My citizenship journey. May be helpful for others. Applied in October 2017 as a family from Windsor area. CIC received the application on Oct 16, 2017. AOR on Nov 6, 2017. In process on Dec 6, 2017. Requested ATIP notes on Feb 9, 2018 morning (Friday) since there was no communication for 2 months. Received the notes after a month. The notes indicated that it was received on Feb 12, 2018 (Monday). But the interesting thing is that I received the test invite few hours after raising the ATIP request. It could be a coincidence.
The test was in March for my wife and I. Both cleared test 20/20. We were over prepared for the test. By the time we took the test, my wife and I have read the Discover Canada book atleast 20 times. We have taken all the available free tests. My wife was better prepared than me. She could close the book and recite all the dates.
We were first to be invited for the interview on that day and it went well. The officer verified all of our documents including the children's documents. From the time of application to the interview, my children's passport expired and wife's health card expired. We renewed and took both old as well as the new documents (passport, health card) to the interview. The officer appreciated that and made a note of that on the long form that she had. My wife was a home maker during this time but she volunteered at the elementary school for few years. So even if a reference was needed to verify her, we had that in place. I work and had T4s and payslips to prove it. By the interview time, we were in Canada for 6+ years. We had all of our children's school records. We offered to show the officer those. She glanced at it but didn't need to verify everything. I crossed to US may be for couple of times and only had 2-3 vacations in the past 6+ years. So my physical residence calculator was very short. After we signed in the places that the officer requested, she looked at her calendar and asked us if we were available in April for oath ceremony. We said yes immediately. Status changed to Decision made the following day but no update to the number of lines in ecas.
During the last week of March, I called the call center to know when can we expect the oath invite. It took me few tries to reach out to an agent. The call center agent said it will be very soon. That afternoon, we got the oath invite. Again this could be a coincidence like the ATIP earlier. We took the oath in April and became Canadian citizens.
TIP 1:From what I observed, if you miss the first two working hours of the day, it is nearly impossible to reach the call center agent.
TIP 2: We took our children to the ceremony. It took nearly 2 hours to finish the ceremony. If you have small children, it may be better to plan ahead for day care. If you walk out for bathroom for your kid during the ceremony, then you are locked out and can't get back.
The test was in March for my wife and I. Both cleared test 20/20. We were over prepared for the test. By the time we took the test, my wife and I have read the Discover Canada book atleast 20 times. We have taken all the available free tests. My wife was better prepared than me. She could close the book and recite all the dates.
We were first to be invited for the interview on that day and it went well. The officer verified all of our documents including the children's documents. From the time of application to the interview, my children's passport expired and wife's health card expired. We renewed and took both old as well as the new documents (passport, health card) to the interview. The officer appreciated that and made a note of that on the long form that she had. My wife was a home maker during this time but she volunteered at the elementary school for few years. So even if a reference was needed to verify her, we had that in place. I work and had T4s and payslips to prove it. By the interview time, we were in Canada for 6+ years. We had all of our children's school records. We offered to show the officer those. She glanced at it but didn't need to verify everything. I crossed to US may be for couple of times and only had 2-3 vacations in the past 6+ years. So my physical residence calculator was very short. After we signed in the places that the officer requested, she looked at her calendar and asked us if we were available in April for oath ceremony. We said yes immediately. Status changed to Decision made the following day but no update to the number of lines in ecas.
During the last week of March, I called the call center to know when can we expect the oath invite. It took me few tries to reach out to an agent. The call center agent said it will be very soon. That afternoon, we got the oath invite. Again this could be a coincidence like the ATIP earlier. We took the oath in April and became Canadian citizens.
TIP 1:From what I observed, if you miss the first two working hours of the day, it is nearly impossible to reach the call center agent.
TIP 2: We took our children to the ceremony. It took nearly 2 hours to finish the ceremony. If you have small children, it may be better to plan ahead for day care. If you walk out for bathroom for your kid during the ceremony, then you are locked out and can't get back.
