Citizenship test: Collective action required, or expect endless delays, years. Example of the effective lobbyng of people awaiting spousal sponsorship

[vegasIndian]

Well not everyone has the luxury of getting to choose. Not everyone's life is as easy as you think.

Yeah. Most of the people here need it for Travel to US for work.

 

[fr72]

Yeah. Most of the people here need it for Travel to US for work.

This is false for the following reasons:
1. TN visa does NOT cover Software developers, which is what most people want to go to US for.
2. Indians who have moved from US to Canada who were previously on H1B are already H1B cap exempt, nothing stops them from going to US even with Indian passport.
3. Indians who had started their GC cannot now get TN in any category as TN is non immigrant visa.
4. Non Indians or others who still come under H1B quota could have easily gone this year already as due to Covid, the lottery was done away with and H1B applications were being accepted again in June/July. It is likely that like after 2008 recession, there wont be a lottery for several years.

 

[LudoZ]

You should have. Not only Govt, most companies in Canada are like that while searching for jobs. If the Governmental processes are similar to the place you came from, whats the use of you immigrating here. You should have immigrated to a country which has better govt. processes like you stated in your post.

You are ridiculous. According to your logic, if you don't like what people post in this forum, why don't you go to another forum where people post things you like more?

 

[fr72]

Yeah, And increase their workload by doing all this. I think this is such a impractical solution.

Your solution would be to abolish citizenship altogether. That would make you happy. Why didn't you choose UAE? They never give citizenship. You would have loved it there.

 

[mrrobot]

That's late though right. Normal processing time was 1 year before Covid. So you should have got it by Feb 2020. Any idea why it was delayed? I heard you can order GCMS for this as well, have you applied for one?

I applied late Feb 2019, Yes I did applied for GCMS on 26 Feb 2019, by the time I received the notes everything was closed down. Well tbh IRCC decides about how long it will take, I have seen some candidates from 2018 and late 2017 aswell still waiting.

 

[vegasIndian]

This is false for the following reasons:
1. TN visa does NOT cover Software developers, which is what most people want to go to US for.
2. Indians who have moved from US to Canada who were previously on H1B are already H1B cap exempt, nothing stops them from going to US even with Indian passport.
3. Indians who had started their GC cannot now get TN in any category as TN is non immigrant visa.
4. Non Indians or others who still come under H1B quota could have easily gone this year already as due to Covid, the lottery was done away with and H1B applications were being accepted again in June/July. It is likely that like after 2008 recession, there wont be a lottery for several years.

Lol, the user for whom i replied for is looking for Citizenship for work related travel. Go and check.

And many people on this thread are only looking for citizenship for that purpose.

 

[vegasIndian]

Your solution would be to abolish citizenship altogether. That would make you happy. Why didn't you choose UAE? They never give citizenship. You would have loved it there.

Waht is my solution?

And I didn't chose Canada. I came for work here, fell in love with Canada and continued staying here. I have no idea about UAE.

 

[vegasIndian]

I applied late Feb 2019, Yes I did applied for GCMS on 26 Feb 2019, by the time I received the notes everything was closed down. Well tbh IRCC decides about how long it will take, I have seen some candidates from 2018 and late 2017 aswell still waiting.

Wow, i haven't applied yet. but this is scaring me. I was planning to apply just when the covid thing started, but looking at this forum, it seems better wait before things get better.

IRCC will take its own sweet time, no surprise.

 

[vegasIndian]

This is false for the following reasons:
1. TN visa does NOT cover Software developers, which is what most people want to go to US for.
2. Indians who have moved from US to Canada who were previously on H1B are already H1B cap exempt, nothing stops them from going to US even with Indian passport.
3. Indians who had started their GC cannot now get TN in any category as TN is non immigrant visa.
4. Non Indians or others who still come under H1B quota could have easily gone this year already as due to Covid, the lottery was done away with and H1B applications were being accepted again in June/July. It is likely that like after 2008 recession, there wont be a lottery for several years.

So what is your reason of panicking to get Citizenship? I can understand if your home country has issues, and looking at your comment, it looks like you are from India so don't think there are issues there assuming you are not from Kashmir or some troubled region, or are you going to join the military here in Canada and need citizenship for that?

I know Citizenship is a good step, but I am not understanding the reason for this urgency that we need to go and protest? May be I am missing some critical point here.

 

[deadbird]

i would accept granting me the citizenship without test, once the pandemic is over , iw ill be more than happy to go to write the test.... if i don't pass , i don't see any problem from revoking the citizenship...Government should show the flexibility

Revoking citizenship is sometimes not possible. Many countries do not allow dual citizenship and by acquiring Canadian citizenship they forfeit their earlier citizenship. In such a case, Canada cannot revoke citizenship since it would make them stateless, which is disallowed per the Geneva convention.

 

[Seym]

Revoking citizenship is sometimes not possible. Many countries do not allow dual citizenship and by acquiring Canadian citizenship they forfeit their earlier citizenship. In such a case, Canada cannot revoke citizenship since it would make them stateless, which is disallowed per the Geneva convention.

Add to it that granting citizenship without one of the requirements of said grant is simply illegal...
It's not just a simple procedural change to cope with an unprecedented situation.

Unless there are actual calls for an amendment of the Citizenship Act, there's no real point (apart from venting, which is totally understandable given the current situation!) calling for skipping this or that requirement, including the test and knowledge of french or english, and focus should be on how IRCC can change its current procedures : how to fulfill the requirements of the law AND still be able to assess the applicants eligibility?

An online or a zoom test could be part of the solution, no test and interview at all, not so much unfortunately.

Hope IRCC comes with something soon!

 

[canvisa13]

Add to it that granting citizenship without one of the requirements of said grant is simply illegal...
It's not just a simple procedural change to cope with an unprecedented situation.

Unless there are actual calls for an amendment of the Citizenship Act, there's no real point (apart from venting, which is totally understandable given the current situation!) calling for skipping this or that requirement, including the test and knowledge of french or english, and focus should be on how IRCC can change its current procedures : how to fulfill the requirements of the law AND still be able to assess the applicants eligibility?

An online or a zoom test could be part of the solution, no test and interview at all, not so much unfortunately.

Hope IRCC comes with something soon!

By any chance, do we have anything like presidential or PM (in our case) 'Executive Order' like our neighbors in south, just to amend the act?

 

[deadbird]

So what is your reason of panicking to get Citizenship? I can understand if your home country has issues, and looking at your comment, it looks like you are from India so don't think there are issues there assuming you are not from Kashmir or some troubled region, or are you going to join the military here in Canada and need citizenship for that?

I know Citizenship is a good step, but I am not understanding the reason for this urgency that we need to go and protest? May be I am missing some critical point here.

I'll respond with a few points as to why citizenship is important. These have already been mentioned before. I'm just re-iterating here so that people can appreciate it better in one place:

1. Suffrage: The right to vote is a fundamentally important aspect of liberal democratic societies. Inaction by the government amounts to systematic disenfranchisement of 85,000 Canadian residents who would otherwise have a voice in choosing their leaders.
2. Run for office: A permanent resident cannot run for office. Therefore they have no opportunity to propose or shape laws that affect them.
3. Equal treatment under the law: The punishment for breaking the law is far higher for permanent residents. Permanent residents can have their citizenship denied and even deported when charged with certain crimes. These charges can be made in another country even those with weak legal structures. A Canadian citizen on the other hand can have multiple appeals and eventually resume normal life in Canada. A common example is drunk driving, wherein a citizen has their driver's license taken away whereas a permanent resident is deported. See link1, link2, link3 for more details.
4. Humanitarian reasons: Many permanent residents have aging relatives in their home countries. Long term and compassionate care is very challenging when the PR has to maintain their status in Canada.
5. Equal employment opportunity: Certain jobs are only available to Canadian citizens. e.g. those with national security interests.
6. Equal business opportunity: A Canadian passport helps with visa-free freedom of movement to many western countries in particular our southern neighbor, the world's largest economy. Permanent residents with weak passports are at a systemic disadvantage in sealing business deals and raising funds. This has a fairness component to it as well since most countries with weak passports tend to be racialized.
7. Social contract: The reasons civilized societies function is that there's a social contract. You work hard, you follow the law and you get what you were promised. The system only works if promises are kept. Otherwise, people stop doing the morally upright thing and chaos ensues.

 

[deadbird]

By any chance, do we have anything like presidential or PM (in our case) 'Executive Order' like our neighbors in south, just to amend the act?

Only certain laws can be passed by executive order in the US. Changes to citizenship definitely don't pass muster. If the president did try to pass an executive order to change citizenship conditions then it would be challenged in the supreme court and the judges would almost certainly reject it.

 

[canvisa13]

Only certain laws can be passed by executive order in the US. Changes to citizenship definitely don't pass muster. If the president did try to pass an executive order to change citizenship conditions then it would be challenged in the supreme court and the judges would almost certainly reject it.

Thanks. One of my friends got citizenship in just 5 months last year beginning. I am really getting nervous to see it's been almost 1 year of my application but still no hope on the horizon. Really very unfortunate situation. What a difference between private and public sector job cultures, just like my home country.

I really really hope they might have been doing some online pilot test in background, and just start everything all of sudden one day as a nice surprise. Just a prayer to god!