Thank you for your correspondence of September 3, 2021, addressed to Catrina Tapley, Deputy Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, concerning citizenship application processing during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have been asked to respond.
Your comments and concerns are duly noted. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) appreciates all comments and values all feedback. Such input is taken into consideration as the Department moves forward with a view to continuous improvements of its programs and policies.
As you know, the Government of Canada has implemented a number of temporary measures to protect the health and safety of Canadians and reduce the spread of COVID-19. As part of these measures, on March 14, 2020, IRCC cancelled all in-person Citizenship events, such as Citizenship tests, hearings, and in-person oath taking ceremonies until further notice.
IRCC is contributing to preventing the spread of COVID-19 by moving many of its in-person citizenship services, including testing and ceremonies, to an online format. After a period of near total shutdown, the Department began holding citizenship ceremonies online in April 2020. As of March 2021, more than 57,000 clients have taken the Oath of citizenship in more than 9,400 ceremonies, using a virtual platform.
On November 26, 2020, IRCC also announced the launch of the online citizenship knowledge test. As of April 2021, IRCC had invited more than 65,800 citizenship applicants to take an online citizenship knowledge test, and more than 43,600 had completed their test.
IRCC is now able to invite approximately 5,000 clients per week to complete the online citizenship test, which is in line with pre-COVID testing rates. Over time, as more clients complete the citizenship knowledge test, and upon meeting the other requirements for citizenship, become ceremony ready, the frequency of video oath ceremonies will ramp-up again over the course of 2021.
Please be assured that IRCC continues to use this innovative approach to ensure approved candidates for citizenship become citizens in as timely a manner as possible.
IRCC clients are encouraged to monitor the
How COVID-19 is affecting immigration, refugees, citizenship and passport services web page for up-to-date information related to their application or situation.
Thank you for taking the time to write and express your views.
Sincerely,
Y. Levesque
Ministerial Enquiries Division