Hello friends,
Time to come out of my lurk mode and check in with the group - hopefully we can help each other with these questions:
1) I see many here waiting for a long time to get a citizenship test invite after their BG check was completed. I actually have completed my citizenship test (in early December) with all of the other fields in the online tracker still "in progress" with no updates at all! *This is with the new online tracker*. Is this expected/has anybody else encountered this? Not in a hurry, just trying to get an overall sense of where my application is at the moment.
2) One of the reasons I am asking is that I am outside Canada - having left (for the time being, more or less permanently) several months after my online application was submitted and after receiving AOR in August. Following advice from this thread, I didn't update my maling address (as I understood it wasn't necessary), but did let IRCC know that I was outside of Canada when the test invite came in and proceeded to complete the test from outside Canada.
Now, I am not sure what to do about the citizenship oath itself. I found somebody saying somewhere in the forum that they were offered an option to take it from outside the country (at the cost of a significant delay), but never was able to find that again. I could make arrangements to come to Canada for the oath, no problem; my concerns are about where the citizenship certificate would be mailed then, and how many times would I have to come to the country to get my passport in hand (given Covid related travel difficulties). Worse, I read something about having to destroy my PR card - when would that have to happen, and how do I do that if I am outside the country with no visa to re-enter? Should I go ahead and provide a friend's mailing address to IRCC now?
Thanks so much!
App submitted Apr 20, online, Vancouver. AOR end of August. Test invite late November, test taken early December. No other updates at all.