June 2021 - Citizenship Applicants

[lipphi]

Hello all,

I’ve flown into Canada to take the oath on 15th June, after which I’ll be applying for my Canadian passport in Montreal via the ”express route” for issuance within 2 days. I’ll need to obtain my new passport before flying back to Switzerland as this will be required to renew my work permit in July.

Does anyone know if it’d be acceptable to use my friend‘s address on the passport application form, preceded by a “C/o”? I no longer have a personal residential address in Canada.

The form doesn‘t appear to allow one to select a different country of residence, so I presume that the residential address must necessarily be a Canadian one.

Thanks a ton for your help!

Cheers

I would think that you could use a friend's address even without a c/o...given that in Switzerland the name of the person on the envelope needs to match the name on the mailbox, but there is no such thing in Canada. I guess the only challenge would be receiving your citizenship certificate in time to be able to apply for the passport.

I have a question regarding your application -- you mentioned that you flew in for your oath. Did you take your test while abroad? What was your timeline like? (application submission month, test month, decision made month)

 

[mmddwater]

Hi all,
I have the same issue. my status changed to DM in the old tracker and the new tracker updated on 8 Jun as all completed except the Citizenship ceremony - Not start. I did not receive any email about the Oath date yet. But I am traveling abroad (my daughter will study abroad for 1 year)on 12 July ,so I don't think IRCC will assign me a date before our departure date.

So, should I write an email to IRCC and request an urgent case? we are paper application with Case Processing Centre - Sydney.
Citizenship Program (Grants)
Case Processing Centre - Sydney
P.O. Box 12000
Sydney NS B1P 7C2

who knows, which email should I reach ?
thanks

 

[sohilnurani]

Please update...

Type: Paper
Location: Montreal
Physical presence: 1114
Application: Single
Application sent: 7th June 2021
Delivered: 10th June 2021
AOR - 15th Sept 2021
BC - 10th Nov 2021
Test invite duration - 10th to 30th December
Test Given - 19th December 2021
Test Completed - 21st December 2021
Prohibitions, physical presence etc. updated: 12th May, 2022
Oath ceremony invite: 23rd May, 2022
Oath scheduled: 2nd June, 2022.
Application closed - 6th June 2022
Old ECAS tracker status - Complete
Certificate Received - 10th June 2022

APPLIED FOR PASSPORT..FINGERS CROSSED..

 

[evdm]

I had my Oath Ceremony today and it all went very expeditiously. I made the mistake of not connecting the zoom audio at first, but that was the only real hiccup.

During the registration I had to confirm my name, show a piece of ID (Driver's Licence) and my PR Card. I was then told it would take 2-4 weeks to receive my Certificate. I asked about urgent processing and the agent (who was lovely) said that I would have had to request urgent processing before the ceremony date with evidence of the need. It wasn't very clear in the instructions that this was an option - I have (flexible) travel booked soon so I would have been able to share the evidence but the instructions seemed to imply that I would have to delay my ceremony. I didn't want to postpone becoming a citizen so I will deal with the travel issue later if it becomes a problem.

I was told that as long as I could send the oath form in right after the ceremony, the agent would make every effort to process it today to have it mailed out tomorrow. I then proceeded to cut up my PR Card. True to the promise I received email confirmation directly from the agent that everything was set to go and the certificate will be mailed tomorrow. I don't think this is standard procedure but I really appreciate the extra effort.

The ceremony itself was presided over by Judge Rania Sfeir who joined from Montréal. Though the language of the ceremony was stated to be bilingual, only Judge Sfeir spoke French - all instructions by the Clerk were in English. The mood and tone of the ceremony was happy and upbeat. Lots of congratulatory remarks and comments on the rights and responsibilities of Citizenship. There was a photo moment after the oath where we were all asked to turn off our video and the judge was the only one on screen, we could then take a selfie with Judge Sfeir. I regret not screenshotting the Judge and then using the image later on to take better photos. Tip: Take a full screen screenshot and then you can do better photos afterwards.

The instructions on signing the Oath form were given through a Power Point presentation and deviated somewhat from the instructions in the invitation with regard to the subject line of the email we had to send. There were 105 candidates so I appreciate we didn't have to break out into separate rooms to be given individual instructions.

Now I get to wait for the Certificate and go and apply for a passport. Here's my timeline to date:


Paper Application | Single | 1100.5 physical presence days
Delivered: June 3, 2021
AOR: Sep 15, 2021
eCAS in Process: October 29, 2021
Background Check Completed: Jan 24, 2022
Test Invitation Received: Mar 12, 2022
Test Taken: Mar 18, 2022
Test Marked Completed: Mar 21, 2022
eCAS Decision Made: May 19, 2022
Citizenship Ceremony In Progress: May 19, 2022
Oath Date: June 14, 2022

I am now a Canadian Citizen - hard to believe.

 

[Wandering Mind]

Hello everyone, my spouse and I finally received the invite to take the test - the window is June 13 to July 03. Can someone please update the tracker for me? Thanks in advance!

 

[Aspiring Canadian]

I'm basing on my own experience where I saw DM and everything completed on May 18 (tracker date - updated online May 19) except citizenship ceremony which remained 'Not started' (see this post). Then the following day I saw the date of my ceremony in the tracker and citizenship ceremony was set to 'in progress' (see this post). The oath was still set for about a month from that day. Based on what I've seen here, though there's no fixed timeframe for when your oath will be scheduled. E.g. I saw someone from the same office get DM after me and they were scheduled for the oath before my date.

YMMV so I hope that's the case for you and I haven't gotten your hopes up if it isn't.

No worries at all I appreciate your help!

 

[Aspiring Canadian]

Is it normal for ecas to say decision made but when clicked on the underlined status it doesn’t show any further info just the old “we received your application on x date” and we sent you a book to start studying for a test etc. it doesn’t have a line item stating “decision made on file when clicked. lol hopefully this question makes sense I’m losing my mind waiting for the new tracker to give me an oath date

 

[schweppes87]

I would think that you could use a friend's address even without a c/o...given that in Switzerland the name of the person on the envelope needs to match the name on the mailbox, but there is no such thing in Canada. I guess the only challenge would be receiving your citizenship certificate in time to be able to apply for the passport.

I have a question regarding your application -- you mentioned that you flew in for your oath. Did you take your test while abroad? What was your timeline like? (application submission month, test month, decision made month)

Thanks for your inputs. My only concern would be that I have no documentation to show for the residential address I’d be stating on the application form. I’ll be requesting that they mail my citizenship certificate to my friend’s address, so this will be the residential address they’d have ‘on file’, should they wish to run checks during passport processing.

To answer your question, yes, I did take the test outside Canada as I left for Europe shortly after sending through my citizenship application in June 2021. I received my AOR early in September 2021, with the background check and test invitation following later in February 2022. My test status was updated to ‘completed’ on 11th March 2022 and my physical presence, language skills and prohibitions were completed on 11th May. Finally, on 30th May, I was scheduled to take oath on 15th June, which is precisely 12 months from the date I sent in my application online (14th June 2021).

At no point was I asked to furnish copies of my passport or provide evidence of having returned to Canada before being scheduled to take the oath. I’d say that my being abroad did not affect my processing timeline in any meaningful way and that overall, it has been smooth sailing so far If you’re in a similar situation and took the test whilst abroad, I hope this brings some hope! Good luck!

Cheers

 

[Manny02]

I had my Oath Ceremony today and it all went very expeditiously. I made the mistake of not connecting the zoom audio at first, but that was the only real hiccup.

During the registration I had to confirm my name, show a piece of ID (Driver's Licence) and my PR Card. I was then told it would take 2-4 weeks to receive my Certificate. I asked about urgent processing and the agent (who was lovely) said that I would have had to request urgent processing before the ceremony date with evidence of the need. It wasn't very clear in the instructions that this was an option - I have (flexible) travel booked soon so I would have been able to share the evidence but the instructions seemed to imply that I would have to delay my ceremony. I didn't want to postpone becoming a citizen so I will deal with the travel issue later if it becomes a problem.

I was told that as long as I could send the oath form in right after the ceremony, the agent would make every effort to process it today to have it mailed out tomorrow. I then proceeded to cut up my PR Card. True to the promise I received email confirmation directly from the agent that everything was set to go and the certificate will be mailed tomorrow. I don't think this is standard procedure but I really appreciate the extra effort.

The ceremony itself was presided over by Judge Rania Sfeir who joined from Montréal. Though the language of the ceremony was stated to be bilingual, only Judge Sfeir spoke French - all instructions by the Clerk were in English. The mood and tone of the ceremony was happy and upbeat. Lots of congratulatory remarks and comments on the rights and responsibilities of Citizenship. There was a photo moment after the oath where we were all asked to turn off our video and the judge was the only one on screen, we could then take a selfie with Judge Sfeir. I regret not screenshotting the Judge and then using the image later on to take better photos. Tip: Take a full screen screenshot and then you can do better photos afterwards.

The instructions on signing the Oath form were given through a Power Point presentation and deviated somewhat from the instructions in the invitation with regard to the subject line of the email we had to send. There were 105 candidates so I appreciate we didn't have to break out into separate rooms to be given individual instructions.

Now I get to wait for the Certificate and go and apply for a passport. Here's my timeline to date:


Paper Application | Single | 1100.5 physical presence days
Delivered: June 3, 2021
AOR: Sep 15, 2021
eCAS in Process: October 29, 2021
Background Check Completed: Jan 24, 2022
Test Invitation Received: Mar 12, 2022
Test Taken: Mar 18, 2022
Test Marked Completed: Mar 21, 2022
eCAS Decision Made: May 19, 2022
Citizenship Ceremony In Progress: May 19, 2022
Oath Date: June 14, 2022

I am now a Canadian Citizen - hard to believe.

Hi Quick question - how much time before did you had to login for the meeting? The oath letter tells me the ceremony is at 11:30 . so should i join zoon at 11 or 10:30 or 11:30 itself? Thanks

 

[Voxx_O_xxoV]

Hi Quick question - how much time before did you had to login for the meeting? The oath letter tells me the ceremony is at 11:30 . so should i join zoon at 11 or 10:30 or 11:30 itself? Thanks

Just join at the exact specified time. No need to join any earlier that that. Won’t make any difference. And congratulations

 

[Manny02]

Just join at the exact specified time. No need to join any earlier that that. Won’t make any difference. And congratulations

Thank you and did you use digital signature to add in your oath in responding?

 

[lipphi]

Thanks for your inputs. My only concern would be that I have no documentation to show for the residential address I’d be stating on the application form. I’ll be requesting that they mail my citizenship certificate to my friend’s address, so this will be the residential address they’d have ‘on file’, should they wish to run checks during passport processing.

To answer your question, yes, I did take the test outside Canada as I left for Europe shortly after sending through my citizenship application in June 2021. I received my AOR early in September 2021, with the background check and test invitation following later in February 2022. My test status was updated to ‘completed’ on 11th March 2022 and my physical presence, language skills and prohibitions were completed on 11th May. Finally, on 30th May, I was scheduled to take oath on 15th June, which is precisely 12 months from the date I sent in my application online (14th June 2021).

At no point was I asked to furnish copies of my passport or provide evidence of having returned to Canada before being scheduled to take the oath. I’d say that my being abroad did not affect my processing timeline in any meaningful way and that overall, it has been smooth sailing so far If you’re in a similar situation and took the test whilst abroad, I hope this brings some hope! Good luck!

Cheers

hmm I don't think you have show documentation for the residential/mailing address, if I'm not mistaken? I haven't seen anything like that on the application guidelines.

And thank you for sharing your experience in detail! very helpful to know since I have a similar timeline and in a similar situation

 

[evdm]

Thank you and did you use digital signature to add in your oath in responding?

The signature that goes on the form has to resemble your handwritten signature. I used a pen tablet to sign mine digitally. It cannot be typed or a DocuSign-type signature.

 

[Aspiring Canadian]

My tracker still hasn’t changed to citizenship ceremony started. Everything else was updated on June 9th I’m starting to get worried. There was one guy on here who said they called him for an interview after decision made and all items complete this wait is making me paranoid

 

[evdm]

Is it normal for ecas to say decision made but when clicked on the underlined status it doesn’t show any further info just the old “we received your application on x date” and we sent you a book to start studying for a test etc. it doesn’t have a line item stating “decision made on file when clicked. lol hopefully this question makes sense I’m losing my mind waiting for the new tracker to give me an oath date

Yes, it's normal.

A new line will be added when the oath email is sent out. This could be after the new tracker gets updated with the date, so that's likely the first place you'll see anything. Then, once the certificate is mailed after the ceremony eCAS will show a status of complete and there will be a final update. For reference this is what mine says:


Citizenship

1. We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on June 3, 2021.
2. We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on September 15, 2021.
3. We started processing your application on October 28, 2021.
4. We sent you a notice on June 7, 2022 to appear and take the oath of citizenship at the citizenship ceremony to be held on June 14, 2022 at 11:00 AM. The notice you will receive will be your official confirmation of your appointment. If you have not received this notice prior to the date of your scheduled appointment, please contact us.
5. You became a Canadian citizen on June 14, 2022.

Hope you get an oath date soon. Sorry I got your hopes up.