I think its basically based on the visa officer its assigned to. I saw some people who had submitted after me, online application, but already have their citizenship certificate. I on the other hand just got the oath invite. However, no email yet. I didnt get an email for the test either.
Are these visa officers working as they should? Do they have to click a button to send automated emails to applicants that most click, but some (like in my case) simply just forget to because of workload?
There is no clarity on internal processes and am sure it is also a product of workforce reduction/cost cutting on the govt's part.
I don't believe that a file is exclusively handled by a single officer. Each aspect is handled by different experts. So it would seem that our files are being tagged as low priority/extra review etc. On what grounds? We don’t know.
Frankly, even 12 months is too long. It should be no more than 6 months like for PR. This is of course, a political issue rather than bureaucratic, as they are investing heavily in approving student and PR applications. No government is keen to quickly offer citizenship for obvious reasons.
Taking a cynical view, it could be that the system is rigged to ensure compliance. That certainly fits in with Canadian political culture and history. So those applicants processed quickly would forever be loyal and grateful to the Crown. And those who have to suffer delays and hardship would eventually see it as a badge of honour and hard earned rite of passage.. and make them grateful and loyal to the Crown. Both these hoodwinked groups would quickly put down any complaints as "un Canadian" "you should be grateful" etc.
However people forget that having citizenship of the land where you have made a life and a sacrifice of all other lands, and where you are legally permissible, is a fundamental human right. So playing political games with citizenship (not allocating resources and perhaps even purposefully delaying certain applications) is therefore unjust.
Of course as a mere PR, I'm not allowed to have any opinion on this, nor can I vote for change.
