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Background check for citizenship canada

jan074

Newbie
Jul 25, 2018
6
0
Hello All
Can someone help me by answering this question,I have applied for the Canadian citizenship on 18 Oct 2017, on 1 Feb 2018 Cic sent me email with application number and on 19 march 2018 CIC again sent me an email for Fingerprints. I have also passed my citizenship test on 16 May 2018 but I AM STILL WAITING FOR OATH. I called CIC and they said we received your fingerprints on 7 April 2018 but your background check is still in process.
Can someone provide me an idea how long they gonna take to clear background check and will give me a date for citizenship oath?

Thanks
 

robreeves

Hero Member
Jun 24, 2014
348
238
Hello All
Can someone help me by answering this question,I have applied for the Canadian citizenship on 18 Oct 2017, on 1 Feb 2018 Cic sent me email with application number and on 19 march 2018 CIC again sent me an email for Fingerprints. I have also passed my citizenship test on 16 May 2018 but I AM STILL WAITING FOR OATH. I called CIC and they said we received your fingerprints on 7 April 2018 but your background check is still in process.
Can someone provide me an idea how long they gonna take to clear background check and will give me a date for citizenship oath?

Thanks
Every case is different. I'm in the same boat as you, passed my test 6th April and still had no decision made. They stick to their 12 month processing time when you call them so there is nothing you can do but wait. Its frustrating
 

ChippyBoy

Hero Member
Dec 5, 2016
375
168
Hello All
Can someone help me by answering this question,I have applied for the Canadian citizenship on 18 Oct 2017, on 1 Feb 2018 Cic sent me email with application number and on 19 march 2018 CIC again sent me an email for Fingerprints. I have also passed my citizenship test on 16 May 2018 but I AM STILL WAITING FOR OATH. I called CIC and they said we received your fingerprints on 7 April 2018 but your background check is still in process.
Can someone provide me an idea how long they gonna take to clear background check and will give me a date for citizenship oath?

Thanks
There currently appears to be a majorly huge months-long bottleneck in IRCC's being successful in obtaining the security clearance assessment/advice that they've requested from CSIS for many citizenship applicants.

It appears that CSIS receives the security clearance request from IRCC at or around the time that one's application achieves IP status on eCAS (Feb.1st for yours, I gather).

The follow-up (i.e., reminding/prompting CSIS to get a move on) from the specific IRCC officer who's been assigned one's file seems to depend on the officer her/himself.

One can hope that the whole process is fair and above-board.
 

ChippyBoy

Hero Member
Dec 5, 2016
375
168
thanks for sharing experience chippyboy, good to know
ATIP/IRCC(GCMS) will show the CSIS security clearance bit redacted (i.e., largely blanked-out), so one has to surmise that CSIS were sent the request at or around the time of IP.

ATIP/CSIS returns a bare "in process," along with a statement of the Law to the effect that CSIS doesn't have to share anything with you at all regarding their investigations, until AFTER their assessment/advice has been supplied to IRCC; so an ATIP/CSIS (under the Privacy Act) will only tell you what's been going on at CSIS all this time AFTER they have completed their investigation.

As citizenship's a privilege and not a right (but one has the legal right to APPLY for citizenship, of course), it remains possible that individuals at either CSIS or at IRCC can deliberately choose to sit on one's file for a very long time if they've a mind to.
 

jameswood2

Star Member
Jul 11, 2018
157
22
Hello All
Can someone help me by answering this question,I have applied for the Canadian citizenship on 18 Oct 2017, on 1 Feb 2018 Cic sent me email with application number and on 19 march 2018 CIC again sent me an email for Fingerprints. I have also passed my citizenship test on 16 May 2018 but I AM STILL WAITING FOR OATH. I called CIC and they said we received your fingerprints on 7 April 2018 but your background check is still in process.
Can someone provide me an idea how long they gonna take to clear background check and will give me a date for citizenship oath?

Thanks
done my test on March 5 and still IP due to bg check not sure if its done or not but no DM yet ( they told me waiting for bg check) so don't wrry
 

dpenabill

VIP Member
Apr 2, 2010
6,436
3,183
Observation: I suspect that call centre responses about waiting for clearance is more of a stock you-need-to-wait answer than a legitimate description of what the next step is waiting on. Note, for example, the GCMS might not reflect completion of clearance which has not been, in effect, noted and logged into the system by a processing agent handling the file in the local office, EVEN THOUGH the respective agency has actually submitted the clearance. Odds are fair that the application is simply in queue for a processing agent to take the next step.

Compare to courier actually delivering application to CPC Sydney but IRCC does not acknowledge actual receipt until weeks or months later, after application package is opened, completeness check is passed, and GCMS file initiated resulting in AOR . . . the package is there, the whole time, but IRCC does not recognize it as such. Similarly, there is often a gap between when a file has IP status and has been referred to the local office and when GCMS will show it is actually in the local office. Again, it is THERE, but not logged in as such.

In the meantime, the timeline for many if not most routine applicants is typically TWO to THREE times as long as the timeline seen for those processed the fastest, and given the surge in applications filed late last year, there is a fair likelihood many will see an even longer timeline. With some exceptions, not many, generally there is very little an applicant can do to accelerate the process. It will take as long as it takes, and given the importance Canada puts on the grant of citizenship, it can take a good long while. WAITING is the game. PATIENCE too. No reason to provoke the ulcers or otherwise get stressed.
 
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jan074

Newbie
Jul 25, 2018
6
0
Can anyone else share his/her time line who got the fingerprints and same situation like me.
 

robreeves

Hero Member
Jun 24, 2014
348
238
So after sending an email request for a status update, this was the response i received from the IRCC.

I passed my test on 6th April and currently sit "In Process" as of today.

My GCSM notes have confirmed that all of my checks have been completed, so the only other conclusion i can come to is that my file is sitting in a pile of other applications on someone's desk in Edmonton. I appreciate that everyone is annoyed by the delays but surely these offices should have a better system to track and progress applications when the security checks come in.

The worst part is, there is no way of contacting the office itself (i have previously written a letter that they have confirmed recipient of and have done nothing about) to tell them that everything is complete for them to progress the application.

Once the 12 month date is reached the call centre on the east coast have said that they can then contact the Edmonton office to ask for an update on the file at which point they will probably see everything is ok and then it moves to "Decision Made".

Really frustrating!!!!

----------

Good day Robert Reeves,

Thank you for contacting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

We are happy to provide you with information that will help you understand the current status of your Application for Canadian Citizenship - Adults.

  • Your application is currently at the IRCC office in Edmonton. This office is verifying if you meet the eligibility requirements to be granted Canadian citizenship. Rest assured that you will be contacted if additional information is needed.
  • The next step will be to invite you to attend the citizenship ceremony. The local office will schedule an appointment for you in due course, if necessary.
  • We recommend that you verify the e-Client Application Status (e-CAS) online tool regularly to see when a new notice is sent to you.
In the meantime, we invite you to visit our website for the estimated processing time and for the steps following the submission of a Citizenship application.

Although the estimated time may vary, rest assured that we are making the necessary efforts to process your application within established processing times.

We hope the information provided is helpful in assisting you with your enquiry.

We would also like to suggest the following online services that might be helpful to you with any immigration, refugee and/or citizenship future requests:



Sincerely,

Quratulain, Agent 4262
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
 

Joshua1

Hero Member
Nov 18, 2013
946
473
To me, ordering GCMS and calling the centre to speak to a (sometime grumpy) agent who cannot influence my application but provides stock answers is a waste of time and can increase one's anxiety level.
But mind you, there are valid reason for calling e.g. you did not receive a correspondence as stated in E-Cas after couple weeks etc.
 

jan074

Newbie
Jul 25, 2018
6
0
To me, ordering GCMS and calling the centre to speak to a (sometime grumpy) agent who cannot influence my application but provides stock answers is a waste of time and can increase one's anxiety level.
But mind you, there are valid reason for calling e.g. you did not receive a correspondence as stated in E-Cas after couple weeks etc.
Hello Joshua
Can you share your timline
When did you get fingerprint email and when you passed the test?
 

dpenabill

VIP Member
Apr 2, 2010
6,436
3,183
The worst part is, there is no way of contacting the office itself (i have previously written a letter that they have confirmed recipient of and have done nothing about) to tell them that everything is complete for them to progress the application.
It is almost certainly in a queue. Not so much on someone's desk, more like a digital inbox of some sort. Physical file nearby, sure, but the queue is likely digital.

But no bad news is VERY GOOD NEWS. ROUTINE is as good as fresh, hot Poutine, and better for the heart. Routine should be stress-free. Just the WAITING GAME, time to remain in a PATIENCE POSTURE.

So, the "worst part" is actually NO PROBLEMO. That is good news eh.

But of course, right, for sure, there is no way to inform the responsible processing agent to accelerate the next step of your application ahead of the others in queue. Which is how it should be. Not a problem, but rather how it works and how it should work. (Squeaky wheels being just an unpleasant noise.)

Next step may be next week. Or next month. Or late in the year. Or early next year. As these thing go, as long as it still goes via the routine track that is GOOD NEWS (especially compared to timelines under the previous government) . . . notwithstanding an epidemic of unrealistic expectations otherwise flooding the forum.

Reminders:
-- IRCC is a bureaucracy, one of Canada's biggest bureaucracies; even the most efficient bureaucracies tend to be less than efficient
-- Canada approaches the grant of Citizenship with deliberate consideration and thus takes its time; some of the time may even be an intentional built-in waiting period, of a sort, to see what, if anything, shakes out of the trees
-- IRCC is currently dealing with a huge surge in applications compared to the number filed in the previous two years, AND
-- at the same time is dealing with extensive changes to forms and requirements (albeit the latter factor should be approaching full adaptation soon, notwithstanding the fact that a big bureaucracy like IRCC is inherently slow to adapt)

Can you advise me the process to order GCSM notes and which information we can get in this notes.
Odds are very high you will NOT receive any information of use by ordering GCMS notes through the ATIP process. The generic form for ATIP is particularly USELESS.

With very, very rare exceptions, obtaining the GCMS notes will NOT illuminate any way to accelerate the process at all.

There are circumstances when obtaining GCMS notes is warranted. So it is not as if it is accurate to say that they are absolutely, always useless. But anyone with a routine application, or with only a minor deviation from routine (finger print request for example), does NOT need to obtain the GCMS notes, and is almost certain to not benefit from obtaining GCMS notes.

What they really need to do is what all the other Routinely processed applicants do: WAIT. That's it. That's the game. That's how it works. Unless the applicant qualifies for urgent processing, there is nothing much at all an applicant can do to make it go any faster.

Honk if you hate to wait, sure. Or if you want to mimic the Canadian Goose. Or New York cab and uber drivers. You will still have to wait though.
 
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robreeves

Hero Member
Jun 24, 2014
348
238
To me, ordering GCMS and calling the centre to speak to a (sometime grumpy) agent who cannot influence my application but provides stock answers is a waste of time and can increase one's anxiety level.
But mind you, there are valid reason for calling e.g. you did not receive a correspondence as stated in E-Cas after couple weeks etc.
You're right, at the end of the day, no matter how much additional work you try to do to help the process, the agents will get around to processing the files when they get around to it.