Applying for Citizenship

[DeepthiVvv]

Hello all,

I am eligible for my citizenship from 10th August 2024. I am traveling to India in September 2024 and will be back in April 2025 ( more than 183days ). Couple of questions -

1. Do I need to take police clearance from Indian passport office or BLS Canada?

2. Is it better to apply for citizenship now or after coming back from India ?

 

[Seym]

2) It's up to you. But in practice :
- If you apply now, depending on whether you already need to provide a PCC for your previous travels, you may not need to provide an Indian PCC, but being outside the country has logistical consequences, like needing to come back TO Canada on short notice, potentially more than once, and then there's the potential issue of traveling back to Indian as a Canadian citizen, which Indians in the forum can speak about.
- if you apply later, you will need to provide a PCC from India.
It's up to you, really, and no-one knows how the processing will go, but if getting a PCC ends up being easy, applying after you come back can potentially save you the round-trip money, and make the logistics easier I guess...

 

[forw.jane]

Hello all,

I am eligible for my citizenship from 10th August 2024. I am traveling to India in September 2024 and will be back in April 2025 ( more than 183days ). Couple of questions -

1. Do I need to take police clearance from Indian passport office or BLS Canada?

2. Is it better to apply for citizenship now or after coming back from India ?

Pt.1 PCC should be after your come back. So it will be from BLS.

 

[DeepthiVvv]

Pt.1 PCC should be after your come back. So it will be from BLS.

Thanks for your reply, what is I can get PCC from Indian passport office while coming back to Canada.

 

[DeepthiVvv]

2) It's up to you. But in practice :
- If you apply now, depending on whether you already need to provide a PCC for your previous travels, you may not need to provide an Indian PCC, but being outside the country has logistical consequences, like needing to come back TO Canada on short notice, potentially more than once, and then there's the potential issue of traveling back to Indian as a Canadian citizen, which Indians in the forum can speak about.
- if you apply later, you will need to provide a PCC from India.
It's up to you, really, and no-one knows how the processing will go, but if getting a PCC ends up being easy, applying after you come back can potentially save you the round-trip money, and make the logistics easier I guess...

Thanks for your response...
Yes I thought about the things like getting invitation for Citizenship test and oath, seems like it's better to apply after coming back from India.

Only concern is getting PCC from BLS here in Canada seems like nightmare without an appointment.

 

[forw.jane]

Thanks for your reply, what is I can get PCC from Indian passport office while coming back to Canada.

To be valid, the police certificate must be either issued

• after the last time you were in that country, or
• no more than 6 months before the date you sign your citizenship application

You should be in India to collect the PCC, so I don't understand what you mean by "while coming back to Canada".

 

[DeepthiVvv]

I mean to say, while I am traveling back from India, which will be after 7 months, I can get the PCC from Indian passport office right?

Or do I need to come to Canada and then get my PCC from BLS ?

 

[forw.jane]

I mean to say, while I am traveling back from India, which will be after 7 months, I can get the PCC from Indian passport office right?

Or do I need to come to Canada and then get my PCC from BLS ?

PCC issue date should not be within your travel dates. It should be after your trip ends. If you can manage to get it from India sitting in Canada, that would still work. I just don't the process of that. Normally once in Canada people apply at BLS.

 

[DeepthiVvv]

PCC issue date should not be within your travel dates. It should be after your trip ends. If you can manage to get it from India sitting in Canada, that would still work. I just don't the process of that. Normally once in Canada people apply at BLS.

Okay, Thank you!!!