The immigration officer who interviewed us after the citizenship test explicitly told us that she has granted us the citizenship, and that we should wait for an invite for the oath ceremony.
No update from IRCC on citizenship oath ceremony. Next steps?
- Thread starter Zero-Transparency
- Start date
No process with thousands of applicants is going to be exactly in order. Piles of applicants are likely divided by employees and scheduling for oaths depends on location (assume ceremonies are still be scheduled by location). If you live near a busy office you will likely be scheduled a bit later. There is some progress being made. They have moved to virtual oaths. This is the first pandemic in around 100 years, you can’t expect for things to happen immediately. Just be happy we aren’t in a place where covid is out of control.
@funmohan Yes, you're right. It means, citizenship candidates or clients with a successful "Decision Made" status are technically those persons who have been granted Citizenship*. Now they only need to take an Oath of Citizenship to become Canadian Citizens.
In other words, citizenship candidates who are already "granted" citizenship deserve the "Right to Citizenship" to become citizens or get naturalized into citizens within a certain timeframe**, and that is what warrants or triggers or determines some candidates to be invited by IRCC for the virtual oath ceremonies at different specific schedules depending upon some factors or set of rules (I don't know yet). Which is why, majority of the decision made (citizenship granted) candidates are receiving their virtual oath ceremonies; however, some are getting sooner and some later. There may be some published policies, rules & regulations or procedures etc that I may be unaware of and/or may not interpret at this moment.
It is not random to select some 'citizenship granted candidates' and give them 'Right to Citizenship' via virtual oath ceremonies. There must be some set of rules set by IRCC that decide the eligibility of an individual's virtual oath ~ who will be invited and when this will be.
REF.:
*Persons 14 years of age or over who are granted citizenship must take an Oath of Citizenship in order to become citizens. Their legal status as a citizen takes effect as of the date the Oath is taken.
*https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/canadian-citizenship/overview/granting.html
**Right of Citizenship
Our service standard: issue the Right of Citizenship within 4 months (between the date we grant citizenship and the date we first send the invitation to the citizenship ceremony)
**https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/service-declaration/service-standards.html#citizenship
Last edited:
Some Service Canada Centres to reopen 'in the next couple days': union
Good news: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/some-service-canada-centres-to-reopen-in-the-next-couple-days-union-1.5013313
I hope citizenship services will resume as part of the reopening!
Good news: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/some-service-canada-centres-to-reopen-in-the-next-couple-days-union-1.5013313
I hope citizenship services will resume as part of the reopening!
In its gist, I agree.
The "grant" of citizenship is for sure a formal, definitive decision, and for Section 5(1) applicants, as you reference, the only thing then left between the applicant, now "candidate," is taking the oath. Citizenship is granted but the individual does not BECOME a citizen unless and until the oath is also formally taken in accordance with due procedures.
What appears to be uncertain is whether what most forum participants refer to as "Decision Made" is that formal, definitive decision actually GRANTING citizenship, or an administrative decision approving the applicant for the grant of citizenship. That is, is this "Decision Made" the grant of citizenship itself, or a decision approving the grant of citizenship? I am not sure. They may be one and same decision. I have not yet seen IRCC published information which sheds much light. But as I have been following anecdotal reports over the years, including right up to Covid-19, it seems like some report a "Decision Made" BUT still later report having to wait for a background check. If I am properly recalling those anecdotal reports, and they are reasonably accurate, they suggest Decision Made is the approval for a grant but the actual grant may be waiting on things like an updated clearance. What makes sense to me is that the actual decision to "GRANT" citizenship is done attendant scheduling the oath. But I am not at all sure of this.
The DIFFERENCE this would make is mostly about how close to being scheduled for the oath is suggested when there is a "Decision Made." Which in present circumstances is still well beyond discerning, given the very limited samples and the extraordinary circumstances (an understatement).
And this is why it appears there is a difference between those who, like @awesomejoe123, were previously scheduled for an oath ceremony that was cancelled, who appear to be mostly (even if not entirely) among those getting virtual oath ceremony invites sooner than those who have "Decision Made" but were not already, previously, scheduled for the oath. Anyway, this seems the more likely explanation as best I can sort through things.
But anecdotal reporting from @awesomejoe123 also dovetails with another previous reference I made.
Here too, I am largely trying to draw lines connecting separate points, filling in gaps in what we know based on little bits and pieces of what we do know. My sense is the preliminary telephone call may be a significant step in this current effort to get "candidates" to a virtual oath ceremony. Missing the call may mean being passed over in the queue. Not sure. But even many years ago when I went through the process, I had a strong sense that my answering my telephone barely days ahead of the time for my interview made the difference and allowed me to also take the oath a few days later.
In contrast . . .
What happens in individual or isolated instances is one thing. The ways things ordinarily work does not necessarily dictate how they work in every case.
But, ordinarily, the interviewer is NOT the Citizenship Officer who even has the authority to grant citizenship, let alone one who actually grants citizenship attendant the interview itself. Interviews are routinely done by Processing Agents who report to the Citizenship Officer who will make the decision to APPROVE a grant of citizenship and the decision to actually GRANT citizenship (or just one such decision if these two are the same; again I think these are separate decisions as described above).
The outcome is the same: wait for an invite to the oath ceremony.
In contrast, scores and scores of forum participants have come through here reporting something akin to the interviewer, in one form or another, assuring the applicants there are no issues and now all they need to do is wait for an invitation to take the oath. The formal decisions are yet to be made, but the file is well in order, there are no concerns or questions or unresolved issues. Outcome is quite certain. When remains open. AND now the latter looms much, much larger, since there are undoubted TENS of THOUSANDS of applicants who have passed the test and been successfully interviewed, now in queue for the final formal steps, ultimately the GRANT of citizenship itself then consummated by taking the oath (virtually or eventually otherwise).
Finally @CitizenOrNot . . . I realize that many use the term "random" as a more or less slang insult, suggesting there is little or no good reason for that they call "random." But for purposes of discussing a decision-making process, "random" has actual meaning, in its more technical sense is akin to choices made by lottery (chance; all possible samples having an equal probability of selection) or in its less technical sense, without uniformly employed criteria, or as some say, "haphazardly." Frankly, the argument that who is being selected to participate in virtual oath ceremonies is in any of these senses "random," or "haphazard," or without employing criteria, is ludicrous. Given the nature and tone of others' responses in a similar vein, in which the element of insult looms saliently enough, this seems intentional.
BUT there is good reason for my repeated efforts to challenge such disparaging characterizations of the process. The vast majority of qualified applicants for citizenship have followed the instructions, submitted accurate and complete information, and can TRUST that IRCC will be employing real criteria in the decisions being made and that the vast majority of applicants will proceed through the process in a relatively just and fair manner, with due diligence to procedural fairness. They can trust, notwithstanding the occasional citation of examples that are no more than isolated exceptions (or unreliable reports), that IRCC will not be "randomly" granting benefits to some and not to others. But sure, what makes a difference can sometimes be something of a quirky circumstance: like getting and responding to an incoming telephone call.
For the purposes of this forum this is important. Sure, some come here mostly to complain. Venting is part of it. But many come here to get a sense about how all this is going for others in similar situations. And during times like these, especially, when the wait times grow and grow, qualified applicants nonetheless grow anxious. THEY CAN and SHOULD BE ASSURED, NO, IRCC IS NOT RANDOMLY GIVING SOME OF THEM CITIZENSHIP AND RANDOMLY DENYING OTHERS. There are procedures in place. Struggling for now, for sure, but there is a real effort underway to deal with this ongoing crisis. The fact that the vast majority (nearly all but for very isolated hearsay assertions otherwise) of those now being scheduled for a virtual oath were previously scheduled for the oath is NO accident, NOT some haphazard coincidence, it is undoubtedly a proper exercise of authority to address the compelling legal mandate to consummate the grant of citizenship through the oath ceremony. That is what procedural fairness looks like. Still takes time. It can still involve long waiting times. But there is a process and how it is administered is NOT RANDOM.
And lets be clear what this is about. It is NOT about defending what IRCC does. I am no friend of bureaucracy, including this one (I have dug into and shared more than a lot of internal information this bureaucracy has overtly tried to keep from the public, including the triage criteria for issuing RQ . . . . sharing information more than a few lawyers had to know but would say they did not know rather than honestly say they could not share such information even with their client because it was strictly confidential). This is about REASSURING the scores and scores of applicants who have citizenship applications in process, YES, it is going to go SLOW, excruciatingly SLOW for most, BUT the process will proceed according to the laws, regulations, rules, and administrative policies and practices, all under an umbrella of procedural fairness. Recognizing, again, sure, with some exceptions . . . who gets to go next will not be arbitrary, capricious, or random. IRCC will get to each of you in turn respectively. But yeah, for most it will be a good while more.
My status is decision made since feb 2020 and GCMS reads oath Ready.
No sign of oath.
Ecas is DM
No sign of oath.
Ecas is DM
Promising news - spoke to IRCC.... they mentioned that earlier video oath was only for urgent cases.....But now it is open for everyone....
So all we need is to wait for our turn....should be coming soon!!!
I am DM on Feb 22 2020 and scarborough centre....
So all we need is to wait for our turn....should be coming soon!!!
I am DM on Feb 22 2020 and scarborough centre....
hardnut
Hero Member
- Aug 23, 2018
- 43
- Category........
- FSW
- Visa Office......
- New Delhi, IND
- App. Filed.......
- 11-2010
- VISA ISSUED...
- 07-2011
- LANDED..........
- 10-2011
Good to know. That being said, thousands are still waiting for virtual oath invites. IRCC agents are well trained to paint a sugar-coated picture of the service.
My oath was scheduled on 15th March,2020 in Calgary, Ab. I have not heard anything about the oath ceremony from them. Please let me know if I got to call someone or process to schedule oath ceremony. Anyone in the same boat.
Hello,
Finally the journey is over
Today I took the oath of citizenship. It lasted about 20 minutes. They said I will received the certificate within two weeks. I applied from Montreal. Here is the timeline:
25/02/2019 - document sent
28/02/2019 - document delivered
30/04/2019 - received file number email
17/06/2019 - processing application got started
17/09/2019 - received the invitation to test email
08/10/2019 - took the citizenship test
24/02/2020 - application approved
25/02/2020 - decision made on ecas
27/02/2020 - received the invitation to do the ceremony on 13/03/2020
12/03/2020 - received the cancellation email due to COVID-19
06/07/2020 - received virtual ceremony email
08/07/2020 - virtual ceremony
Finally the journey is over
Today I took the oath of citizenship. It lasted about 20 minutes. They said I will received the certificate within two weeks. I applied from Montreal. Here is the timeline:25/02/2019 - document sent
28/02/2019 - document delivered
30/04/2019 - received file number email
17/06/2019 - processing application got started
17/09/2019 - received the invitation to test email
08/10/2019 - took the citizenship test
24/02/2020 - application approved
25/02/2020 - decision made on ecas
27/02/2020 - received the invitation to do the ceremony on 13/03/2020
12/03/2020 - received the cancellation email due to COVID-19
06/07/2020 - received virtual ceremony email
08/07/2020 - virtual ceremony
someone in the January thread received their AOR today. Hopefully more updates will be coming soon
Congratulations on becoming Canadian. Will you share as to whether you are front line essential worker or applied for urgent processing. RegardsHello,
Finally the journey is over
25/02/2019 - document sent
28/02/2019 - document delivered
30/04/2019 - received file number email
17/06/2019 - processing application got started
17/09/2019 - received the invitation to test email
08/10/2019 - took the citizenship test
24/02/2020 - application approved
25/02/2020 - decision made on ecas
27/02/2020 - received the invitation to do the ceremony on 13/03/2020
12/03/2020 - received the cancellation email due to COVID-19
06/07/2020 - received virtual ceremony email
08/07/2020 - virtual ceremony
Thanks. No I wasn't any of them. However, my initial oath was scheduled for 13th of March which was the first day that the ceremony got cancelled.