PR renewal is in secondary review-Now eligible for citizenship

[Namenou]

Hello seniors in this forum and everybody,
Please, I need you to answer my question.
I applied for renewing my PR more than a year ago. My file went to secondary review and I was asked to submit some additional documents. One of them was entry/exit certificate. I was given 30 days for the submission of those documents. Due to the difficulty of getting this certificate from my home country, and due to some health issues that kept me worried for few months, I couldn't submit the documents required. In their letter, they informed me that if they don't receive my documents in 30 days, they will consider my application abandoned and this will require me to submit a new application, pay new fees, new photos....
As I was approaching the eligibility of applying for a citizenship, I just forgot about my PR as I was sure that I am not travelling anywhere.
My question is: Now I am eligible for citizenship. Do you think I should proceed to submit my application for citizenship or you think I still have to submit a new application for my PR renewal first? Does the status of my application which is in the "secondary review" affect my citizenship application?
Also, what do they mean by considering application abandoned?

 

[rish888]

An abandoned application means exactly that. You abandoned it. Practically this means they stop processing it.

You can apply for citizenship, you don't need to apply for a PR card to apply for citizenship.

 

[Namenou]

Thank you rish888.
I read somewhere that applicants whose PR application is in secondary review status can't apply to citizenship before they get their PR status resolved.
What do you know about that? Does the secondary review status prevent me from applying to citizenship?

 

[rish888]

You abandoned your application. So you are no longer is secondary review.

 

[Namenou]

Thank you Rish888
I didn't abandon it. They informed me through a letter that if they don't receive the documents requested within 30 days, my application will be abandoned. However, my online application status still shows "in process".
Can you please explain this to me?

 

[mats]

Thank you rish888.
I read somewhere that applicants whose PR application is in secondary review status can't apply to citizenship before they get their PR status resolved.
What do you know about that? Does the secondary review status prevent me from applying to citizenship?

No, that is not true. An application can be in secondary review for many factors, like based on documents sent with application they are unable to decide about your residency days or others . You can definitely apply for citizenship if you have the required days.

 

[Namenou]

Thank you Mats,
I definitely have the required days within the last five years. However, I just need to know if sending a citizenship application while my PR application is in the secondary review would affect my citizenship application or would prevent me from applying to citizenship.
Do you have any idea about that?

 

[Namenou]

Anyone to answer?
I would like to hear dpenabill and other champion members answer to this question.
Please hero and champion members of this forum. Can you look at my case and my questions.
I highly appreciate it.

 

[mats]

Thank you Mats,
I definitely have the required days within the last five years. However, I just need to know if sending a citizenship application while my PR application is in the secondary review would affect my citizenship application or would prevent me from applying to citizenship.
Do you have any idea about that?

No, it will not affect your citizenship application.

 

[Namenou]

Mats, can you please look at this that I found on the official website. Please see my question in red below:

Find out if you’re eligible: Citizenship
Permanent Resident status
Regardless of your age, if you are applying for citizenship, you must have:

• Permanent Resident (PR) status in Canada
• no unfulfilled conditions related to your PR status

Your PR status must not be in question. This means you must not:

• be under review for immigration or fraud reasons (what does this mean? under review?? what does it mean? does it mean PR application is under review?)
• have certain unfulfilled conditions related to your PR status (also what does this mean?)
• be under a removal order (an order from Canadian officials to leave Canada)

You don’t need a valid PR card to apply for citizenship. If you have an expired PR card, you can still apply for citizenship.

 

[dpenabill]

I definitely have the required days within the last five years. However, I just need to know if sending a citizenship application while my PR application is in the secondary review would affect my citizenship application or would prevent me from applying to citizenship.
Do you have any idea about that?

With the caveat that I am NO expert and not qualified to offer personal advice, I can offer some observations:

The fact that a PR card application is in SR, in itself, should not have any direct bearing on an application for citizenship.

The reason or question underlying why a PRC application is in SR (or was referred to SR even if subsequently terminated, such as for abandonment), however, could matter. In particular, if the SR is about inquiries into past misrepresentations, for one example, obviously IRCC will pursue and resolve those inquiries before either a new PR card is issued or citizenship granted.

That is, what can matter is if the underlying substantive issues in the PRC application are relevant to the citizenship application, of course those will still be addressed in processing the citizenship application.

Note in particular that your previous failure to provide the documentation requested will likely raise a big red flag. For obvious reasons.The PRC SR will not, itself, preclude you from being granted citizenship. Doubts about the accuracy of previously submitted information, however, if there are such doubts, will likely trigger non-routine processing, perhaps a rather intensive degree of scrutiny. Similarly as to doubts about the extent to which you have actually been present in Canada.

Thus, for starters you probably want to ascertain the current status of the PRC application. It is possible IRCC records indicate you may not be in Canada, or at least you are possibly not in Canada.

In the somewhat recent past IRCC appears to have implemented a policy pursuant to which it does not terminate PRC applications or deem PRC applications abandoned, but rather suspends processing, at least in some cases. This appears to be about not losing track of reasons to question the respective PR about residency or misrepresentations. How this affects any particular PR with a PRC application I cannot guess.

Bottom-line, however, is that as long as you have not made any misrepresentations and your PR status is not currently subject to removal proceedings, and you otherwise qualify for citizenship, the PRC application should not preclude you from proceeding with a citizenship application and obtaining citizenship (if qualified, of course).

 

[dpenabill]

be under review for immigration or fraud reasons (what does this mean? under review?? what does it mean? does it mean PR application is under review?)

This is why I suggested that for starters you determine the status of the PRC application. IRCC can suspend processing a citizenship application if the applicant's PR status is under review. This would ordinarily mean a 44(1) Report has been issued or a PR TD application is in process or has been denied, or there is a PR status appeal pending, or there are cessation proceedings pending (for refugee-PRs).

But you also need to know the status of the PRC application. If it has been deemed abandoned, that should be no problem (other than, again, any underlying problem would still need to be addressed and resolved). If it is suspended, IRCC should proceed to resolve whatever questions it has . . . so, again, the PRC SR itself is not a problem, and does not prohibit eligibility for citizenship, but whatever underlying issues IRCC might have would still need to be addressed and resolved.

 

[Namenou]

Thank you dpenabill for your comprehensive answer.
In the citizenship application, I assume if they want to scrutinize, they will ask documentation for the previous five years. I am sure I can provide documentation because I was studying and working in Canada. My only concern is whether the PR status of "secondary review" would make me ineligible for applying for citizenship. I also agree with you that since I couldn't provide the documents they requested within the time limit they provided (30 days) and then I myself left the application would raise some concerns for them. In this case I will have to provide the documentation needed for the time period they request as per the citizenship application requirement.
Any new thoughts about that?

 

[Namenou]

Also, how do I know if my application is deemed abandoned. They mentioned that it will be abandoned if they don't receive the requested documents within 30 days. So, do I consider it abandoned though it still shows online "in process" after a year of receiving the letter? Would a request for an access for information report help in this case?

 

[mats]

Mats, can you please look at this that I found on the official website. Please see my question in red below:

• Permanent Resident (PR) status in Canada
• no unfulfilled conditions related to your PR

• be under review for immigration or fraud reasons (what does this mean? under review?? what does it mean? does it mean PR application is under review?)
• have certain unfulfilled conditions related to your PR status (also what does this mean?)
• be under a removal order (an order from Canadian officials to leave Canada)

You don’t need a valid PR card to apply for citizenship. If you have an expired PR card, you can still apply for citizenship.

That is pretty self explanatory as far I know. Detailed answer from dpenabill is already there.
I am assuming you haven’t committed any fraud, that you have met your PR obligations, and have not received any removal order from Canada.