jshahid said:
I am Canadian citizen. My wife applied for her citizenship back in March 2015, since than she has moved out of Canada with me to middle east. I was wondering if anyone have any idea if that this might cause any problem with her citizenship process?
arambi said:
Moving out of Canada after applying for citizenship is a risk, a bigger risk today than it was few years back.
Why? Intent to reside (even though she applied before this clause formally came into effect).
Agree, residing abroad while the application is in process is a
risk. There are multiple threads in this forum and in other similar forums which discuss
leaving Canada after applying at some length. I will outline a summary of the consensus.
In the meantime, it is indeed a bigger risk, and I would say a much bigger risk for applications made
AFTER June 11, 2015 because the required intent to
continue residing in Canada implicitly requires the applicant to be residing in Canada while the application is in process. However, this requirement does
not apply to an applicant whose application was in process before June 11, 2015.
While we have not yet seen how CIC will actually interpret and apply the so-called
"intent requirement," a more or less literal application of it could justify outright rejection of the application for an applicant who resides abroad . . . because it is impossible to intend to
continue to reside in Canada since a person cannot possibly
continue to reside any where other than where they are currently residing. I suspect that even if CIC is interpreting this requirement this strictly, some degree of flexibility will allow for exceptions, such as cases in which the residence abroad is clearly temporary in nature (only child attending to a seriously ill parent, say, or attending an advanced degree program abroad not readily available in Canada, among others, but noting this is speculative).
Technically this is not a requirement for your spouse since the application was made prior to June 2015.
Note: it appears likely there will be a significantly new government formed later this month, after the election. Both the Liberals and NDP have indicated there are parts of the SCCA (Bill C-24) they will repeal, and the intent requirement might be on the list. I doubt this provision will be among parts repealed (if any actually are), but it might. Additionally, policy and related practices are also likely to change some, and here too, relative to how CIC has approached applicants going abroad while the application is pending, CIC's approach might, emphasis on might, be mitigated some. That noted, it is worth recalling that it was while the Liberals were in government that formal reasons-to-question-residency were issued that included screening applicants for indications they were living abroad (per a 2005 Operational Bulletin, no longer in effect but relative to this issue replaced with even more scrutiny for those who leave Canada while the application is pending).
Thus, for applications in process prior to June 11, 2015, living abroad does
NOT directly affect the applicant's eligibility or qualifications for citizenship. In particular, living abroad
after applying cannot directly factor into the residency calculation.
Nonetheless there are substantial risks for a March 2015 applicant, including:
Delays and PR RO:
Since she is living with a Canadian citizen partner, the biggest risk is not a problem. Applicants must continue to be in compliance with the PR Residency Obligation and in the last several years (going back at least five or so years, probably longer) CIC has tended to impose hurdles and delays which could drag such cases out longer than three years, thus putting the applicant living abroad at risk for being outside Canada more than 1095 days within the preceding five years. Your partner is not at risk for this so long you are cohabitating, the time spent accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse abroad counting toward compliance with the PR RO.
That said, once CIC perceives the applicant is living abroad, or spending extended periods of time abroad, it appears CIC deliberately elevates the level of scrutiny, tends to impose things like RQ, and otherwise proceed in a way that can lead to very long delays.
Residency Questionnaire; the dreaded RQ:
Extended absence from Canada while the application is pending has long been a
reason-to-question-residency, and thus living abroad can, in particular, lead to more scrutiny, more questions, and perhaps an elevated degree of skepticism.
In particular, as just noted, once CIC perceives the applicant is living abroad, or spending extended periods of time abroad, it appears CIC is far more likely to issue RQ, and in this process tends to be more skeptical in the assessment of residency. How difficult this can make things varies from case to case, and there are too many factors to attempt enumerating them. A big factor, however, could be the nature and extent of your ties abroad, and in particular the extent to which you and your partner had ties abroad in the four years relevant to calculating residency. Yes, where
you have been living or working can be a factor, a significant factor once RQ is imposed. For example, and this should be obvious, if you have been working abroad there is at least a reasonable basis for inferring your partner would be accompanying you any periods of time during which it is not well established your partner was physically in Canada.
Police certificates:
A part of the new law that does apply to applications made prior to June this year is the expanded scope of prohibitions. Thus, in particular, applicants may be required to submit police certificates from other countries where they have spent an extended amount of time going back four years prior to applying, and right up to the moment (this would typically be the date of the test/interview). At the least, at the interview the applicant will be required to confirm no prohibitions, including any foreign criminal charges.
So far I have not seen any reports by pre-June applicants that they have been required to submit police certificates. But participation in the forums is a very, very small number compared to the literally hundreds of thousands of applications in process. I very much expect there to be requests for police certificates issued to some applicants perceived to have been abroad for extended periods of time.
Short notice:
This is perhaps the biggest risk for an otherwise solidly qualified applicant who is living abroad while the application is pending. CIC tends to give relatively short notice for events like interviews and tests and the oath. It can be difficult, perhaps extremely difficult, to assure getting notices in time to make the trip back to Canada for a scheduled event. While applicants generally are given a second chance to appear for a missed test, missing a re-scheduled test can result in terminating the application. Difficulty appearing for the test due to being abroad is
explicitly not an acceptable excuse. Failure to appear for the oath will result in termination of the application unless the applicant (sometimes referred to as the "candidate" at that stage) has an acceptable reason or excuse, and again being abroad is
not an acceptable reason.
Reminder:
The signature box on the application incorporates the applicant's affirmation the applicant will notify CIC of any material changes in the information provided. Change of actual place of residence is a material change in information. The applicant is clearly required to give CIC notice of a change in address, not just where the applicant receives or can receive mail, but as to the address where the applicant actually lives. A foreign address is quite likely to trigger elevated risks. Many who have done this play games with CIC in this regard (as in not giving CIC the address where they are actually residing). Many probably get away with it. Many others do not, more than a few who complain bitterly about how unfair CIC treats them. Sometimes those complaints are well-founded (living abroad, for pre-June applicants, in no way is a disqualification, and it really is procedurally unfair, an abuse, for CIC to deliberately delay processing the application). But there should be no surprise, as it is quite well-known that CIC does indeed impose hurdles for applicants living abroad after applying.
Summary/Overall:
The short answer is
yes, living abroad while the application is pending can lead to problems.
Why and how, for pre-June applicants, is a bit complicated, as outlined above, but the practical reality is that if and when CIC realizes a citizenship applicant is living abroad, that tends (in many but not all cases) to lead to elevated scrutiny and thus to a range of potential problems.
