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Applying while living abroad

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pascastel

Full Member
Jun 29, 2017
22
5
Hi all,

I will be eligible for Citizenship on January 5th 2018 with 1105 days of presence. I will have to go to Australia for work at this time (early 2018), with some collaboration in Vancouver during 2018. I have been living in Quebec for years. I am ok with flying to Vancouver twice for test and oath during 2018.

Should I change my address in my immigration file to Vancouver or to Australia before applying?

I understand that living abroad may raise a red flag for the officer looking into my citizenship application ? True ? The 'intention to reside' will be repealed as Bill C-6 will be fully effective, does that change anything?
 
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links18

Champion Member
Feb 1, 2006
2,009
129
pascastel said:
Hi all,

I will be eligible for Citizenship on January 5th 2018 with 1105 days of presence. I will have to go to Australia for work at this time (early 2018), with some collaboration in Vancouver during 2018. I have been living in Quebec for years. I am ok with flying to Vancouver twice for test and oath during 2018.

Should I change my address in my immigration file to Vancouver or to Australia before applying?

I understand that living abroad may raise a red flag for the officer looking into my citizenship application ? True ? The 'intention to reside' will be repealed as Bill C-6 will be fully effective, does that change anything?
Click to expand...
Where would you say you actually reside? There is space on the citizenship form for a residential address and a mailing address, although IRCC has been known to ignore the mailing address or just flat out confuse the two if they differ (mail sent to a rural land description with no delivery, instead of a PO Box).

But the bigger question for you is whether or not you are maintaining any residential ties to Canada while you are away? Misrepresenting your address is likely grounds for refusal of your application.
 
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dpenabill

VIP Member
Apr 2, 2010
6,435
3,182
Never a good idea to approach giving the government information, under potentially severe penalties for misrepresentation, from the perspective of "what can" a person answer. The only prudent approach is to submit complete and truthful information to the best of the individual's understanding. When IRCC asks for a person's residential address, that almost always is asking for the address where the individual actually lives.

As links18 indicated, fudging facts has serious risks.

As Siar's link suggests, and I previously stated, there are already in-depth, extensive discussions here about the potential risks and pitfalls for applicants who are living or working abroad while an application is pending. The caveat is that we do not really know how this government is approaching issues related to this.

By the way, for clarity, the part of Bill C-6 which removed the intent to reside requirement, and further rendered it as if there never was any such requirement, already took full effect June 19 and thus, for example, the part of the previous application form which required applicants to declare their intent is no longer part of the current application form. Nonetheless, since extended absences while an application is pending has long been a risk indicator (which could trigger non-routine processing, potentially including RQ), going back at least a decade prior to the Harper-era introduction of the intent requirement, it is not at all clear to what extent this might be considered going forward. Again, see other topics, there are several of them, in which there are in-depth discussions about living abroad or leaving Canada while the application is pending.
 
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walmzd

Star Member
May 27, 2012
199
26
pascastel said:
Hi all,

I will be eligible for Citizenship on January 5th 2018 with 1105 days of presence. I will have to go to Australia for work at this time (early 2018), with some collaboration in Vancouver during 2018. I have been living in Quebec for years. I am ok with flying to Vancouver twice for test and oath during 2018.

Should I change my address in my immigration file to Vancouver or to Australia before applying?

I understand that living abroad may raise a red flag for the officer looking into my citizenship application ? True ? The 'intention to reside' will be repealed as Bill C-6 will be fully effective, does that change anything?
Click to expand...
Under any rule stop living in Canada will lead to rejection of your citizenship application. Apply for the citizenship when you live here, or alternatively apply for Australian PR and apply for citizenship there , whenever you qualify for it
 
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pascastel

Full Member
Jun 29, 2017
22
5
I am French citizen, working for universities doing research. I will have to live and reside in Australia from the begining of Januray 2018. I will collaborate with a university in BC, but my salary will be 100% from Australia, with a sponsored work visa for Australia.

...by looking into this:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=911&top=5

I understand that strictly, I could declare leaving in Australia and post my citizenhsip application. There is offically nothing against this. Wheter that may cause delay or further problems to my application is another issue... Am I right ?
What exactly is a RQ ? Giving all evidences of beeing out/in of/from Canada for the eligibility period (5 years with Bill C-6) ?
In my case, it is either trying, either losing eveything in the long run (probably even PR). I do wish to come back to Canada at some point.
 
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itsmyid

Champion Member
Jul 26, 2012
2,250
649
notarookie007 said:
I don't understand that either.. if CIC wanted to discourage applying from abroad, or applying and leaving, then perhaps they would've answered with "yes, but not recommended" or something like that.
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Well, it is not explicitly said, but you get the clue from at least 2 things:

If you need to leave Canada and want to stay eligible for Canadian citizenship, you must:
  • make sure that you live in Canada long enough to keep your Permanent Resident (PR) status
  • be a permanent resident (when you apply)
  • not lose PR status before you take the Oath of Citizenship this means, even if you meet the 3-year requirement when you send out your application, if you live outside of Canada for long enough you could lose your PR status due to failing to fulfill the 2/5 requirement for PR, and will no longer be eligible
  • bring your PR card with you when you leave Canada so you can return easily

Make sure your PR card won’t expire while you are outside Canada.

We usually only mail letters, notices and other documents to addresses in Canada so basically if you don't live in Canada you won't receive any notices on time.
 
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notarookie007

Member
Oct 16, 2017
13
1
I am not sure, but all these are issues that are usually well taken into account. I have the address of a friend of mine, who would forward mail to me in time.

Unless they take more than 2 years, then I don't need to worry about the 2/5 year requirement. In fact, even then, I'm going back to Canada in May anyways (after I finish my tenure in the US), so I doubt that's gone bother me either..

It is not legal, and the law is clear that the requirement is 3/5 for citizenship, period, so I don't understand why would a government that proposed a low not abide by it? It sound silly for CIC to try to restrict someone's travel (to me at least) when the law allows it.
 
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notarookie007

Member
Oct 16, 2017
13
1
Dear friends,
I am in the same boat, I took an academic position in Boston, MA in September and I am eligible to apply for citizenship under the new C-6 rules.

I personally know someone who applied (in late 2013), then immediately moved to San Fransisco for a postdoc position (and she clearly stated that in her app), and in 6 months she came back for the oath.

My situation is a bit more complex cause I am a US citizen, so I presume they can't really rely much on passport stamps because in many cases, there are none. I have proof of my trips however, not just in passport stamps, but also in airline tickets, employment verification, hotels, car rentals, etc. I have also documented proofs of addresses and employments.

Clearly I am going to apply, cause it's the only option I got.. it's either that or not do anything so I would rather roll the dice. Hence I am trying to improve my chances the best I can.

The CIC website clearly (to me at least) states that you can apply and then leave the country: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=911&top=5

My question is do I drive to Canada, send my application and then leave, or just send it from Boston?

Please advise...

It's the only choice I have, it's either that or not apply, so what am I to do?
 
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itsmyid

Champion Member
Jul 26, 2012
2,250
649
notarookie007 said:
I am not sure, but all these are issues that are usually well taken into account. I have the address of a friend of mine, who would forward mail to me in time.

Unless they take more than 2 years, then I don't need to worry about the 2/5 year requirement. In fact, even then, I'm going back to Canada in May anyways (after I finish my tenure in the US), so I doubt that's gone bother me either..

It is not legal, and the law is clear that the requirement is 3/5 for citizenship, period, so I don't understand why would a government that proposed a low not abide by it? It sound silly for CIC to try to restrict someone's travel (to me at least) when the law allows it.
Click to expand...
It is not in writing, but it is at their discretion to treat that kind of situation. A friend of mine (I don't remember how many times I have told the story here ...) moved to the US for a job right after her application was submitted, and that was before C-24 (so no 'intend to reside' rule), and her application was basically stuck for over 2 years until she was about to lose PR and had to move back, then got approved after another 8 months.

So, if the officer handling your case doesn't like it (they know you don't live in Canada based on tax and border crossing records which is easily accessible), then they can drag it as long as they want - remember, even though this is a liberal government, there is a very good chance that some employees at CIC are conservative, and even though the 'intend to reside' rule is gone, its spirit can still be lingering
 
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notarookie007

Member
Oct 16, 2017
13
1
Canada is not that different from the US in the sense that the government cannot delay applications indefinitely (cause that would be same as denying it for no apparent reason), and you can file a writ of mandamus (lawyer, $$) forcing them to move on your application if they exceed the average time by a good amount.

I would understand it if they require an RQ though. In other words, yes it may be flagged, but they still need to respond and ask for more documents to delay it.
 
Alurra71

Alurra71

VIP Member
Oct 5, 2012
3,238
309
Ontario
Visa Office......
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notarookie007 said:
Canada is not that different from the US in the sense that the government cannot delay applications indefinitely (cause that would be same as denying it for no apparent reason), and you can file a writ of mandamus (lawyer, $$) forcing them to move on your application if they exceed the average time by a good amount.

I would understand it if they require an RQ though. In other words, yes it may be flagged, but they still need to respond and ask for more documents to delay it.
Click to expand...
The problem is that once they've deemed your application as "outside normal processing times" then the writ of mandamus won't apply to you until you are then forced to move back to Canada to continue to meet your RO or let it all crumble around you. A Writ of Mandamus will only work once you've exceeded what might be considered 'undue' to the the 'outside of normal processing times" schedule. For the ones I've read about here or heard about, that is about 4-5 years after application submission.
 
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