Long term travel after applying

[Philly898]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for advice from anyone who has submitted a webform to CIC advising that you will be travelling for more than two weeks after applying for Citizenship grant. I applied almost a year ago and haven't heard anything since AOR. My ticket is booked for December 27th to go backpacking through Asia with a couple of friends. We have been looking forward to this trip for a few years and I am afraid I am not able to stall any longer waiting for citizenship (as it is we were supposed to leave in September). I have a couple of questions:

- Will advising CIC that I will be gone for about 5 months impact my application? I.e. Is it frowned upon by CIC to leave for that long after applying?
- When I inform them, do I have to submit any itineraries/supplementary information about my travels or just that I am leaving from X date to X date? The problem with exact itineraries is that I bought a one-way ticket to Philippines and don't really know where I will be at any particular country at any particular time (we are making our way through Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, etc. and plan on being back by late May for sure).

Any advice/info from anyone in a similar situation would be so greatly appreciated.

Best,
Phil

 

[Philly898]

Hey everyone, just pushing this to the top to see if anyone has last minute advice before I submit my webform today

 

[sydcarton]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for advice from anyone who has submitted a webform to CIC advising that you will be travelling for more than two weeks after applying for Citizenship grant. I applied almost a year ago and haven't heard anything since AOR. My ticket is booked for December 27th to go backpacking through Asia with a couple of friends. We have been looking forward to this trip for a few years and I am afraid I am not able to stall any longer waiting for citizenship (as it is we were supposed to leave in September). I have a couple of questions:

- Will advising CIC that I will be gone for about 5 months impact my application? I.e. Is it frowned upon by CIC to leave for that long after applying?
- When I inform them, do I have to submit any itineraries/supplementary information about my travels or just that I am leaving from X date to X date? The problem with exact itineraries is that I bought a one-way ticket to Philippines and don't really know where I will be at any particular country at any particular time (we are making our way through Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, etc. and plan on being back by late May for sure).

Any advice/info from anyone in a similar situation would be so greatly appreciated.

Best,
Phil

Hi!
First thing is if you've applied almost a year ago and getting close to the 12-month processing timeframe, and haven't heard anything since the AOR, you should call up and find out what's delaying your application. Does your ECAS mention anything about a correspondence sent or FP request that you may have missed? Ask the call centre first before you submit your webform. Hopefully you get a friendly agent who can let you know an approximate timeframe for your test/oath.

Secondly, you are allowed to travel after you submit your citizenship application, they advise that you inform them for trips lasting more than 2 weeks so they don't schedule you for an oath or a test/interview. Please go ahead and inform them. It is not "frowned upon" to travel for extended periods of time But you do have to be aware of maintaining your PR status within Canada and making sure your card doesn't expire when you're abroad.

When you submit the webform, mention the tentative dates. In your case, you can just send the one-way ticket abroad since you don't have a specific itinerary.
Good luck!

 

[Philly898]

Hi!
First thing is if you've applied almost a year ago and getting close to the 12-month processing timeframe, and haven't heard anything since the AOR, you should call up and find out what's delaying your application. Does your ECAS mention anything about a correspondence sent or FP request that you may have missed? Ask the call centre first before you submit your webform. Hopefully you get a friendly agent who can let you know an approximate timeframe for your test/oath.

Secondly, you are allowed to travel after you submit your citizenship application, they advise that you inform them for trips lasting more than 2 weeks so they don't schedule you for an oath or a test/interview. Please go ahead and inform them. It is not "frowned upon" to travel for extended periods of time But you do have to be aware of maintaining your PR status within Canada and making sure your card doesn't expire when you're abroad.

When you submit the webform, mention the tentative dates. In your case, you can just send the one-way ticket abroad since you don't have a specific itinerary.
Good luck!

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply Those are really good things to keep in mind RE my PR card - fortunately it only expires in 2022.

My ECAS doesn't mention anything about an FP request - only that they started processing my application on March 4, 2019. I will definitely drop the call centre a line since the one year anniversary since applying will be next Friday. Hoping to squeeze the test in before I leave, but you know good 'ole murphy's law when it comes to these things.

 

[Philly898]

For anyone in the same situation, just thought I would share the following. I ended up submitting a webform for my period of unavailability and a few days later I got an e-mail from CIC requesting the following:

You can notify us of your period of unavailability and request that the responsible IRCC office does not schedule an appointment during this time frame.

To do so, please use the IRCC Web form or send a letter to the IRCC office processing your file, indicating:

Complete name and date of birth,

• Address in Canada before departure,
• Address abroad,
• Name and phone number of a contact person in Canada,
• Unavailability periods,
• Availability, if you return to Canada for a short stay during the unavailability period,
• Reasons for unavailability,
• Supporting documents regarding the situation, if applicable, and
• Signature and date the letter was signed.

The responsible office will communicate with you if they require more information or once another appointment is scheduled.

Please note that your application could be considered abandoned if you cannot attend a scheduled appointment due to a period of unavailability and/or fail to provide an acceptable explanation.

For more information, please consult the procedures for abandonment of a citizenship application.

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


Ended up submitting the above and just got an email today advising that all is verified I am good to go traveling for 5 months after applying for citizenship Relieved!