gave is family travel so not work/academic, death or health-related. Which, to be completely honest, is fair enough. It is December and we are all still recovering from the pandemic, I just lost my job and rescheduling travel will be tough.
I just saw on this thread:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/citizenship-certificate.759229/post-10244566
that it is possible to request to pick up the certificate in Niagara Falls in person 2 days after the Ceremony if the request is made during the Ceremony to the Officer. Can anyone confirm this? That would probably solve my problem (again, I wish that kind of detail was available in IRCC's FAQs)

 

[iceman55]

Well, the answer seems like an annoyed "a notice to appear is not a meeting you can reschedule lightly" kind of message. The justification I gave is family travel so not work/academic, death or health-related. Which, to be completely honest, is fair enough. It is December and we are all still recovering from the pandemic, I just lost my job and rescheduling travel will be tough.
I just saw on this thread:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/citizenship-certificate.759229/post-10244566
that it is possible to request to pick up the certificate in Niagara Falls in person 2 days after the Ceremony if the request is made during the Ceremony to the Officer. Can anyone confirm this? That would probably solve my problem (again, I wish that kind of detail was available in IRCC's FAQs)

I think it's probably a bit challenging for them to handle multiple rescheduling for each event. but there are offices which will ask you before the oath event if you have any urgent travel and will excuse you from the event if you do (instead of having to process the certificate on an urgent basis). Obviously they're taking a different approach here.

In case you end up changing your travel dates you can check if your ticket rules allow for these exceptions in order to waive a cancellation/change fee. You can show this email if needed.

 

[Miss bee]

Well, the answer seems like an annoyed "a notice to appear is not a meeting you can reschedule lightly" kind of message. The justification I gave is family travel so not work/academic, death or health-related. Which, to be completely honest, is fair enough. It is December and we are all still recovering from the pandemic, I just lost my job and rescheduling travel will be tough.
I just saw on this thread:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/citizenship-certificate.759229/post-10244566
that it is possible to request to pick up the certificate in Niagara Falls in person 2 days after the Ceremony if the request is made during the Ceremony to the Officer. Can anyone confirm this? That would probably solve my problem (again, I wish that kind of detail was available in IRCC's FAQs)

Don’t worry. Hope for best you can certainly try to explain to officer about that .

 

[akbardxb]

Well, the answer seems like an annoyed "a notice to appear is not a meeting you can reschedule lightly" kind of message. The justification I gave is family travel so not work/academic, death or health-related. Which, to be completely honest, is fair enough. It is December and we are all still recovering from the pandemic, I just lost my job and rescheduling travel will be tough.
I just saw on this thread:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/citizenship-certificate.759229/post-10244566
that it is possible to request to pick up the certificate in Niagara Falls in person 2 days after the Ceremony if the request is made during the Ceremony to the Officer. Can anyone confirm this? That would probably solve my problem (again, I wish that kind of detail was available in IRCC's FAQs)

There is no harm in requesting. What's the worst that can happen? Request denied!! I tried the same emotional excuse during my oath to expedite my certificate - I haven't seen my family since April 2016. The officer replied curtly, if you would like to reschedule due to travel, please let me know now so we can reschedule at a later date. I said I would go ahead with the Oath. The signed document after the oath had to be sent to the same officer with his initials in the subject line of the email.

In the subject line, instead of just his initials I wrote Attn : Officer XYZ and in the email I thanked him for his work during the oath ceremony.

I got my certificate exactly within one week of the online oath in Mississauga where the average is two weeks mostly. I'd like to believe that being polite helped or maybe I was lucky, but there's no way to prove either of that.

 

[zahadum]

Hi everyone, I wish this information was explicitly available in IRCC's FAQ so sharing it here for everyone's benefit.
I asked IRCC if I could reschedule my (online) Oath Ceremony (schedule for early November) due to booked travel to see Family in early December (booking was made prior to receiving notices for Citizenship Test and obviously the subsequent Oath Ceremony notice to appear was received).
My challenge is during the Oath I have to destroy my PR card, which means I need a Canadian Passport to re-enter Canada if I travel.
In order to get a Canadian passport, I'll need my Citizenship Certificate, which may take anything between 2 to 6 weeks to arrive by Canada Post + whatever delay is needed to process a Canadian Passport to a new Canadian for the first time. Tight!
Here is the answer I have received (almost 20 days after submitting the question and 2 days before the Oath Ceremony...), which is (thankfully) a lot more specific than what one will find on IRCC's website:



Now I have to hope to be lucky to get my certificate early enough in order to be able to travel with my whole wife and kids to see family I haven't seen since before COVID, or pay some unwelcome additional fees to reschedule my flights to whenever... and postpone another Christmas with the family...
I am very fortunate and grateful to get my citizenship, but the absolute lack of visibility of when things may occur and the lack of control over dates can be a little bit of a frustration.

Does anyone know if there is any way to request for an expedited Certificate of Citizenship? I am willing to go pick it up myself in Niagara Falls office if this is possible...

Did you send them a copy of your flight ticket? I was in the same situation like your, but they rescheduled it for my family.

 

[firstax]

Hi everyone, I wish this information was explicitly available in IRCC's FAQ so sharing it here for everyone's benefit.
I asked IRCC if I could reschedule my (online) Oath Ceremony (schedule for early November) due to booked travel to see Family in early December (booking was made prior to receiving notices for Citizenship Test and obviously the subsequent Oath Ceremony notice to appear was received).
My challenge is during the Oath I have to destroy my PR card, which means I need a Canadian Passport to re-enter Canada if I travel.
In order to get a Canadian passport, I'll need my Citizenship Certificate, which may take anything between 2 to 6 weeks to arrive by Canada Post + whatever delay is needed to process a Canadian Passport to a new Canadian for the first time. Tight!
Here is the answer I have received (almost 20 days after submitting the question and 2 days before the Oath Ceremony...), which is (thankfully) a lot more specific than what one will find on IRCC's website:



Now I have to hope to be lucky to get my certificate early enough in order to be able to travel with my whole wife and kids to see family I haven't seen since before COVID, or pay some unwelcome additional fees to reschedule my flights to whenever... and postpone another Christmas with the family...
I am very fortunate and grateful to get my citizenship, but the absolute lack of visibility of when things may occur and the lack of control over dates can be a little bit of a frustration.

Does anyone know if there is any way to request for an expedited Certificate of Citizenship? I am willing to go pick it up myself in Niagara Falls office if this is possible...

It seems you are scheduled for an in-person oath ceremony so you'll be getting your certificate on the same day. You can go in person to a Passport office to request for urgent passport. You may have gotten an officer that was having a bad day lol, I suggest to be careful with your response because they can put you on a long wait.

 

[canvis2006]

If its an In-person ceremony u will walk out with certificate in hand
Go to a passport office next day and get express/urgent passport…..urgent can be processed same day or next day, show proof of travel
Its doable if there’s few days margin between oath and travel day!

 

[Jetrocker]

Hi, I applied in March 2021 and so far only my background check and test are completed. After waiting for a long time, I came to India recently for the purpose of getting married as my age is catching up (I'm 33 years old and going to be 34 in January). Right now, I'm in India in search of a bride. My PR Card will be expiring on November 17 2022 and mostly I would have to apply for PRTD to return to Canada.

Recently, when I checked my citizenship tracker, I received a blank update on October 8 2022. Based on that, is there any indication that I would get my Decision Made update soon?

My current plan is to get married in India and then return back to Canada but if I get an oath invitation in the meantime, I'm not sure how easy is it to reschedule the oath? Do they ask for a tentative return date and then reschedule the oath based on the return date? If they ask for a return date, then I'm planning to explain them that I have to apply for PRTD and then book tickets accordingly.

Besides, are there specific (exceptional) conditions only under which IRCC reschedule the oath? Would my reason of wanting to get married be good enough for them?

Otherwise, once I get my Decision Made, can I request them to schedule my oath in 2 to 3 months so that I can apply for PRTD during that time and return back in time for the oath?

My processing office is Scarborough. I request the experts to please provide your valuable guidance.

 

[Jetrocker]

I also want to ask if IRCC does reschedule oath, is there any limit on the number of days they can hold my file. I read somewhere that IRCC doesn't hold the file for more than 6 months. Is it true?

 

[Jetrocker]

Hi, can someone please reply to my query?

 

[firstax]

@msatishxp IRCC officers consider each case individually and from looking at this forum I have seen officers make different decisions for the same requests from different persons. No one can tell you for sure what the October 8 update means, IRCC recently updated their systems around October 7 so it could be that or it could be an officer has looked at your file.
If I was in your shoes, I'll apply for PRTD immediately so that if you need to come back for the oath then you'll have one ready. Yes, I've heard of the 6 months deadline so I'll just have my documents like PRTD ready so that in case you get an oath invite, you can come immediately get the oath and then go back to your home country.

 

[Jetrocker]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I want to update that I have decided to postpone my marriage plans and return to Canada before my PR Card expires. So just booked my ticket as well.