Leaving Canada after Citizenship Application - Informing of >2 weeks leave

[caduser20230101]

The government website says that citizenship applicants are allowed to leave the country once the application is submitted (as long as PR and other conditions are met). It also indicates that if the applicant plans to leave for more than 2 weeks, the agency needs to be informed....has anyone informed them of this >2weeks absence from Canada before and what was that process like? what was their response, and was there any subsequent actions required, or is just more of a "FYI" thing.

My spouse is looking to move with me (a CAD citizen) abroad to work. I understand that the days will count towards her PR residency requirement since I'm a citizen, but will that negatively bias her citizenship application once we inform them we are leaving for >2 weeks?

 

[skuser]

I left the next day for 5 months after filling the application. I got a test while outside. I informed and did the test in outside . I came to Canada after 5 months and gave the boarding pass as a proof. I got my oath done last week. If your wife has a plan to come back, you don’t need to inform them, that way your application won’t be put on hold forever.

 

[bas12]

Edit: nevermind, found it
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/become-canadian-citizen/after-apply-next-steps.html

My experience was I sent a notification through a webform in May 2022 for a 3 week trip I was planning for June 2022. I ended up moving that trip to September and only leaving for 2 weeks in the end.
They responded to the webform from May in September, with some copy pasted text that among other things said that they are prioritizing application from people who don't have covid travel restrictions. At the time covid travel restrictions were a thing of a distant past, but they actually still have similar wording in some of the recordings on their phone line.

My application had no progress since March 2022, not sure if this was caused by this travel notification or not. I tried to get any answers many times, but had no success so far. There is a mandamus in the near future.

So, not sure I would recommend it. Definitely make sure that this is actually required.

 

[forw.jane]

Edit: nevermind, found it
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/become-canadian-citizen/after-apply-next-steps.html

My experience was I sent a notification through a webform in May 2022 for a 3 week trip I was planning for June 2022. I ended up moving that trip to September and only leaving for 2 weeks in the end.
They responded to the webform from May in September, with some copy pasted text that among other things said that they are prioritizing application from people who don't have covid travel restrictions. At the time covid travel restrictions were a thing of a distant past, but they actually still have similar wording in some of the recordings on their phone line.

My application had no progress since March 2022, not sure if this was caused by this travel notification or not. I tried to get any answers many times, but had no success so far. There is a mandamus in the near future.

So, not sure I would recommend it. Definitely make sure that this is actually required.

This is really bad if they are not prioritizing your application because of your vacation intimation. You already completed months needed for mandamus too.

 

[bas12]

This is really bad if they are not prioritizing your application because of your vacation intimation. You already completed months needed for mandamus too.

It was a business trip
But I am not sure if that really caused the delay. Maybe I'll know some day, maybe not.
Could be that I missed the 12 months standard processing time because of this, and now they have no motivation to work on it, since it doesn't improve their statistics.

 

[forw.jane]

It was a business trip
But I am not sure if that really caused the delay. Maybe I'll know some day, maybe not.
Could be that I missed the 12 months standard processing time because of this, and now they have no motivation to work on it, since it doesn't improve their statistics.

Yes once the threshold crosses there is no motivation to process it. Did you take your MP's help?

 

[bas12]

Yes once the threshold crosses there is no motivation to process it. Did you take your MP's help?

Yes, they gave her some wrong information about processing times, and said that I need to wait until 2 years have passed; then she can contact them about my file again.

 

[forw.jane]

Yes, they gave her some wrong information about processing times, and said that I need to wait until 2 years have passed; then she can contact them about my file again.

Yes because its updated to 19 months yesterday. Your MP can use the new deadline to contact them again.

 

[bas12]

Yes because its updated to 19 months yesterday. Your MP can use the new deadline to contact them again.

I did email her after that, telling here that processing time was 22 months at the time, and then a few more times to follow up.
I think she calls them biweekly, as there are lots of people in a similar situation.
She hasn't really gotten back to me with any new information. She promised to send me an email last week, but so far there is nothing. I kind of gave up on this direction.

I think it has about the same effect as calling IRCC myself. They just say anything to make you go away, doesn't matter if it makes sense or not.

 

[Achilles23]

I left the next day for 5 months after filling the application. I got a test while outside. I informed and did the test in outside . I came to Canada after 5 months and gave the boarding pass as a proof. I got my oath done last week. If your wife has a plan to come back, you don’t need to inform them, that way your application won’t be put on hold forever.

Did you inform them when you left the country or after you got invited to take Citizenship Test?