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

vnexpress

Hero Member
Jul 2, 2015
517
63
CIC Calgary

App received Nov 26, 2019
Processing started Mar 11, 2020
I got the invite for test but then cancelled due to COVID-19 in March 2020 and since then, nothing.

Anyone in same boat? It seems Calgary is quite behind.
 

Shoukat Halani

Star Member
Sep 6, 2014
71
30
CIC Calgary

App received Nov 26, 2019
Processing started Mar 11, 2020
I got the invite for test but then cancelled due to COVID-19 in March 2020 and since then, nothing.

Anyone in same boat? It seems Calgary is quite behind.
Yes, me but my app received on Aug 28, 2019
 

robteix

Star Member
May 7, 2019
132
57
CIC Calgary

App received Nov 26, 2019
Processing started Mar 11, 2020
I got the invite for test but then cancelled due to COVID-19 in March 2020 and since then, nothing.

Anyone in same boat? It seems Calgary is quite behind.
Applied in July 2019. Test cancelled in March 2020 as well. Nothing ever since. Welcome to the team.
 

vnexpress

Hero Member
Jul 2, 2015
517
63
Applied in July 2019. Test cancelled in March 2020 as well. Nothing ever since. Welcome to the team.
I just realized the dates shown in new status checking page are all wrong and messed up. It looks like it belongs to someone else. Anyone else experiencing this?
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,594
13,523
If you read that person's posts, you would think that every immigrant is a tax leach and contributes nothing to taxes.

When anyone challenges her with facts and figures, she stops responding and starts trolling in other threads.
If you actually read my posts I am ver pro immigration. If you actually read my posts it would be pretty obvious. I also like people to follow their obligations and think that Canadian citizenship is worth more than 2-3 years as a PR. That doesn’t make me anti-immigrant. I also realize that many complaining about faster access to citizenship have already left Canada or have plans to leave once they secure citizenship. You have also admitted that you have been applying for jobs out of Canada. For those needing citizenship to access certain position within Canada, which is the minority, they should have priority processing.
 
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canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,594
13,523
It's a bit frustrating to see that attitude, given have valuable immigrants are to Canada. If you look at our public finances closely, you will realize the country needs immigrants. Desperately. Immigration is a 2-way street, Canada needs productive immigrants just as badly as immigrants want to come here for a better quality of life than their home countries. Take immigrants away, and given the current birth rate in Canada, our fabled social net looks like a house of cards.

On a related note, Canada also desperately needs tax rates to go up. Notice Chrystia Freeland's joy when the Biden administration talked about OECD countries stepping back from competing on taxes. I'm not saying all of this to be critical of Canada, but it's worth noting that the Canadian economy is uncompetitive across a range of metrics. Immigration is one of the few bright spots.
Disappointing when people label you as anti-immigrant when you spend lots of your time helping people answer question about immigration:rolleyes: Agree that Canada needs immigrants. Not sure how anyone in Canada can disagree with that seeing our demographic stats. Also think thatCanada needs to retain immigrants which is why I think Canada should raise it citizenship requirement to 5 years which is more in line with other countries and also not allow PRs to work on an H1B while living in Canada and using Canadian services. Allowing Canadian citizenship to be a 3 year commitment in order to relocate creates huge future liabilities for Canada. Think many agree that this liberal government has become more like the NDP and these unlimited spending programs are a bad idea. Our federal deficits were not concerning compared to many provincial deficits but that is changing. Unfortunately the conservatives have picked a candidate that isn’t palatable for most so there isn’t much an option for more fiscally responsible liberals.
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
55,594
13,523
I don't want to dismiss cheating or other issues with going online. But when communication from IRCC has been as weak as it has, they are asking for people to make assumptions.

Pre-COVID, more than 80% of test takers were passing the citizenship test on their first try... it's not a particularly hard test. Unless there's data suggesting that a much larger percentage of test takers are passing the online test, I'm not sure what the concern is.

Regarding your school analogy, I have not heard any school say it will do online testing for only half its students due to COVID, or ask half its student body to miss a school year. They have been forced to make compromises, and iterate and get better. It's not clear to me why IRCC gets to decide it will process less applications. COVID has made life difficult for everybody, they need to deal with it.

I don't know what the right solution is... may be put big penalties on those found cheating? But the answer can't be delays for the vast majority of honest citizenship applicants.
Fair point but when it comes to cheating schools have the ability to punish students through failing or expulsion. I don’t believe you could easily have punishments for those who cheat on the citizenship exams. Governments in general are not good at innovating. The bureaucracy is huge. If you look at some of the booking websites that the provinces have commissioned they are so poor and likely cost a fortune to make. In reality I think IRCC was hoping that the pandemic would be short-lived and didn’t want to make any changes until they were forced to. Most PRs and citizens have access to the same programs and services in Canada so there wasn’t likely the urgency felt to solve the problem versus approving visas, permits and PR applications. Many who are posting about wait times have either moved out or Canada or are planning to move out of Canada. A small percentage are needing citizenship to accept jobs that require citizenship. I can understand the frustration of those needing citizenship to apply or accept a job in Canada and I think those applications should be prioritized but I have less sympathy for those pushing for approval to leave Canada or for those who have already left and are worried about not maintaining their ROs to qualify for citizenship because of the delay or having to return to take the test and the oath. The majority of Canadians have no idea we give citizenship to people who have already left and have no plans on returning and I don’t see how granting citizenship toPRs who have already left benefits Canada. That does not make me anti-immigrant. That means I understand the importance of immigrants living in Canada.
 
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piotrqc

Hero Member
Aug 10, 2020
391
451
Hello friends,

Please do not play the game of long and pationed speeches which will not help us, it would be more judicious to ignore these provocations and to concentrate on our main subject.

Let's be the smartest.


... To come back to our subject, precisely, the excellent AH, the lead of the pressure group for the resumption of citizenship tests, and for the acceleration of the processing of the backlog prepares some activist actions: a twitter storm by exploiting the hastad of citizenhsip days launched by ircc ... But also various interventions and testimonies in the media. We have to do as much legitimate pressure as we can and make noise to draw attention to our case.

Talking with people with opposing ideologies and hostile to us immigrants is pointless, and will simply be counterproductive (What do you want to discuss with someone who wants to discuss extending the eligibility period for citizenship at 5 years old?, what interest?).

, Piotr.
 
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novascotia27

Hero Member
Jan 4, 2016
491
280
Fair point but when it comes to cheating schools have the ability to punish students through failing or expulsion. I don’t believe you could easily have punishments for those who cheat on the citizenship exams. Governments in general are not good at innovating. The bureaucracy is huge. If you look at some of the booking websites that the provinces have commissioned they are so poor and likely cost a fortune to make. In reality I think IRCC was hoping that the pandemic would be short-lived and didn’t want to make any changes until they were forced to. Most PRs and citizens have access to the same programs and services in Canada so there wasn’t likely the urgency felt to solve the problem versus approving visas, permits and PR applications. Many who are posting about wait times have either moved out or Canada or are planning to move out of Canada. A small percentage are needing citizenship to accept jobs that require citizenship. I can understand the frustration of those needing citizenship to apply or accept a job in Canada and I think those applications should be prioritized but I have less sympathy for those pushing for approval to leave Canada or for those who have already left and are worried about not maintaining their ROs to qualify for citizenship because of the delay or having to return to take the test and the oath. The majority of Canadians have no idea we give citizenship to people who have already left and have no plans on returning and I don’t see how granting citizenship toPRs who have already left benefits Canada. That does not make me anti-immigrant. That means I understand the importance of immigrants living in Canada.
And what is the matter with people leaving Canada after becoming Citizens or even while their application is in progress ? This does not make them less worthy or deserving of Canadian Citizenship than you or someone who needs Citizenship for a job in Canada or elsewhere.
The majority of people complaining about the timing of Citizenship process is because there is clearly lack of transparency from IRCC in respect to the program.
 

fr72

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2017
376
253
If you actually read my posts I am ver pro immigration. If you actually read my posts it would be pretty obvious. I also like people to follow their obligations and think that Canadian citizenship is worth more than 2-3 years as a PR. That doesn’t make me anti-immigrant. I also realize that many complaining about faster access to citizenship have already left Canada or have plans to leave once they secure citizenship. You have also admitted that you have been applying for jobs out of Canada. For those needing citizenship to access certain position within Canada, which is the minority, they should have priority processing.
Yes you are anti-immigrant. Why do you care what people do after they get their citizenship? So what if I applied for jobs outside Canada? Is that a crime? Dont Canadian born citizens do that as well? If it's such a big issue, Canada can start worldwide taxation like the US does. When I suggest this, you ignore it. Instead, you want such people to lose their citizenship. That is the most anti-immigrant thing I can think of.
 
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fr72

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2017
376
253
Fair point but when it comes to cheating schools have the ability to punish students through failing or expulsion. I don’t believe you could easily have punishments for those who cheat on the citizenship exams. Governments in general are not good at innovating. The bureaucracy is huge. If you look at some of the booking websites that the provinces have commissioned they are so poor and likely cost a fortune to make. In reality I think IRCC was hoping that the pandemic would be short-lived and didn’t want to make any changes until they were forced to. Most PRs and citizens have access to the same programs and services in Canada so there wasn’t likely the urgency felt to solve the problem versus approving visas, permits and PR applications. Many who are posting about wait times have either moved out or Canada or are planning to move out of Canada. A small percentage are needing citizenship to accept jobs that require citizenship. I can understand the frustration of those needing citizenship to apply or accept a job in Canada and I think those applications should be prioritized but I have less sympathy for those pushing for approval to leave Canada or for those who have already left and are worried about not maintaining their ROs to qualify for citizenship because of the delay or having to return to take the test and the oath. The majority of Canadians have no idea we give citizenship to people who have already left and have no plans on returning and I don’t see how granting citizenship toPRs who have already left benefits Canada. That does not make me anti-immigrant. That means I understand the importance of immigrants living in Canada.
Canada already has laws in place which state that you cannot be outside Canada for test, oath, etc. You dont need to worry about it day and night. You also dont need to worry if PRs get their citizenship, and leave Canada the next day. They are not pets that need to be kept on a leash. They fulfilled their end of the bargain by satisfying the residency and language requirements and in return, they get the absolute right to live and work anywhere on the planet. If you have a problem with that, I suggest you go ahead and change the charter.
 

fr72

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2017
376
253
Disappointing when people label you as anti-immigrant when you spend lots of your time helping people answer question about immigration:rolleyes: Agree that Canada needs immigrants. Not sure how anyone in Canada can disagree with that seeing our demographic stats. Also think thatCanada needs to retain immigrants which is why I think Canada should raise it citizenship requirement to 5 years which is more in line with other countries and also not allow PRs to work on an H1B while living in Canada and using Canadian services. Allowing Canadian citizenship to be a 3 year commitment in order to relocate creates huge future liabilities for Canada. Think many agree that this liberal government has become more like the NDP and these unlimited spending programs are a bad idea. Our federal deficits were not concerning compared to many provincial deficits but that is changing. Unfortunately the conservatives have picked a candidate that isn’t palatable for most so there isn’t much an option for more fiscally responsible liberals.
Sorry, you don't think that Canada needs immigrants. You think that Canada needs servants who will act and behave exactly as you want them and when you want them.

'Retaining' immigrants by legally forcing them to stay longer is a bit like what North Korea does to 'retain' its population. If Canada wants to retain immigrants, maybe look at licensing requirements that prevent people from doing their jobs and increase housing supply. While they are at it, look at the discriminatory hiring practices. You cannot legislate loyalty and retention.

Many natural born Canadians work on TN while using Canadian services, should that be banned too? Lets see where you stand on that.

You are not fiscally responsible. If you were, you would be for a worldwide tax on all Canadian citizens, which would solve all your 'worries' and more. But you wont agree on that, because you are only concerned with the fiscal situation when immigrants are involved, not when Canadian born people jet off to US after using up 21 yrs of subsidized education in Canada.
 
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prash42

Hero Member
Jun 1, 2014
291
176
Haven't spent time looking through your posts, and I'm not one to stick labels like anti-immigrant on people in a hurry, so please disregard that.

The bigger disagreement I have is on your position on making the path to citizenship harder. Raising citizenship requirements from 3 years to 5 years is the WRONG way to retain immigrants. The "future liability" that you talk about focuses excessively on the costs of immigrants, not the value they add, and the value they can potentially add if Canada were a more dynamic economy. Sadly this thinking is pervasive in the way Canada is managed, with the focus on so-called fairness in splitting our existing pie, not on creating conditions where a far larger pie can be baked. If an immigrant leaves Canada, the problem is often with the economy, not with the immigrant.

The only thing working in Canada's favor is that US high-skilled immigration policy is a bleeding mess. If the US replaces H-1B with a sensible points-based green card process, good luck to us.

Disappointing when people label you as anti-immigrant when you spend lots of your time helping people answer question about immigration:rolleyes: Agree that Canada needs immigrants. Not sure how anyone in Canada can disagree with that seeing our demographic stats. Also think thatCanada needs to retain immigrants which is why I think Canada should raise it citizenship requirement to 5 years which is more in line with other countries and also not allow PRs to work on an H1B while living in Canada and using Canadian services. Allowing Canadian citizenship to be a 3 year commitment in order to relocate creates huge future liabilities for Canada. Think many agree that this liberal government has become more like the NDP and these unlimited spending programs are a bad idea. Our federal deficits were not concerning compared to many provincial deficits but that is changing. Unfortunately the conservatives have picked a candidate that isn’t palatable for most so there isn’t much an option for more fiscally responsible liberals.
 

adey786

Hero Member
Jun 29, 2010
784
458
Visa Office......
Abu Dhabi
NOC Code......
1111
Pre-Assessed..
Yes
App. Filed.......
05-01-16
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13-01-16
Nomination.....
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05-01-16
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Well I have read some of recent posts here about people looking to/argue about leaving Canada soon after applying for citizenship.

Here is the recent situation I have seen (personally know this family):

"Husband is PR and never lived in Canada, however his spouse and kids lived in Canada and completed 1095 days. The spouse and kids left Canada soon after submitting citizenship application.

Couple of days ago IRCC informed that they want to initiate full fledge residency verification as spouse and kids are abroad. Until IRCC completes its investigation, the citizenship application is on hold."

People have abused the processes and relaxations given under the law. Above is one such case. So anyone thinking of leaving Canada soon after applying for citizenship (unless there is a medical emergency or other family commitments, or covid reasons such as stuck abroad) I urge not to leave Canada.

One can wait until passport is in hand. If I talk about myself, I only started applying for overseas jobs last month, a day before I was going to take Oath.