Moving abroad after making citizenship application

[AmericaninQuebec]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I am having trouble finding relevant threads on here. I am about to submit my citizenship application. I have 1260 basic residency days, and 1157 physical presence days as of when I did the online calculator about 1.5 weeks ago. Just this week I have been invited to interview for a job back in the US (home country). It would be a big step forward in my career, so I am seriously considering interviewing and moving back to the US with my Canadian husband. We figure we would be down there for 5 to 10 years at most, with the goal to be to return to Quebec afterward.

Is there an issue with submitting my citizenship application and then moving abroad a couple of months later? If I do move abroad, can I use my mother-in-law's address here in Canada for receipt of official correspondence regarding my application, or is it better to give them my US address? From what I can gather looking at the government website, I get the impression it would be easier to give them my mother-in-law's address than to try and give them a US address.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks.

 

[Swede]

Considering that one of the requirements for citizenship is the intention to stay in Canada, you might have a hard time if you explicitly tell CIC that you're moving out of the country.

 

[applic2013]

Leaving Canada definitely affects your application. You can use an address in Canada. If you don't receive RQ before test, when passing the test and interview and inform the officer that you are abroad, she or he will tell you: I can't make a decision and you have to meet the Judge. It means you have to wait for several years such that you can't renew you PR card any more (because you were abroad) and Judge will not give you the grant. All happened to a friend of mine who left the country to US with her Canadian husband. If I were you, I would wait until passing the test and then leave the country. By the current time line it will be less than one year.
good luck

 

[CanadianCountry]

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=911&t=5

Maybe this answers your question.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I am having trouble finding relevant threads on here. I am about to submit my citizenship application. I have 1260 basic residency days, and 1157 physical presence days as of when I did the online calculator about 1.5 weeks ago. Just this week I have been invited to interview for a job back in the US (home country). It would be a big step forward in my career, so I am seriously considering interviewing and moving back to the US with my Canadian husband. We figure we would be down there for 5 to 10 years at most, with the goal to be to return to Quebec afterward.

Is there an issue with submitting my citizenship application and then moving abroad a couple of months later? If I do move abroad, can I use my mother-in-law's address here in Canada for receipt of official correspondence regarding my application, or is it better to give them my US address? From what I can gather looking at the government website, I get the impression it would be easier to give them my mother-in-law's address than to try and give them a US address.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks.

 

[dpenabill]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I am having trouble finding relevant threads on here. I am about to submit my citizenship application. I have 1260 basic residency days, and 1157 physical presence days as of when I did the online calculator about 1.5 weeks ago. Just this week I have been invited to interview for a job back in the US (home country). It would be a big step forward in my career, so I am seriously considering interviewing and moving back to the US with my Canadian husband. We figure we would be down there for 5 to 10 years at most, with the goal to be to return to Quebec afterward.

Is there an issue with submitting my citizenship application and then moving abroad a couple of months later? If I do move abroad, can I use my mother-in-law's address here in Canada for receipt of official correspondence regarding my application, or is it better to give them my US address? From what I can gather looking at the government website, I get the impression it would be easier to give them my mother-in-law's address than to try and give them a US address.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks.

Living abroad while the application is pending can, indeed, have an impact on processing. However, so long as the applicant does not fail to submit a response to any requests from CIC, or fail to appear for any scheduled event, living abroad is NOT disqualifying.

The following is not true:

Considering that one of the requirements for citizenship is the intention to stay in Canada, you might have a hard time if you explicitly tell CIC that you're moving out of the country.

That is, there is, currently, NO intent to stay in Canada requirement for citizenship. (There will be for applications made after amendments to Section 5(1) take effect, which could happen anytime, probably will happen summer 2015.)

Although, it is true to the extent that if CIC perceives you living outside Canada, or you tell CIC you are moving outside Canada, "you might have a hard time." (Ranging from RQ to long delays in processing.)

And note, that since current residence, current address, is a material fact in the application, applicants are required to notify CIC if their actual place of residence changes . . . and CIC does not send notices to foreign addresses, not even the U.S.

The web page linked by CanadianContry states the formalities perfectly. The risks stated in that notice should not be underestimated. CIC often gives very little notice before scheduled events (like the test or the oath).

On the other hand, if you can maintain an address in Canada, for which there is someone totally reliable who you can trust to keep you apprised of any correspondence from CIC (sending mail on is way too slow; someone needs to look at the contents immediately and convey those to the applicant promptly), and you can readily travel to Canada on short notice to attend a scheduled event (CIC tends to not reschedule events for applicants abroad), this or that sidetrip (such as RQ) may happen along the way, but the ultimate outcome should be successful.

Living abroad with a Canadian citizen spouse satisfies the ongoing PR Residency Obligation, so even if the process takes a long while, maintaining admissibility is not an issue.