Citizenship - No made decision 12 months after interview

[gertner]

I passed the citizenship exam and had an interview in October 2019. Since I lost my old passport, the CBSA report was required. This passport covered only a period of 6 months and my eligibility of getting citizenship in terms of time spent in Canada was not questionable. Actually, I was in Canada for almost whole 5 year period. This report was not available at the time of the interview and immigration officer advised me that the decision will be made as soon as this report arrives. Until now my application is still in process. I wrote to CIC several times and I got always the same response, that my application is still in process, that the responsible office has all the required documents and that they will be working on processing applications as quickly as possible, but processing times are affected by COVID-19. I found only one post with the similar scenario - CIC was requesting the CBSA multiple times as expiry date passed by the time when they wanted to work on this case. If it is happening in my case during Covid-19 pandemic, I may not get passport for a few years and I will need to renew PRC again. I feel it will never be completed. Is it possible to apply again for citizenship? Does immigration lawyer may help with this situation? Does anyone have similar experience?

 

[vegasIndian]

I passed the citizenship exam and had an interview in October 2019. Since I lost my old passport, the CBSA report was required. This passport covered only a period of 6 months and my eligibility of getting citizenship in terms of time spent in Canada was not questionable. Actually, I was in Canada for almost whole 5 year period. This report was not available at the time of the interview and immigration officer advised me that the decision will be made as soon as this report arrives. Until now my application is still in process. I wrote to CIC several times and I got always the same response, that my application is still in process, that the responsible office has all the required documents and that they will be working on processing applications as quickly as possible, but processing times are affected by COVID-19. I found only one post with the similar scenario - CIC was requesting the CBSA multiple times as expiry date passed by the time when they wanted to work on this case. If it is happening in my case during Covid-19 pandemic, I may not get passport for a few years and I will need to renew PRC again. I feel it will never be completed. Is it possible to apply again for citizenship? Does immigration lawyer may help with this situation? Does anyone have similar experience?

First I would say is apply for GCMS and see what the officer notes states there.

 

[BOYX]

I passed the citizenship exam and had an interview in October 2019. Since I lost my old passport, the CBSA report was required. This passport covered only a period of 6 months and my eligibility of getting citizenship in terms of time spent in Canada was not questionable. Actually, I was in Canada for almost whole 5 year period. This report was not available at the time of the interview and immigration officer advised me that the decision will be made as soon as this report arrives. Until now my application is still in process. I wrote to CIC several times and I got always the same response, that my application is still in process, that the responsible office has all the required documents and that they will be working on processing applications as quickly as possible, but processing times are affected by COVID-19. I found only one post with the similar scenario - CIC was requesting the CBSA multiple times as expiry date passed by the time when they wanted to work on this case. If it is happening in my case during Covid-19 pandemic, I may not get passport for a few years and I will need to renew PRC again. I feel it will never be completed. Is it possible to apply again for citizenship? Does immigration lawyer may help with this situation? Does anyone have similar experience?

I just jumped off a post where someone got a more in-depth response from their MP. When I was processing my PR Card, it helped to do the same. When your case has gone well past it's due date, it helps to get the government involved. If your MP doesn't budge, keep bothering them. Post on Twitter and Facebook because they do not like that negative attention in public. Good luck and keep us posted!

EDIT: The post in question

 

[gertner]

Thank you very much to both of you. I don't think that there is anything concerning in their notes, but I still may apply for GCMS just to see if they are working on my case or nobody touched it for months. How to get response from their MP?

 

[BOYX]

Thank you very much to both of you. I don't think that there is anything concerning in their notes, but I still may apply for GCMS just to see if they are working on my case or nobody touched it for months. How to get response from their MP?

Be persistent and email them. Start once a week and then make it more and more frequent if necessary. Also you do not have to be a constituent of the MP to email them; email ones in the NDP or any immigrant MPs since they will be more sympathetic. In fact, email multiple at once. You can find out more about the MPs by googling them - and I strongly suggest you do your research.

A potentially more effective way would be to ask for help on twitter. Here I say start with just one MP (since they can see your tweets and will be less inclined to help since they will expect the other MPs will help). Of course the same criteria of selecting the MP follows as above. Twitter will most likely get you the results (did for me) since it will make them look good for helping you out.

Nonetheless, I advise you do both. Try to give good reasons as why this citizenship matters to you (voting, love for the country, equal job prospects etc.) Also emphasis and explain why your case is different from the rest (you aren't necessarily affected by COVID; your application has been delayed even before that).

Other than that, I wish you the best of luck!