I decide to provide a data point here, in case useful to some folks.
I applied last year but decided to withdraw (I posted a separate thread on this forum before, as you can find it) because I missed one trip abroad. Fast forward, I applied again.
My timeline aligns exactly as reported on this forum as some other folks did: BG check passed, citizenship test passed, etc. However, I see those other folks getting LPP completed while mine is not. From the ATIP notes that I read, it was the same day that IRCC asked me for an interview through Microsoft Teams as other people were getting LPP completed. Therefore, I guess that some junior clerk would go through all the applications, approve the trivial ones, and hand them over for an interview by a senior officer. However, the interview was backlogged too much, and I waited for 40 days before I received an interview notice, I finally got an interview about two months after IRCC decided to interview me.
Then I had an interview with the IRCC officer the other day. The officer said that the only reason that I got interviewed was that I had applied and withdrawn before. All the other criteria are good: 5 years of taxes, continuous work experience, and a lot more than the required physical presence -- due to my first miscalculation, my physical presence is well above 1095. The interview was short (about 3 mins), and the officer said that she would expect me to get an oath notice very soon. I'm still waiting, and hope the oath ceremony will be soon.
Takeaway: 1) the backlog is real, especially when it comes to interviews or senior officers. 2) I don't think ATIP notes have accelerated anything, as I see my timeline as similar to those who required ATIP notes every week. 3) please double and triple-check your travel history before submission. You can see that even though my case is simple, a withdrawal on file did slow down my process significantly. 4) when talking to the IRCC officer, she said that as of right now (July 2024) the interviews are not random. You are interviewed for a reason, whether officers tell you or not. In my case, she told me.
I applied last year but decided to withdraw (I posted a separate thread on this forum before, as you can find it) because I missed one trip abroad. Fast forward, I applied again.
My timeline aligns exactly as reported on this forum as some other folks did: BG check passed, citizenship test passed, etc. However, I see those other folks getting LPP completed while mine is not. From the ATIP notes that I read, it was the same day that IRCC asked me for an interview through Microsoft Teams as other people were getting LPP completed. Therefore, I guess that some junior clerk would go through all the applications, approve the trivial ones, and hand them over for an interview by a senior officer. However, the interview was backlogged too much, and I waited for 40 days before I received an interview notice, I finally got an interview about two months after IRCC decided to interview me.
Then I had an interview with the IRCC officer the other day. The officer said that the only reason that I got interviewed was that I had applied and withdrawn before. All the other criteria are good: 5 years of taxes, continuous work experience, and a lot more than the required physical presence -- due to my first miscalculation, my physical presence is well above 1095. The interview was short (about 3 mins), and the officer said that she would expect me to get an oath notice very soon. I'm still waiting, and hope the oath ceremony will be soon.
Takeaway: 1) the backlog is real, especially when it comes to interviews or senior officers. 2) I don't think ATIP notes have accelerated anything, as I see my timeline as similar to those who required ATIP notes every week. 3) please double and triple-check your travel history before submission. You can see that even though my case is simple, a withdrawal on file did slow down my process significantly. 4) when talking to the IRCC officer, she said that as of right now (July 2024) the interviews are not random. You are interviewed for a reason, whether officers tell you or not. In my case, she told me.
