Anyone have any experience with a proof of citizenship application sent to the Program Support Unit (PSU)? I just found out mine went there and I'm just wondering what the additional wait time might be since it's already well past the processing time. Thanks in advance.
Proof of Citizenship – Program Support Unit
- Thread starter Guate2017
- Start date
There is no established timeline when your application is sent to Program Support; you just have to wait for them to finish at their own pace unless you apply for urgent processing. Did you get a Notice of Delay sent to you? Here is what they sent to me:
"NOTICE OF DELAY: APPLICATION FOR PROOF OF CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP
The purpose of this letter is to advise you that a preliminary review of your application(s) for a citizenship certificate that you submitted to this office is now complete. However, your file has been referred to the Program Support Unit for a final review and decision. While every effort will be made to finalize your application as soon as possible, this means that it will not be processed within the current application processing times posted on
www.canada.ca/citizenship-help
You will be informed of the final decision or will be contacted if additional information or documentation is required to finalize your application.
If you require urgent processing, please refer to our website at to find out if you meet the conditions for urgent processing and how to inform us.
Thank you for your patience."
"NOTICE OF DELAY: APPLICATION FOR PROOF OF CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP
The purpose of this letter is to advise you that a preliminary review of your application(s) for a citizenship certificate that you submitted to this office is now complete. However, your file has been referred to the Program Support Unit for a final review and decision. While every effort will be made to finalize your application as soon as possible, this means that it will not be processed within the current application processing times posted on
www.canada.ca/citizenship-help
You will be informed of the final decision or will be contacted if additional information or documentation is required to finalize your application.
If you require urgent processing, please refer to our website at to find out if you meet the conditions for urgent processing and how to inform us.
Thank you for your patience."
I think that answers OP's question, so I have nothing to add, OP, can you share with us your timeline so far?
No, I never received a notice of delay. I sent a message asking if my application had been sent there because it was taking so long, and they replied back "We verified the information provided and can confirm that the application is still in process. Your file has been referred to the Program Support Unit for a final review and decision." Below is my timeline:
- We received your application for a citizenship certificate (proof of Canadian citizenship) on May 4, 2017.
- We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s) on May 26, 2017.
- We started processing your application on June 20, 2017.
No, no update on the status. Per the message from CIC "CPC-Sydney does not provide processing times or details of the case to applicants regarding cases referred to Program support Unit as they vary on a case-by-case basis. Your application has been placed in queue awaiting assessment by a senior officer because of a policy or legislative issue pertaining to the case."
Guate,No, no update on the status. Per the message from CIC "CPC-Sydney does not provide processing times or details of the case to applicants regarding cases referred to Program support Unit as they vary on a case-by-case basis. Your application has been placed in queue awaiting assessment by a senior officer because of a policy or legislative issue pertaining to the case."
I'm in the exact same situation as you. They received my application on October 2, 2017 and sent me an acknowledgement of receipt, with a case number, on October 30, 2017. Since then nothing, and my online ECAS only shows Application Received.
I called IRCC Call Centre today and an agent looked into my case for me. He confirmed that my application has been sent to the Program Support Unit for a decision and that they sent me a letter by e-mail notifying me of this. I told him I never received this letter. He also said that if Program Support Unit is involved, it can take up to two years and in the mean time they can do nothing at the Call Centre.
I was shocked, I didn't know what to say. Well, I told the agent I could speed up the process by purchasing air travel tickets and claiming urgent processing. Although I'd rather not do that, it would be nice to be able to go visit my parents in my birth country. He said that was my choice, although there's no guarantee that they'll grant the request for urgent processing. This totally sucks!
Per the CIC website regarding urgent processing for proof of citizenship (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/proof-citizenship/apply/urgently.html) and your reason for applying for urgent processing, your request should and will be D-E-N-I-E-D
.I can present one of a myriad reasons for urgent processing, my parents being terminally sick and needing urgent care etc etc, you name it. Can they deny the request? Yes they can; anything CAN happen.Per the CIC website regarding urgent processing for proof of citizenship (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/proof-citizenship/apply/urgently.html) and your reason for applying for urgent processing, your request should and will be D-E-N-I-E-D
As for your statement that my request WILL be denied, unless you are the officer adjudicating my case, you are really in no position to make that claim. That much should be obvious. With that being said, I don't why you'd want to embarrass yourself in here by making that claim. Do you really believe I got as far as acquiring Canadian citizenship by having my applications denied?
More to the point, if you don't have a proof of citizenship application in process, I'm really not sure what you're doing in this thread. There's nothing about my case YOU can tell me, as far ahead as I can read. I think your soup is getting cold.
GuateNo, no update on the status. Per the message from CIC "CPC-Sydney does not provide processing times or details of the case to applicants regarding cases referred to Program support Unit as they vary on a case-by-case basis. Your application has been placed in queue awaiting assessment by a senior officer because of a policy or legislative issue pertaining to the case."
Another thing I told the call center agent is that I could get my MP's office involved in inquiring about the unreasonably long processing time by getting in touch with the Immigration Minister. It does not make sense that IRCC promises foreign nationals a six-month processing time for their skilled worker immigration applications but provides no time frame for service requests initiated by citizens in Canada.
Actually, my application got sent to Program Support as well; if you care to read the entire thread, I mentioned this in the second post. In regards to giving a reason for urgent processing, you need to supply not only an explanation, but supporting documentation to back up your claim; perhaps you would have found this out by reading the link I provided in my previous post. Lying and thinking that you can fool them is just the definition of stupidity.
I'm not going to let this turn into endless ad hominem argument. My point was there are things I can do to stir up the process, including but not limited to demonstration of the need for urgent travel. Like I said, I didn't get this far by getting my applications denied, and i sure as hell don't plan to fail now, not if I can help it.
Since we both have our cases taken to Program Support, if you have new information about your case post it here like we all do, so we can compare. That's really all we can do for one another. There is no reason for you to tell people what WILL and what WILL NOT happen with their cases. That's blind speculation at best.
My application has been in Program Support since July last year with no change since then, and I am just going to let them do their job. If your application got sent to Program Support, then there's something fishy about it that they will want to get to the bottom of, as any responsible government agency would want to do. Nothing you say or threaten to do will make them bend to your request. If you do not meet their established criteria, then you should expect your request to be denied; that is how bureaucracy works. But don't let me stop you from trying to get urgent processing, that's your decision; but don't be surprised if at the end, despite all of your effort, that it gets denied.
Do you mean when they sent the notice? I contacted the call center two months after my ECAS changed to In Process, and the agent said it was sent to Program Support on that day they started processing but failed to e-mail me the notice to me. So I asked him to e-mail the notice to me for my records, and they did four days later.