YYZINR said:
Hi,
I am filing my citizenship application next week and due to family and personal reasons i am in a situation to leave the country for a year. Will this cause any issues for my file processing ? Will i be refused citizenship ? Anyone in a similar situation ? Any info will be of great help.
INR
I generally concur in the
caution expressed by others above, and have indeed been the author of similar cautions here in other topics, in addition to some extensive analysis as to why.
It is also worth noting, however, that one of the Liberal campaign commitments was to remove the
intent-to-reside requirement. That may not happen for a while, for a long while, or not at all. Many campaign promises are never met for many reasons, oft times for reasons rooted in legitimate adjustments to reality even if there is an entirely sincere intent and genuine effort to keep the promise (U.S. President Obama's promise to close the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay for example). But the fact that this provision remains the current law does not really illuminate much about how
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship will be approaching these cases going forward.
Much of my previous analysis on this subject was based on the approach being taken by CIC (now named "
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship") under the leadership of Harper and his Conservative Ministers (especially Kenney and Alexander). I suspect that going forward
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship is likely to moderate how strictly it scrutinizes applicants who are abroad during the application process.
This does not mean the risks will be greatly less, let alone disappear. In this regard it may be worth remembering that it was while the Liberals formed the government (back in 2005) that formal
reasons-to-question-residency were implemented including indications of extensive absence during the processing of the application. Concerns about
applicants-who-apply-on-the-way-the-airport are not solely those of the Conservative Party.
But my sense is that the nature and purpose and duration of the absence, in the individual case, will factor into how
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship approaches the particular applicant. Thus, for example, if the Conservative Party still formed the government, I would have expected a practical policy of rejecting applicants who live abroad while the application is pending (impossible to intend to
"continue" to reside in Canada if one is not at the time actually residing in Canada), perhaps not absolutely but quite strictly. With Minister McCallum as Minister, I anticipate a more flexible approach, one that will more readily recognize temporary reasons for being located abroad.
But significant risks will almost certainly be involved for those applicants who go abroad for an extended time period during the pendancy of their citizenship application. That said, so long as the individual stays in compliance with the PR Residency Obligation, worst case scenario is the citizenship application is denied and the individual can re-apply later (so long as qualified).
Those who are adverse to risk, are likely to approach this far more cautiously.
For some, the risk may be worth taking, depending on the reason for going abroad, and depending as well on how reliably they will get mail sent to their Canadian address, and how quickly they can return to Canada to attend test, interview, and oath, oft times on fairly short notice.
As in most of these matters, there is no one size that fits all.
