For @CaBeaver, there should be enough information here, above, now, for you to reasonably, rationally assess your situation and make reasonably informed decisions,
FOR YOU, about how to proceed from here, including whether to work abroad. While it has been alluded to, one additional point warrants some emphasis: if you do plan to go abroad to work while the application is pending, BETTER to have at least a somewhat larger margin over the minimum. Many suggest a week or two minimum for any applicant. I lean toward at least a month (that is, I lean toward making it easy for a total stranger bureaucrat to feel comfortable concluding there is no presence issue). If you are headed abroad, adding as much more to that as you practically can would be prudent. Not for-sure necessary, but in terms of
risk-avoidance, or to be more precise,
risk-reduction, making a solid impression that there should be no doubt about meeting the actual physical presence requirement tends to be insurance worth the cost.
All adult citizenship applicants must undergo a "Program Integrity Interview," which is ordinarily done at the same event where the knowledge of Canada test is administered. There are multiple topics about the test here.
There are also several other topics in which the PI Interview is discussed in detail.
IRCC information about the interview, the most relevant Program Delivery Instructions (PDIs), can be found here:
For Citizenship: Interviewing adult applicants see
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/canadian-citizenship/admininistration/decisions/interviewing-adult-applicants.html
For Identity documents applicants must provide at citizenship interviews, hearings, and tests see
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/canadian-citizenship/admininistration/identity/identity-documents-applicants-must-provide-interviews-hearings-tests.html
Generally the interview is a VERIFICATION screening, including verification of identity and language ability (if not exempt), verification of the required supporting documents, and typically a few questions just to cross-check some of the applicant's basic information. For example, current employment is often asked about . . . regarding which, employment abroad would need to be disclosed, of course, BUT if you are there and otherwise qualified, that fact does NOT disqualify you . . . and being honest about it is far better than trying to conceal it. If, in particular, it is a temporary employment, honestly disclosing that could help.
NOTE: BE WARY of glib, superficial generalities oft time posted about the process. Note, for example, as it appears you have already discerned regarding timelines, some rather FALSE information tends to get posted here.
Not sure which spreadsheet you are referring to. NOT a reliable one if its data indicates an "average" of just two to four weeks between test dates and oath dates.
NOT even close even if you mistakenly referred to "average" but meant the median.
There are scores of applicants reporting more than FOUR months passing after test before being scheduled for the oath, many STILL not scheduled for the oath . . . And, note, just one such applicant, with four months between test and oath, would require that three others have a SAME-DAY oath to get the "AVERAGE" down to four weeks, let alone less than four weeks.
This forum is rife with reports of many MONTHS between the test and oath. The spreadsheets I am familiar with have scores of applicants who have already taken the test
MONTHS ago and are still waiting for the oath.
In particular, consider the following spreadsheet (which has enough detail consistent over time to give it some credibility):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16cfQUVB3j56QktacolbsAxpNlOrvk2uFGZzm_ZFCnfg/edit#gid=45274290
There are FIFTY applicants reporting a test date LAST YEAR and still NO OATH.
Looking at those who have reported taking the oath since September 1 last year, to date, of the 128 participants reporting their test and oath dates, MORE THAN A HUNDRED REPORT MORE THAN SIX WEEKS BETWEEN TEST AND OATH, only a dozen report a month or less, and the vast majority of them report more than two months. Reports of three and four months are common, and even six or more months is not uncommon.
Perspective: the number for whom the wait between test and oath dates is more than two months is TEN TIMES the number who are scheduled for the oath in what you report is the average, two to four weeks. (I realize that among the fifty for whom no oath date is reported, some of those likely have taken the oath but have not updated their information.)
Which leads to one reason why my posts tend to go long. Clarifying and correcting misleading and false information like this. For this purpose actual reasoning and sources is far better than engaging in any back-and-forth
XX is true,
no XX is false.
The more common reason for the length of my posts is that my observations are generally about more complex situations typically involving multiple variables depending on diverse situations and quite often subject to nuances relative to differences in the individually specific circumstances. No venting. Just an effort to be helpful.
Especially given the extent to which some so casually post what is misleading or utterly NOT true . . . like false statistics about the "average" timeline between the test and oath being between two and four weeks. (Again, even the
median timeline is a matter of multiple MONTHS.)
Especially given the extent to which there is a tendency to offer declarative propositions which even if true for many, or even for most, are broad generalizations NOT true for a significant number and which fail to adequately alert others of the potential pitfalls and real RISKS.
This particular subject is a prime example. Consider the responses initially offered here, BEFORE my post, in response to the question: "
How could [working abroad after applying] affect my application?"
"It won't affect your application ."
"You are overthinking everything. Your citizenship application (and thus qualification) is hinged on your ELIGIBILITY PERIOD. If you fulfill residency requirement within your eligibility period then you are fine."
"Of course it's OK. . . . [IRCC] is not allowed to take this factor [absence after applying] into consideration."
Between the query being posed last Friday, and my response posted Monday evening, NO ONE offered any hint of the REAL RISKS involved, and NO one else corrected the erroneous statement that IRCC cannot take this factor into consideration (IT CAN, and historically it often has).
And the stream of false information continues still, such as your utterly NOT true claim that the average time between test and oath is just two to four weeks.
Leaving Canada after applying involves REAL RISKS. Just the practical, logistical risks can be daunting depending on where in the world the applicant is headed. How this can affect the decision-making of total stranger bureaucrats is a more difficult issue BUT there is for sure SOME RISK it can influence how the decision-maker assesses the facts . . . with much variability again depending on the individual applicant's own specific situation.
Those who come here with genuine questions and concerns deserve more than glib, superficial generalities which fail to acknowledge let alone caution applicants of real world, actual, practical risks. This forum is rife with those who plunged into the process without doing their homework and are now suffering the consequences; for those who are qualified hopefully that means just some inconvenience and delay.
In contrast
@CaBeaver appears to have approached the process reasonably, conscientiously, having done some homework and continuing to do some homework, and here posing a genuine question for which any
bumper-sticker tweet-pop it-will-be-fine answer is, at best, misleading. Or, as some of the posts here reflect, outright false.
Odds may indeed lean toward
it-will-be-fine BUT that depends on some particular facts AND anyone who is any good at playing the odds wants to see as many of the cards in play as possible. Those who know how to play know the odds are with those making INFORMED decisions.
