From oath to passport in <72 hours -- the culmination of an arduous journey of almost 2 years

[neil_user]

@illiterate_professor what IDs did you show for the Oath Ceremony? You mentioned your PR card was expired. Did you give your Foreign Passport or foreign DL as pieces of ID? Thanks

• permanent resident card if you have one (even if it’s expired) or Confirmation of Permanent Residence (IMM5292 or IMM5688)
• 2 pieces of personal identification (ID)
  • one piece of ID must have your photograph and signature, for example: driver’s licence, health card or permanent resident card
  • foreign ID documents must be government-issued, Canadian ones don’t need to be government-issued

 

[Humanshado]

I had my guarantor on stand by outside the passport office, and asked the officer if he was okay to physically verify the gurantor in person instead of calling them.

That is a James Bond move there hahahaha. Oh my!

 

[NRY]

Hey folks (or shall I say fellow travellers?)!

Fly to Seattle, and drive up to Vancouver where I lived before moving (Surrey was handling my case), since the only way to get in with an expired PR card was via the land border (I still met my RO).

@illiterate_professor Hi Professor, one question: Wondering why you didn't apply for PRTD to travel to Canada by flight instead of crossing the border by road with the expired PR card? Any specific reason?

Thank you very much for your insights

 

[Rainy_day]

@illiterate_professor Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I will be in a similar situation soon (working in Europe while citizenship application is in progress). I was just curious, were you residing in Europe with a work visa? And if so, did you have to transfer this work permit to your new Canadian passport or did they allow you into the European country with the work permit in your old passport?

 

[canuck78]

Woww, that's quite a journey!! Congratulations @illiterate_professor for the happy ending finally!

If I may ask you a couple of questions -

How was your experience with you taking up a job in another country whilst your citizenship application was in process? Did it affect your application in any way? I have been reading about this "intent to reside" clause or something similar and am honestly quite stressed as I just submitted my citizenship application but would be starting a new job in another country in a couple of months. How and when did you go about informing IRCC about your country change?

If you could please respond that would be really helpful.

Thanks!!

Intent to reside clause was a conservative government clause that was eliminated under Trudeau. There is always a possibility that itwill return especially if the conservatives are elected in the next federal election.

 

[illiterate_professor]

@illiterate_professor what IDs did you show for the Oath Ceremony? You mentioned your PR card was expired. Did you give your Foreign Passport or foreign DL as pieces of ID? Thanks

• permanent resident card if you have one (even if it’s expired) or Confirmation of Permanent Residence (IMM5292 or IMM5688)
• 2 pieces of personal identification (ID)
  • one piece of ID must have your photograph and signature, for example: driver’s licence, health card or permanent resident card
  • foreign ID documents must be government-issued, Canadian ones don’t need to be government-issued

They accept expired PR cards as well for ID purposes. IIRC I used the PR card + BC MSP card (which I don't use or need now but its still a legit ID doc). I had a bunch of IDs on standby though e.g. Nexus card, foreign passport, foreign drivers license, and if push came to shove, I was going to start pulling my credit/debit cards (which I believe they accept as secondary non-photo ID provided they're issued in Canada which they were), but I knew it won't get to that.

 

[illiterate_professor]

That is a James Bond move there hahahaha. Oh my!

LOL or maybe I made them an offer they couldn't refuse

Seriously though, I was intent on throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, at them so that they won't have a reason to ask me to come back the next day (which would have been a Saturday).

 

[neil_user]

They accept expired PR cards as well for ID purposes. IIRC I used the PR card + BC MSP card (which I don't use or need now but its still a legit ID doc). I had a bunch of IDs on standby though e.g. Nexus card, foreign passport, foreign drivers license, and if push came to shove, I was going to start pulling my credit/debit cards (which I believe they accept as secondary non-photo ID provided they're issued in Canada which they were), but I knew it won't get to that.

I wonder if they need the address on the application to be present on the ID?

 

[illiterate_professor]

@illiterate_professor Hi Professor, one question: Wondering why you didn't apply for PRTD to travel to Canada by flight instead of crossing the border by road with the expired PR card? Any specific reason?

Thank you very much for your insights

My PR card expired in mid-October, and I don't think you can apply for a PRTD unless your PR card has expired. So assuming the earliest application date of mid-to-late October, given PRTD timeline (I believe its 4-8 months, maybe longer), I still won't have it. And obviously once I received the invitation for oath (a few days before the ceremony), there wasn't enough time left to go through with it. Also, we used to go across the border (Pacific and Peace Arch) very often pre-Covid, so I was very familiar with the border-crossing process and how easy it is (esp. if you have a NEXUS card), and therefore I didn't really have much anxiety about CBSA giving me a hard time at the border.

Besides, who wants to go through another application process (and the anxiety the endless waiting it brings)!

 

[illiterate_professor]

@illiterate_professor Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I will be in a similar situation soon (working in Europe while citizenship application is in progress). I was just curious, were you residing in Europe with a work visa? And if so, did you have to transfer this work permit to your new Canadian passport or did they allow you into the European country with the work permit in your old passport?

Yes, in Europe on a work permit + visa. On my return immigration, I used my Canadian passport + the residency doc they issued me here, and they were okay with it. Once I got here, I didn't sweat too much abou it since I had to renew my permit in January. When it was time to renew, I followed the process to provide new passport details (which also included a question about whether the new passport was issued by the same country or a different one). Although I'm still waiting for the renewed permit/residency doc to arrive in the mail, I know it went through without any issues because their email confirmation said as much.

 

[illiterate_professor]

I wonder if they need the address on the application to be present on the ID?

Nope, they don't. I don't think they even care if there's an address on your ID (because PR card doesn't). As long as its a valid ID with your name, DOB, etc. they don't care. You're overthinking it! I know you're trying to be as cautious and prepared as posibble, but don't sweat it too much. I'm sure you've crossed way bigger hurdles than this throughout the PR and citizenship process, so this is not something I'd worry about.

 

[illiterate_professor]

Intent to reside clause was a conservative government clause that was eliminated under Trudeau. There is always a possibility that itwill return especially if the conservatives are elected in the next federal election.

I don't believe JT is going to call for snap elections anytime soon given the current state of affairs in the capital, and Jagmeet/NDP would rather have a Liberal minority govt. than a Conservative minority govt. (if that's even a possibility).
Besides, it will take the Conservative govt. at least a few months (maybe even a year or more) to push this change through the legislative machinery, they can't just snap their fingers and make the "intent to reside" clause appear.

All of this is just to say @dipantika should be fine

 

[illiterate_professor]

Folks, more exciting news for you at https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2022/01/modernizing-canadas-immigration-system-to-support-economic-recovery-and-improve-client-experience.html

And for folks on this thread, this might of most interest

Moving forward, we are exploring an option for those who wish to self-administer their Oath by signed attestation, and celebrate their citizenship at a later date. This would shorten the waiting time for those at the final stage of their citizenship process.

 

[MW2015]

Hey folks (or shall I say fellow travellers?)!



After the test, I braced myself for a long period of radio silence. The only problem was my PR card was expiring in mid-October. So I wrote IRCC again with a plea for help, but received the standard fare response after waiting for ~5 days. Fast forward to the US Thanksgiving Day (yes, we celebrate the Canadian and the US Thanksgiving days while living in a third country!), and I saw my inbox light up with an invite to appear for oath on Dec 1st. me if I had any plans to travel within next 2 weeks, and I told her I had tickets to fly back to Erurope for Sunday (Dec 5th) morning so I could get back to my job on Monday. She said I can come pick up the citizenship certificate from the Surrey office on Friday between 12-3 pm, and reminded me to send the proof of itinerary (along with receipt of paid tickets), and documentary evidence showing the travel was for a legitimate reason, and not just for leisure, when sending the signed oath letter. I obliged, and did as instructed.

How were you contacting IRCC regarding your PR expiring.

 

[illiterate_professor]

How were you contacting IRCC regarding your PR expiring.

I emailed them once, and it took them about a week to respond, but besides that I did not contact them. To be fair to me, there isn't a way to contact them - you can't get to a human on their number if you're calling from outside Canada. I tried numerous ways, including using my Google voice number, but it won't work.