There is still no clear indication of who, when, or in what circumstances SOME applicants for citizenship may be allowed to take the oath while outside Canada.
Note, in particular, if the applicant is scheduled for an in-person oath they must attend the oath ceremony IN Canada. These events are scheduled ONLY in Canada. There has been no indication that individuals scheduled for an in-person ceremony can request a virtual ceremony and be allowed to participate in that while abroad.
While there have been quite a few anecdotal reports about being allowed to participate in taking the oath online while abroad, again there is no where near enough to get a clear view of who, when, or in what circumstances SOME applicants for citizenship may be allowed to take the oath while outside Canada.
Oath outside Canada is a subject addressed in numerous topics, including discussion about proposed changes in the regulations which might lead (emphasis on might, not necessarily "
will" lead) to regularly allowing applicants to participate in taking the oath while outside Canada. As of August 21, however, these changes have not been implemented even though they were expected to be adopted as of June. See regulations 19 to 24, governing the oath, here:
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-93-246/page-2.html#h-952206
Standard request for GCMS notes will NOT reveal any information that would illuminate whether there are delays related to an applicant being outside Canada. Even a carefully crafted customized ATIP request is NOT likely to reveal such information.
If the processing agent or citizenship officer involved in processing the citizenship application has any concerns related to the applicant being outside Canada, those concerns will most likely involve verification of actual physical presence. Obviously, applicants who are subject to RQ-related requests, ranging from particular requests in RQ-lite (CIT 0520), to the full blown residence questionnaire (CIT 0171), are aware that their physical presence is being questioned; that is, while the client copy of GCMS will show these, respectively, the applicant does not need to obtain a copy of GCMS to know they have been sent such requests.
However, there is no way of knowing for sure that being RQ'd is related to being outside Canada; applicants will not be advised and generally cannot learn why they got RQ'd. That said, history tends to suggest there can be a significant if not strong correlation between RQ and applicant relocation outside Canada,
depending on additional factors (not everyone outside Canada is subject to elevated scrutiny let alone RQ).
It is more difficult to discern if IRCC has initiated an investigation into the applicant's physical presence without making any RQ-related requests. Investigations are confidential and strictly outside the scope of information that will be shared with the client. So there is no way for an applicant to find out if their application is subject to investigatory non-routine processing, which can range from the processing agent cross-checking the applicant's information with other sources, including open sources (LinkedIn is one of those most often mentioned in official cases), to more robust and extensive investigations, including a referral to CBSA and its NSSD to conduct a formal investigation . . . and again, the applicant is not able to obtain any information from IRCC that this is happening, let alone information about its scope or status.
Of course, if the investigation leads to IRCC contesting the applicant's account of physical presence, the applicant will know of this pursuant to how IRCC processes the case, ranging from notice of an interview (more than just the standard PI Interview) to notice of a hearing with a citizenship officer, or if that does not resolve presence questions, a Citizenship Judge hearing. Generally applicants who actually met the physical presence requirement
will not run into this, rather after concluding its investigations IRCC will proceed with final processing leading to the grant of citizenship.
