Application for Canadian Citizenship - A Comprehensive Guide

[siddharthbala]

@rajkamalmohanram Acrobat Reader's changed so much since I last used it - seems to hold all my data too, so thanks again!

For question #11 : Tell us what you have been doing during your five-year eligibility period, inside and outside of Canada. Enter details of your employment and education history below. Please include any period of unemployment, period of retirement, period working at home as a homemaker or being self employed. Be sure to provide information for the five-year eligibility period. Start with the most recent. If there are any missing days, periods of time or if the section is left blank, your application will be returned to you.

When filling this section in, do you only put a single row in for each company you worked in (W - Z date, Worked as <original role hired for at the company) or do you break down the actual periods, in case you were promoted or moved roles within the company as an individual record? Like, say " W - X date, Worked as CSM, X to Y Date, promoted to Consultant, Y - Z Date, promoted to Senior Consultant"?

 

[Ladymarie]

Question regarding police certificate:

I arrived in Canada from the Philippines and became a permanent resident when I was 19. That was April 8, 2017. However, I visited my country of origin, the Philippines from May 11, 2019 to May 31, 2019. That was my only trip out of Canada. I wanna apply by August 10, 2020. Do I need a police certificate?

Thanks

No since you landed in Canada directly and this time falls within the last 4yrs ...look at the instruction guide

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

@rajkamalmohanram Acrobat Reader's changed so much since I last used it - seems to hold all my data too, so thanks again!

For question #11 : Tell us what you have been doing during your five-year eligibility period, inside and outside of Canada. Enter details of your employment and education history below. Please include any period of unemployment, period of retirement, period working at home as a homemaker or being self employed. Be sure to provide information for the five-year eligibility period. Start with the most recent. If there are any missing days, periods of time or if the section is left blank, your application will be returned to you.

When filling this section in, do you only put a single row in for each company you worked in (W - Z date, Worked as <original role hired for at the company) or do you break down the actual periods, in case you were promoted or moved roles within the company as an individual record? Like, say " W - X date, Worked as CSM, X to Y Date, promoted to Consultant, Y - Z Date, promoted to Senior Consultant"?

I had 2 entries for one job because I moved cities. IMO, I don't think you need to have multiple entries because of a role change. I just used the latest designation.

 

[hotshot45890]

@rajkamalmohanram thank you very much for answering the questions in this thread. I have a quick question on Q13 in the citizenship application. There is another discussion on-going in the forum which is suggesting that we should also include our visitor visa details for any countries for which we have had a visitor visa. When I go to help for Q13 it is missing the visitor visa category. This to me logically makes sense as they are trying to understand if we have had more of permanent status in any of the countries. What is your view on this, should we also include all visitor visa details in Q13 also? For example, if we have a valid US or UK visitor visas should those be listed also?

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

@rajkamalmohanram thank you very much for answering the questions in this thread. I have a quick question on Q13 in the citizenship application. There is another discussion on-going in the forum which is suggesting that we should also include our visitor visa details for any countries for which we have had a visitor visa. When I go to help for Q13 it is missing the visitor visa category. This to me logically makes sense as they are trying to understand if we have had more of permanent status in any of the countries. What is your view on this, should we also include all visitor visa details in Q13 also? For example, if we have a valid US or UK visitor visas should those be listed also?

No. That would be an overkill for that question IMO. I have a valid US B1/B2 visa but I have NOT added it to that section because they have not once mentioned 'visitor visas' neither in the question nor in the 'Help' section for that question. However, if you hold or have held visas such as H1B (work visa), student visas and any other temporary but longer term visa (other than a visitor visa), then those must be added there.

So, unless there are several reports of applications being refused because visitor visa details weren't added to Q13 (and I really think we won't find such cases), I do NOT think we need to add visitor visa details to Q13 on the application form.

 

[hotshot45890]

No. That would be an overkill for that question IMO. I have a valid US B1/B2 visa but I have NOT added it to that section because they have not once mentioned 'visitor visas' neither in the question nor in the 'Help' section for that question. However, if you hold or have held visas such as H1B (work visa), student visas and any other temporary but longer term visa (other than a visitor visa), then those must be added there.

Thank you for the quick response. I am also excluding visitor visas from this category as agree with you that it would be overkill especially as they have not mentioned visitor category anywhere on this question. Thank you for providing your view on this.

 

[hotshot45890]

@rajkamalmohanram another quick question. This is likely my paranoia but the physical presence calculator when printed has a "date modified: 2019-8-01" at the right bottom on last page. I am assuming this is likely when they last updated this version of the online tracker and has nothing to do with our physical presence changes/printing. Wanted to check if you also see this date.

Also the date for signing the physical presence calculator needs to match our end date? So if the five year period is from 2015-09-03 to 2020-09-03 then we need to put the 2020-09-03 date as the date when we sign the form and at the bottom of the physical calculator, correct?

Thank you!

 

[blackpool_98]

Hi thanks for your detailed explanation. I have a question related to PCC, does it requires to be of exact date of leaving/ Exit the country before finally settling in Canada. Its practically not possible to get the dates till end?

 

[siddharthbala]

For question 13: Do you currently, or have you ever held immigration or citizenship status in a country or territory other than Canada (this includes your country of birth)?

I have two questions:
a) I'm guessing that since the qualifier "within the eligibility period" is absent, that this means basically from birth, right?
b) (Assuming that my understanding of (a) is correct), I grew up in the UAE and therefore had a Residence Visa for about 18 years (UAE basically kicks males out at 18 years), so is it safe to assume that I need to add this to the section provided? Also, what do I put for the description? "Residence Visa"?

 

[cat_woman]

Hi, just to share I had faced an issue wherein I submitted an Academic IELTS instead of a General IELTS. I was finally able to get on a call with an IRCC person and was told according to her and even her supervisor they were unable to specifically state or see anywhere that IELTS General is the mandate. Who am I to argue with an IRCC person even if I can see where it says general. But I shared about sending my IELTS General via a webform (case-specific inquiry) and she advised I should wait a few months as they are now only processing those who sent before and until 14th January applicants as they are still opening up offices and some are not even open yet. By waiting a few months it will likely come up for my file to be processed and I should send it then. She said if they start to process my file before I send the web form then they will send it back to me incomplete with information on what needs to be amended and returned and my fees will be refunded as well.

While I was on the call with her I did receive an email from IRCC about my web form (case-specific inquiry) where I had submitted my IELTS General and stating I sent my IELTS Academic by mistake. They said they verified my information but my application is not available in their system yet. And also said the responsible office is currently processing applications received before Jan 14, 2020. It said when the application is received by IRCC it can take several weeks before processing begins and so no record will be there in the system till processing starts. So asked me to resubmit documents once the processing of application beings and they will forward it to the responsible office. So I will wait a month and resubmit a webform again and see what response I receive then. Just decided to update here for anyone in case they might need this information.

 

[sivapras]

Hi Rajkamalmohanram, Thanks for such a detailed post. I have two questions.

1. For Photocopies do we need submit color photo copies or normal photo copies will be suffice.

2. For Parent submitting children application do we need submit Use of a Representative [IMM 5476] form . is it required or not required

Thanks
Siva

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Hi, just to share I had faced an issue wherein I submitted an Academic IELTS instead of a General IELTS. I was finally able to get on a call with an IRCC person and was told according to her and even her supervisor they were unable to specifically state or see anywhere that IELTS General is the mandate. Who am I to argue with an IRCC person even if I can see where it says general. But I shared about sending my IELTS General via a webform (case-specific inquiry) and she advised I should wait a few months as they are now only processing those who sent before and until 14th January applicants as they are still opening up offices and some are not even open yet. By waiting a few months it will likely come up for my file to be processed and I should send it then. She said if they start to process my file before I send the web form then they will send it back to me incomplete with information on what needs to be amended and returned and my fees will be refunded as well.

While I was on the call with her I did receive an email from IRCC about my web form (case-specific inquiry) where I had submitted my IELTS General and stating I sent my IELTS Academic by mistake. They said they verified my information but my application is not available in their system yet. And also said the responsible office is currently processing applications received before Jan 14, 2020. It said when the application is received by IRCC it can take several weeks before processing begins and so no record will be there in the system till processing starts. So asked me to resubmit documents once the processing of application beings and they will forward it to the responsible office. So I will wait a month and resubmit a webform again and see what response I receive then. Just decided to update here for anyone in case they might need this information.

Thanks a lot for the update. Much appreciated!

Looks like IRCC personnel aren't sure about the rules of their own program. To my knowledge, I am 99.99% sure that only IELTS General is accepted and also, this information is specifically mentioned in the instruction guide.

General Information :

Your application is not in the system because the application is uploaded to the GCMS system at the time of AOR (usually). AFAIK, if they "return your application as incomplete" they will NOT upload it to GCMS AFAIK.

Wish you all the very best with your application. Hopefully, it'll go through smoothly.

PS : In case you get any further updates, please keep me posted. Good luck!

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Hi Rajkamalmohanram, Thanks for such a detailed post. I have two questions.

1. For Photocopies do we need submit color photo copies or normal photo copies will be suffice.

I am submitting color copies. I do not think anything specific is mentioned, so b/w copies should be okay IMO.

2. For Parent submitting children application do we need submit Use of a Representative [IMM 5476] form . is it required or not required

I don't think so. There is a separate application form for minors. I do NOT have too much information about this as I am not a parent. I would point you to the instruction guide for minors. Good luck.

Thanks
Siva

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

For question 13: Do you currently, or have you ever held immigration or citizenship status in a country or territory other than Canada (this includes your country of birth)?

I have two questions:
a) I'm guessing that since the qualifier "within the eligibility period" is absent, that this means basically from birth, right?

Yes

b) (Assuming that my understanding of (a) is correct), I grew up in the UAE and therefore had a Residence Visa for about 18 years (UAE basically kicks males out at 18 years), so is it safe to assume that I need to add this to the section provided? Also, what do I put for the description? "Residence Visa"?

Yes. Key in the name of the document you held (Resident Visa sounds reasonable).

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

@rajkamalmohanram another quick question. This is likely my paranoia but the physical presence calculator when printed has a "date modified: 2019-8-01" at the right bottom on last page. I am assuming this is likely when they last updated this version of the online tracker and has nothing to do with our physical presence changes/printing. Wanted to check if you also see this date.

The date modified should not be a problem IMO. It just says when the document was last modified and should not have any bearing on your application.

Also the date for signing the physical presence calculator needs to match our end date? So if the five year period is from 2015-09-03 to 2020-09-03 then we need to put the 2020-09-03 date as the date when we sign the form and at the bottom of the physical calculator, correct?

Yes, you can use that date. Just make sure that you use the same date when signing the application form and the physical presence calculator.

Thank you!