Going to Oath without passport?

[u2mtv]

Hello everyone,

Today, I just got the pink letter to let me take the oath on May27. However, the letter asks me to bring my passports (current and expired), by coincidence I'm just in the process with renewing my Chinese passport, so currently my expired passport is in Chinese embassy and I will get both expired and renewed passport on May30.

So my questions to those of you who have been there in the oath, do they look for the passport? What if I go there on May27 and explain the situation to them, will they let me take the oath?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Goldline]

call CIC and ask they may tell u what to do

 

[eileenf]

Congratulations on the Oath invitation!
I highly recommend calling the Call Centre and asking what the official procedure is. I doubt that the office will let you go through with the Oath if you show up without the required documentation (your old passports). If the Call Center agent advises you to go to the Oath ceremony without your passports, please get their name and ideally their Agent #. As many of us know, the default CIC assumption is that the applicant is hiding something if they show up without a required document (even though your situation is completely normal and the CIC officer just saw your passport at the interview).

My guess is that they will reschedule the Oath for you. But, please let us know what you hear.

If you can't get a convincing answer from the Call Centre and you really want to talk to someone in person, you should check the CIC website for earlier Oath ceremonies which are open to the public. You could go to the check-in desk where officers check the documentation of the Oath-takers (when most of the others have checked in) and ask them what to do. If you do this, bring your Oath invite and the documentation that you have showing that you will get your passports back on May 30th.

Be prepared for them to be kind of annoyed with you, since it's not your Oath day and they're pretty busy, so try to be as gracious and eager as you can!

 

[us2yow]

Also, official letters always add gravitas. So, see if you can get some official letter from the Chinese Embassy AND/ OR use proof of some
receipt (of course, duly translated if it is ONLY in Mandarin) they handed you clearly detailing that you deposited your passports at the Embassy ? A combination of something on these lines ?

Just my suggestion. Note that a Diplomatic note or some form of update or advisory note from an Embassy always carries a certain degree of credibility and weight.

Explore both from Embassy and CIC angles. In fact, why don't you ASAP check with Embassy first to see what letter they can issue "stating passport is with them for renewal". Alternatively, the simplest case is to check if they can speed it up for issue even before the day of the Oath ?and see if you can use your charm and diplomatic skills with the Embassy (hopefully you live in the same city which would then make paying them a friendly visit to "seek their understanding" easier).

Then call CIC to say the Embassy has issued me a letter saying...otherwise agents will tend to offer you more "cookie cutter" /generic answers. You need to be a step ahead of them and ask them if their supervisor is in turn able to advise them since this is a genuine case and you have correspondence or something from the Embassy saying renewal is in process?

Good Luck...keep us posted !

 

[Msafiri]

Hello everyone,

Today, I just got the pink letter to let me take the oath on May27. However, the letter asks me to bring my passports (current and expired), by coincidence I'm just in the process with renewing my Chinese passport, so currently my expired passport is in Chinese embassy and I will get both expired and renewed passport on May30.

So my questions to those of you who have been there in the oath, do they look for the passport? What if I go there on May27 and explain the situation to them, will they let me take the oath?

Thanks a lot!

1. Do you have evidence of the renewal e.g. a payment receipt or an AOR letter from the embassy?

2. Do you have copies of the bio data page of the old passport or even better all the pages?

3. Have you travelled outside Canada since your test?

4. Have you contacted the embassy to find if they can expedite return or can you collect in person instead of relying on the mail?

The risk of an oath re-schedule is your background checks may expire...do you have a recent ATIP report with their expiry dates?

 

[u2mtv]

Thanks everyone for your kind replies!

From the Chinese embassy side:
- They only give me one pink slip in Chinese language showing to pick up the passport (renewed and expired) in person on May 30.
- I will make the payment for renewal on May30 when I pick up the passport.
- I already sent them an email (they only take calls in the morning) asking to see if I could pick up the passport earlier before May27. (finger crossed)
- On the email, I also asked them to see if they could issue me a letter saying they are holding my passport for renewal. Mostlikely, if they do, that will be in Chinese, I will have to translate it..

From CIC side:
- I called CIC, the rep told me go there on the oath day and explain the situation. I really don't want to take such risk. As eileenf suggested, I will call CIC again next week to make sure and take down the rep's name and Agent # for reference.
- I will also go to an earlier oath to talk to them in person to find out a solution as per eileenf suggested.

From Myself:
- I haven't travelled outside Canada for the past 3 years.
- I didn't request an ATIP report.

I will get more feedbacks from embassy and CIC next week and will keep you updated.

Thanks all

 

[toronto60]

Hello everyone,

Today, I just got the pink letter to let me take the oath on May27. However, the letter asks me to bring my passports (current and expired), by coincidence I'm just in the process with renewing my Chinese passport, so currently my expired passport is in Chinese embassy and I will get both expired and renewed passport on May30.

So my questions to those of you who have been there in the oath, do they look for the passport? What if I go there on May27 and explain the situation to them, will they let me take the oath?

Thanks a lot!

My husband took the oath and they did not look at hi passports at all

 

[u2mtv]

My husband took the oath and they did not look at hi passports at all

May I know which location did your husband take the oath?

 

[toronto60]

May I know which location did your husband take the oath?

Scarborough

 

[u2mtv]

Scarborough

Same.

Actually, I just take a look at the "Prepare for the citizenship ceremony" on CIC's website

cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/cit-ceremony.asp

under What to bring:

=======

You must bring all of your original immigration documents.

If you have a permanent resident card, you must also bring it.

If you became a permanent resident before June 28, 2002, you must bring your Record of Landing (IMM 1000).

If you have both of those documents, bring both of them to the ceremony.

========

They don't mention passport either..

 

[toronto60]

Same.

Actually, I just take a look at the "Prepare for the citizenship ceremony" on CIC's website

cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/cit-ceremony.asp

under What to bring:

=======

You must bring all of your original immigration documents.

If you have a permanent resident card, you must also bring it.

If you became a permanent resident before June 28, 2002, you must bring your Record of Landing (IMM 1000).

If you have both of those documents, bring both of them to the ceremony.

========

They don't mention passport either..

Even they did not ask for the passports at all, i was with him

 

[u2mtv]

Even they did not ask for the passports at all, i was with him

Thanks toronto60 for sharing the info.
Anyone else took the oath at Scarborough office, could you please share your experience? Did they check your passport? Really appreciated!!

 

[toronto60]

Thanks toronto60 for sharing the info.
Anyone else took the oath at Scarborough office, could you please share your experience? Did they check your passport? Really appreciated!!

Maybe is good to go at another oath ceremony to ask them

 

[eileenf]

Actually, I just take a look at the "Prepare for the citizenship ceremony" on CIC's website

cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/cit-ceremony.asp

under What to bring:

=======

You must bring all of your original immigration documents.

If you have a permanent resident card, you must also bring it.

If you became a permanent resident before June 28, 2002, you must bring your Record of Landing (IMM 1000).

If you have both of those documents, bring both of them to the ceremony.

========

They don't mention passport either..

It is mentioned on the Notice to Appear however. I really think the notice takes precedence over the website. "...you must bring...All passports and travel documents in your possession (current and expired)."

So, your "better safe than sorry" approach makes a lot of sense.

 

[touché]

It is mentioned on the Notice to Appear however. I really think the notice takes precedence over the website. "...you must bring...All passports and travel documents in your possession (current and expired)."

So, your "better safe than sorry" approach makes a lot of sense.

I agree with eileenf. The letter explicitly requests all passports and shouldn't be taken lightly. Please keep us posted on what the CIC officials have to say. Good luck.