It's definitely good news and sort of confirms what I always suspected - being a pilot, the online applicants are now running through a different, accelerated 'ring', while the rest of our paper-based applications are on the normal 'ring'.
Progression is always good. Even if they are running through a different stream regardless the "official" processing time 12 months still.
While it may be somewhat frustrating for the paper-based applications to watch this happen (I would be lying if I didn't admit there was a small part of me that doesn't feel the
slightest tinge of jealousy
) this is an important milestone because the faster the folks in that initial batch reach the end of their grant of citizenship 'cycle', i.e. oath, the faster the process and pilot exercise can be examined for either further rollouts (they ran this exercise for very distinct criteria to ensure conformity; it is possible that the next phase for this in their development is to extend it to families as well).
It's not frustrating honestly. It's how they are handling it. You have a choice to apply online and paper. Which route you're gonna take that upto you. But IRCC is not giving us the clear picture about it, that's all. On the other hand, am I jealous? A little bit, not gonna lie. They launched this program around December 2020 right after we applied in November
I'm happy for them overall because they're ultimately going to show us what the future of this process is going to look like. There is also a possibility that our applications get pushed into that processing stream too - looking at the December 2020 boards as well, it would appear that the pace is accelerating; setting aside the Online applications going through their own processing 'ring', there are paper-based applications in there as late as Mid-December that have received their AORs. This is also excellent news because it means that something has definitely improved about processing times starting end-October.
I am happy for anyone who's becoming a Canadian. The system should be fair at the same time. I've seen people from 2018 are still waiting for OATH invite, people from 2019 are still waiting for Test Invite. This is not fair to them. Lets skip for those who have complicated cases but for those who got invite in March 2020 but cancelled due to COVID 19. Some of them are still waiting for Test Invite. It's not fair at all at any circumstances. It is what it is. Life is not fair to all. So move on