Congrats... How was the oath ceremony? give us some info about the Niagara Office... Is it a big busy one? What are your thoughts after the oath? Also, what is your plan for the passport application to get it fast?
Thanks! The ceremony was touching and a much more positive experience than I had been expecting. I had been very depressed for months due to the unusually long wait to get the oath invite after DM. But at the ceremony, the judge and staff were very warm and welcoming as well as efficient. I was impressed. They said there were 172 of us in the ceremony.
As for passport, I don't have travel booked, so I can't go to a passport office and have to go to Service Canada. I don't want to apply by mail, to not risk having my certificate of citizenship get lost in the mail (which would take over a year to replace) or to have to make copies of additional IDs and get them signed by my guarantor. The Service Canadas near me usually don't have any appointments available, but I've also noticed that if I try at random times, especially late at night, sometimes a spot will open. Kind of like booking a COVID vaccine appointment in the early days! I managed to book one for November 10. After I receive the certificate, I will keep refreshing the site often to see if I can snag an earlier appointment. I don't know what the walk-in situation is like and don't have time to keep trying only to not get a spot. But for people who do have travel booked, I'd say to check the wait times at your local passport office and plan to arrive very early before opening time.
Here's a more detailed recap of my oath ceremony experience:
Most of the time was spent waiting around: first waiting to be let into a waiting room. They were letting us in 20 at a time to a waiting room to be brought by an agent to a breakout room to register.
We all had to set our zoom names to our assigned seat numbers as noted in the oath invite PDF. Some people wrote that they didn't know how to do so, but the staff was able to help them. FYI for those who have yet to take the oath, please do try to change your zoom name before your oath in order to reduce everyone's wait time. For a family, change your name to your seat numbers separated by a comma and space, for example, "101, 102, 103, 104"
The agent I got was very nice and friendly. He first asked my name and address, if I was currently in Canada, and the standard prohibitions questions. For those who have urgent travel booked or who otherwise need their certificates urgently, or those who have to update their addresses, this is the time to mention it. I also asked the agent if the certificate could be rolled or folded to fit into a small mailbox, and he said yes, that it was just the size of a standard piece of paper. Then he had me show my IDs (PR card and drivers license). Apparently my zoom was set to blur background; he told me how to unset the blur so that he could read my IDs okay. Then he had me cut my PR card into 4 pieces. Afterwards he sent me to the main waiting room, where he said that there would be about a 20 minute wait while they finished registering everyone.
As many others in this forum have noted, a few people did not know how to mute their microphones, so during the wait, we heard some random conversations and kids talking and background noises. Not too bad though IMO. A few people had cats and showed them on camera briefly.
The ceremony itself lasted only about 20 minutes. They first showed us a video with some breathtaking views of different parts of Canada that made me feel like doing some travels within Canada. The citizenship judge made some inspiring remarks, then proceeded to say the oath, first in English and then in French. The judge noted that due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, our oaths would be a little different from what we had received in the oath invite PDF. "King Charles III, King of Canada" was substituted for "Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada". The judge read the oaths phrase by phrase (and only 2-3 words at a time in the French version) for us to repeat after. For the French version, the judge spoke extra slowly and only 2-3 words at a time, and the group repeated even more slowly but did quite well, so for people who don't know French and are worried, don't worry!
We were given a minute to take a selfie with the judge on screen, then the judge left, and the main staff gave us post-ceremony instructions, including about the email they would send us to reply to to send our signed oath forms.
Note that the email that we received a few minutes post-ceremony came from a slightly different address from the one that sent the invitation and that was noted in the invitation PDF to reply to with the signed oath form. I replied to the post-ceremony email as well as the one that sent the invite and got automated responses from both.
The next morning, my tracker was updated to show ceremony completed and file closed.
