Citizenship test: Collective action required, or expect endless delays, years. Example of the effective lobbyng of people awaiting spousal sponsorship

[adey786]

Time to start the PROTEST again....

Take a lead and organize one. We will stand beside you.

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Last time I submitted an ATIP request, I got shot down (and was asked to amend the request) because the request was in a question format and IRCC doesn't (apparently) answer questions. They only provide documents or so I was told. (I did not bother to amend that request at the time and abandoned it).

So this time, I avoided asking questions and instead requested "Any and all records including but not limited to memos, briefing notes, internal notes, reports, discussions, emails, policies pertaining to..." the items I thought are important to know. Below is what I sent them :



I did have more requests but the text area on the page has a limit of 1500 characters (including spaces). I had to remove one other question I had about projected timelines for 2020 applicants to make room for the other important requests listed above (and I think I have made them very specific).

I will keep you guys posted on this. I hope to receive detailed documentation that shows the information that I have requested above. Once I receive it, I will upload it to Google drive and share the link here OR just give you guys the link to the documentation on the ATIP website.

I've got an update on this. An ATIP officer emailed me back telling me there was a confusion for items 1 and 2.

Dear Rajkamal Mohanram:

This is to acknowledge receipt of your request submitted pursuant to the Access to Information Act, which was received on February 1, 2021, for the following records:

Please provide: 1. Any and all records including but not limited to memos, briefing notes, internal notes, reports, discussions, emails, policies pertaining to the number of applicants invited for the online testing as of the date this request is processed. 2. Any and all records including but not limited to memos, briefing notes, internal notes, reports, discussions, emails, policies pertaining to the current backlog of applicants for both citizenship test AND the virtual oath ceremony as of the date this request is processed. 3. Any and all records including but not limited to memos, briefing notes, internal notes, reports, discussions, emails, policies pertaining to the plans AND measures being pursued to minimize backlog for applicants waiting for the online citizenship test AND virtual oath ceremony. 4. Any and all records including but not limited to memos, briefing notes, internal notes, reports, discussions, emails, policies pertaining to increasing the volume and/or frequency of online citizenship test invites being sent out AND increasing the number of online oath ceremonies and/or increasing the number of participants per ceremony. 5. Any and all records including but not limited to memos, briefing notes, internal notes, reports, discussions, emails, policies pertaining to any additions/deletions/amends to the operational procedures for processing citizenship grant applications in the past 6 months.

There is some confusion in regards to the timeframe for points 1-2. What do you mean when you say “as of the date this request is processed”. That would only be a few days and there may not be any available records. Would you be open to making the timeframe the past 6 months for the whole request? Please advise.

Please note that we will put your request on hold until we receive the requested information from you. If we have not received your reply by March 8, 2021, we will consider the request abandoned and close our file accordingly.

Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

I clarified what was being requested in items 1 and 2.

Good morning. Thank you for getting back to me.

I should have been more clear - Where it says 'as of the date this request is processed', it means "from the date of inception of the said program (online citizenship tests and virtual oath ceremony) up until the date this request is processed".

Hope this clarifies the confusion.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Appreciate your time - Thank you!

Sincerely,

She e-mailed me back. Hopefully, there are no further confusions .

Hello Rajkamal,

Thank you for your quick response! I will forward it to the team working on it.

I will let you know if any further questions are needed.

Kind regards,

 

[engray]

I've got an update on this. An ATIP officer emailed me back telling me there was a confusion for items 1 and 2.



I clarified what was being requested in items 1 and 2.



She e-mailed me back. Hopefully, there are no further confusions .

Thanks for sending this request, hopefully they send you something useful.

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Thanks for sending this request, hopefully they send you something useful.

Yup, I'm hoping for a bunch of documents that can finally give us some insight into what exactly is going on.

 

[his*marty]

I applied at the beginning of March 2020. AOR August and In process since October 2020. She is still doing okay but once she gets covid, I don’t wanna even think about that, she is also so lonely there. I mean physically she is not completely alone maybe, but I don’t even wanna try to explain the complicated family issues and how lonely she is there in the end. Everyday another battle.. That country’s (Somewhere in the middle east) situation is so bad in every way. Not even only talking about covid issues, talking about much more than that. But also no good vaccine or anything yet. And not much hope for the near future. I am not Pollyanna, I can’t tell lies to myself or others to make us feel better, only reality.. Even though that reality hits you in the face badly.

Also I just want to say that some random strangers(not you) are just mean assuming they know everything, making assumptions like “hmmm hahahahaha it’s citizenship maaan how did you get pain syndrome”. Well, first off all, I hope those guys wouldn’t need to deal with chronic pain ever, second, when they say it like that, it definitely feels like maybe even ridicilous. Like seriously, chronic pain because of not being able to be citizen??? Hahahahahah yeah it sounds so ridicilous right? Well, people just don’t understand. They really don’t understand what being citizen means. Probably because their situation is different and they don’t know much about emphaty. They are now in their cosy homes, with their families, in not so bad conditions, all peacefully. Anyways, in addition, I started to get chronic health issues not only because of citizenship but also other things. But these citizenship issues contributed to it just so much. Anyways there are so many more things but I am beyond exhausted to even try to explain.

I just wanna know one thing:
Will I see those 20 questions in 2021?

Yes, I am alone too...and going through the process of sponsorship is an even bigger nightmare right now. So yes, I want my citizenship so I can get the option of leaving this country and being with my husband...because I am tired of being apart from him more than 1 year and not having any clear indication of when I will see him again.

 

[his*marty]

Hmm. Look, the positive side to your story is that IRCC has somehow started picking 2020 applicants and there is a hope that you could be one of those lucky chaps. Let's hope for the best.

The other side is : Your family needs. You certainly need to be closer to your mum given the situation you have explained. If I were you, I would have done short trips every few months to keep closer to mum as much as possible and also keeping a tab on IRCC as well. That is the best bet for you ! You need to be in Canada in order to take test and Oath, so whilst you have "buffer" until you get test invite, why dont you attend to family business? This would at least put your mind at ease.

All the best and good luck.

I can only speak for myself, but I haven't seen my husband in almost a year. Sure, I would go even amidst covid...but the reality is, I can't get enough time to see him on the other side of the world and quarantine in two different countries. This is what's creating the stress is not being with the person you need the most and not knowing when you will!

 

[adey786]

I can only speak for myself, but I haven't seen my husband in almost a year. Sure, I would go even amidst covid...but the reality is, I can't get enough time to see him on the other side of the world and quarantine in two different countries. This is what's creating the stress is not being with the person you need the most and not knowing when you will!

You are almost there my friend. You just need an Oath e-mail to call it "Game Over". Stay strong and this will be over for you perhaps with the next refresh of/login to you e-mail.

 

[his*marty]

Thank you, i just want this to be over so I can have the option of leaving Canada to be with my husband. I haven't seen him in a year.

 

[FlyingLion]

Thank you, i just want this to be over so I can have the option of leaving Canada to be with my husband. I haven't seen him in a year.

Sending prayers to you!

 

[his*marty]

Sending prayers to you!

Thank you so much, it means a lot.

 

[calgary1991]

Anytime !
It is very important to have empathy for people issues and not judge them because each case is different. It is also normal that you are frustated as I am too. They will always be some people who will talk you down for having emotions, but don't worry there is also many people like me who understand your postion.
Time has always been the most valuable thing to me (not money or any other bs that you find on earth). You can lose some material things and get it back but you can't come back in past. The problem with government workers (just like most of the human beings) is they are not aware of things that people are dealing with. If there were people in their own family having with the same issues than you, they will definitely speed up the process.
Anyway, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that is why we have this forum and this post. Some good folks like @piotrqc have been doing an awesome work trying to get IRCC back to work and their effort is not vain. We will all get there but we have to be smart.

Cheers brother.

Exactly! Each case is different. I advise those ppl from this forum to learn this one day. And yes time is the most precious thing, not money. Totally agreed and hoping IRCC will speed up the process.. Cheers !!

 

[1+1=11]

I applied at the beginning of March 2020. AOR August and In process since October 2020. She is still doing okay but once she gets covid, I don’t wanna even think about that, she is also so lonely there. I mean physically she is not completely alone maybe, but I don’t even wanna try to explain the complicated family issues and how lonely she is there in the end. Everyday another battle.. That country’s (Somewhere in the middle east) situation is so bad in every way. Not even only talking about covid issues, talking about much more than that. But also no good vaccine or anything yet. And not much hope for the near future. I am not Pollyanna, I can’t tell lies to myself or others to make us feel better, only reality.. Even though that reality hits you in the face badly.

Also I just want to say that some random strangers(not you) are just mean assuming they know everything, making assumptions like “hmmm hahahahaha it’s citizenship maaan how did you get pain syndrome”. Well, first off all, I hope those guys wouldn’t need to deal with chronic pain ever, second, when they say it like that, it definitely feels like maybe even ridicilous. Like seriously, chronic pain because of not being able to be citizen??? Hahahahahah yeah it sounds so ridicilous right? Well, people just don’t understand. They really don’t understand what being citizen means. Probably because their situation is different and they don’t know much about emphaty. They are now in their cosy homes, with their families, in not so bad conditions, all peacefully. Anyways, in addition, I started to get chronic health issues not only because of citizenship but also other things. But these citizenship issues contributed to it just so much. Anyways there are so many more things but I am beyond exhausted to even try to explain.

I just wanna know one thing:
Will I see those 20 questions in 2021?

My friend, I tried asking you this in DM before but you never responded. Since you applied for the citizenship back in March 2020, why haven't you traveled to visit your ailing parent throughout this time? I understand we are in a pandemic, but your country, specifically, did not place any restrictions on travellers flying in from Canada in 2020. I don't know what your situation is but I tried reaching out to you in the past. Do you not have your country's passport anymore?

 

[InGodITrust]

It’s a bad idea because we are not shrinks. There’s a thin line between sharing and seeking counselling when needed. So help us by not dumping here as many of us are coping with worse situations than waiting for citizenship <1yr.

I usually don’t like to waste my precious time or energy getting involved in useless arguments on this forum, but for you I’m making an exception. I sure hope one of us here is a shrink so he can tend to you. I’ve seen way too many of your likes on this forum. Very sad indeed. Whatever happened to compassion and kindness? This forum is meant to gather people who are pursuing the same goal so they can help and lift each other up, not the opposite. If you can’t help or lift someone up, just be quiet. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say nothing at all. It’s as simple as that. Instead of sitting behind your keyboard and judging people and their situations, I suggest you take a master class on how to be a good human. There, wasted 20 seconds of my time on you. I’ll never get those back. Hope you’re proud of yourself.

 

[InGodITrust]

I applied at the beginning of March 2020. AOR August and In process since October 2020. She is still doing okay but once she gets covid, I don’t wanna even think about that, she is also so lonely there. I mean physically she is not completely alone maybe, but I don’t even wanna try to explain the complicated family issues and how lonely she is there in the end. Everyday another battle.. That country’s (Somewhere in the middle east) situation is so bad in every way. Not even only talking about covid issues, talking about much more than that. But also no good vaccine or anything yet. And not much hope for the near future. I am not Pollyanna, I can’t tell lies to myself or others to make us feel better, only reality.. Even though that reality hits you in the face badly.

Also I just want to say that some random strangers(not you) are just mean assuming they know everything, making assumptions like “hmmm hahahahaha it’s citizenship maaan how did you get pain syndrome”. Well, first off all, I hope those guys wouldn’t need to deal with chronic pain ever, second, when they say it like that, it definitely feels like maybe even ridicilous. Like seriously, chronic pain because of not being able to be citizen??? Hahahahahah yeah it sounds so ridicilous right? Well, people just don’t understand. They really don’t understand what being citizen means. Probably because their situation is different and they don’t know much about emphaty. They are now in their cosy homes, with their families, in not so bad conditions, all peacefully. Anyways, in addition, I started to get chronic health issues not only because of citizenship but also other things. But these citizenship issues contributed to it just so much. Anyways there are so many more things but I am beyond exhausted to even try to explain.

I just wanna know one thing:
Will I see those 20 questions in 2021?

Hang in there, my man. My situation is similar to yours. I am also living here on my own but I know I am not alone, God is with me. I have endured so many hardships since day 1, but it made me who I am today and for that I am thankful. I haven’t seen my family for almost 3 years now. Yes it’s very hard to stay motivated and carry on, but life has taught me that no one is always going to be there for me but myself. So take care of your mental and physical health and trust your journey. Nothing worth having comes easy, and there’s always light behind the clouds. Sending you all my positive vibes.

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

I've got an update on this. An ATIP officer emailed me back telling me there was a confusion for items 1 and 2.



I clarified what was being requested in items 1 and 2.



She e-mailed me back. Hopefully, there are no further confusions .

When we get these documents, I need a few volunteers who can work with me to check the documents and summarize the key points. I am expecting this to be a very large set of documents - I can't summarize everything on my own.

We'll each take a portion of the pdf and then summarize all the key points / important information and post it here. I'll open a new thread for further discussions on this topic after we get the documents.

We can read the entire documentation later at our leisure.

If you are willing to volunteer, please PM me.

UPDATE : Actually, let's wait for the documents to arrive. If the amount of documentation is fairly less somehow, I'll do it on my own. Otherwise, we'll make this a group effort.