As others have observed:
Yes, you can leave Canada after the Citizenship test.
BUT the oath can ONLY be taken IN Canada.
So, if you leave Canada after taking the test, you will need to come back to Canada for the oath . . . whether it is virtual or otherwise. Beware that notice for the oath may not give you much time to arrange and make the trip. Beware that the current pandemic can continue to disrupt the availability of international travel. And other
stuff can happen to make it difficult to get to Canada in time to attend the oath. Living outside Canada while the citizenship application is still pending can be risky in the best of times.
Beyond that there is quite a lot of confused, misleading, and not relevant chatter above, in the responses above.
I will not make an effort to clarify or correct it all. Especially since I am NO expert and cannot definitively answer some of the side-issues that have come up. And especially since the decisions you need to make depend so much on facts and circumstances particular to you, personally, which even an expert cannot answer (least not reliably) without an in-depth consultation going into facts and circumstances far more than would be appropriate in a forum like this.
But I will address some:
You can travel internationally with a VALID passport issued by China.
Canadian laws and rules do not impose any restrictions on international travel by Canadian PRs or citizens using VALID travel documents from other countries . . . except that Canadians must present appropriate Canadian documents when boarding commercial transportation coming to Canada from abroad.
@AshesNdust raises the question about whether that passport will still be valid if you become a citizen of Canada. That is, of course, a question about the law of China and its rules. Canadian laws and rules are NOT relevant. If the passport from China remains valid after you become a Canadian citizen, you can travel internationally using that passport. In contrast, if becoming a citizen of another country invalidates the passport from China (such as pursuant to laws in China prohibiting dual citizenship), which again depends on what the laws and rules of China are, then most countries in the world will not recognize it as a valid travel document.
Once you are a Canadian citizen a passport from China is not adequate for the purpose of boarding commercial transportation coming to Canada. To board an airline flight coming to Canada, for example, you will need to either obtain and present a Canadian passport (which can be obtained through a visa office abroad) or as
@AshesNdust suggested, obtain a special travel document for the flight. (What
@AshesNdust gets wrong is the assertion that a Canadian "
must enter" Canada using a Canadian passport; that is not true.)
Thus,
@fcow gets it right, you can fly from Canada without a PR card. Whereas
@Sweetcandyyy gets it wrong when saying "
u cannot use Chinese passport 'flying' because u don’t have valid canada travel permit." You only need a Canadian travel document or alternative, like a PR card (which is a status card, NOT a travel document), for flying TO Canada.
NONE of the above will come close to answering what you really need to know about the viability of taking the test and soon leaving to take employment in China. The practical, logistical issues loom large.
Which is probably why some of the responses have wandered outside the scope of the particular questions asked.
Even though it is probably an irrelevant tangent for you, not a viable option, there is a need to clarify some "
tax-consequences" aspects in regards to the suggestion about arranging to start the employment working remotely in Canada. Even though it is not clear that tax consequences is a significant factor in determining what you decide to do about this job offer.
No. Not in itself.
Especially since CRA rules generally do not require reporting or disclosing assets.
Moreover, if an individual residing in Canada begins working remotely for an employer outside Canada, and delays receiving the compensation until after the individual has relocated abroad, doing so for the purpose of accommodating the EMPLOYER's interests in regards to another country's laws and tax-consequences which apply to the EMPLOYER, does NOT directly affect what the Canadian's reporting or tax payment obligations are in Canada.
More in particular: The arrangement itself would not constitute hiding INCOME from CRA or otherwise constitute a failure to report the income to CRA. In no way would that be hiding assets.
Beyond that, the individual's personal obligations according to Canadian law, vary considerably depending on a wide range of details, not the least of which are whether the individual is required to file a Canadian tax return for the tax year involved, and even assuming the CRA rules mandate the individual file a tax return, what and how to report will vary widely. Here again, not the least of which is the particular details of the employment relationship. So, if this was the question here (which it does NOT appear to be, probably not even in the ballpark), among considerations is whether the formalities of the relationship dictate whether the income earned while working (remotely) in Canada is Canadian source income (as it would be if the individual is working as an independent contractor, for example) or foreign-source income.
Which is just scratching the surface of tax-implication considerations. Which can get very complicated.
But in any regard, the arrangement to delay compensation itself does NOT constitute concealing either income or assets. What needs to be reported to CRA is an entirely separate matter, a complicated matter. And beyond that, what tax, IF ANY, might be owed based on the income is yet another, separate matter, and likewise complicated.
Note: in the situation so far as it has been described here, the proposed scenario, convincing a foreign employer to commence the employment remotely and defer compensation, seems highly unlikely to me. But I do not know. But if such an arrangement is done, the Canadian tax reporting and paying side of things is a totally separate matter and probably too complicated for this forum, definitely outside the scope of this forum.
