Normal Processing Times from Calgary office?

[garyfaifai]

E-Cas updated

We sent you a notice on October 3, 2014 to appear and take the oath of citizenship at the citizenship ceremony to be held on November 6, 2014 at 8:00 AM. The notice you will receive by mail will be your official confirmation of your appointment. If you have not received this notice prior to the date of your scheduled appointment, please contact us.

 

[TRUECALGARIAN]

Hi I am new to this forum here is my timeline...
1.We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on March 27, 2013.

2.We sent you a letter acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on March 27, 2013. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

3.We started processing your application on June 4, 2013.

4.We sent you a notice on August 1, 2014 to appear and write the citizenship test on August 26, 2014 at 8:00 AM. The notice you will receive by mail will be your official confirmation of your appointment. If you have not received this notice prior to the date of your scheduled appointment, please contact us.


keeping my fingers crossed for the oath ceremony date.

 

[wsm_al]

Hi I am new to this forum here is my timeline...
1.We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on March 27, 2013.

2.We sent you a letter acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on March 27, 2013. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

3.We started processing your application on June 4, 2013.

4.We sent you a notice on August 1, 2014 to appear and write the citizenship test on August 26, 2014 at 8:00 AM. The notice you will receive by mail will be your official confirmation of your appointment. If you have not received this notice prior to the date of your scheduled appointment, please contact us.


keeping my fingers crossed for the oath ceremony date.

Congratulations! how was your test and interview? can you share your interview experience please?

 

[TRUECALGARIAN]

The test was easy as I had prepared a lot .the questions are same as the practice questions online but asked in a different way. so study the Discover Canada thoroughly. the interview was a cross check on my travel dates which was fine. all the best any other info please let me know.

cheers

 

[Msafiri]

Texan01 - good to hear from you.

Over all this is really weird as CIC Calgary is all over the place. As per the sheet shozee, Dreamchaser and Texan01 should have got their test invite before SaffaMan, as all three have an earlier application send, in process and LOT dates.

I know for all three of them there has been no correspondence between CIC Calgary since they applied, therefore there should be no hold up. All of this makes it very hard to predict how long it test notification process is.

Maybe case specific issues such as background checks that none of us are privy to. If it helps a friend who applied in June 2013 had their test last week so seems Harry Hays scheduling Q2/Q3 2013 applicants. If you check my feedback from the recent CJ session at Calgary Public Library on October 3rd CIC 'plan' to schedule more oaths...until this happens a 'backlog' of tested applicants awaiting oath has started to grow. CIC has to clear pre Aug 1 test candidates who need CJ approval. Under due process they should oath first in line...guess how many they are? No one knows! The longer in the oath inventory the higher the risks of your background checks expiring....once re-run you are back in to the ever growing batch and so continueth the process! Until I see more oaths from Harry Hays hang on to your 1-3 month timeline (the 1 month is a farce).

 

[pondering.in.prairies]

Maybe case specific issues such as background checks that none of us are privy to. If it helps a friend who applied in June 2013 had their test last week so seems Harry Hays scheduling Q2/Q3 2013 applicants. If you check my feedback from the recent CJ session at Calgary Public Library on October 3rd CIC 'plan' to schedule more oaths...until this happens a 'backlog' of tested applicants awaiting oath has started to grow. CIC has to clear pre Aug 1 test candidates who need CJ approval. Under due process they should oath first in line...guess how many they are? No one knows! The longer in the oath inventory the higher the risks of your background checks expiring....once re-run you are back in to the ever growing batch and so continueth the process! Until I see more oaths from Harry Hays hang on to your 1-3 month timeline (the 1 month is a farce).

True that! But nothing explains why they aren't sending out test notifications and when they do its normally not in the order they received the application in and if you are lucky you will end up getting a letter to write the test and take the oath in a couple of days of time, if you are not you don't even get invited to write the test or write your test and wait for a good 2-3 months before you take your oath. This is totally absurd.

At least be logistically true to the applicants, after all its the software that does the job, nobody is asking the VO to maintain the file cabinet and sort it by the date received. If there are complexities (RQ) etc, you can expect the application to be delayed(even though I think the whole 36 months is taking it a bit too far), but the last time I checked my AITP notes (about 4 months ago), everything was clear, passed all the checks and am still waiting for a test date. The thing that doesn't make sense at all to me is if there are no pending actions (checks) on the file,why not just invite for a test? Why the huge disparity and discrepancy in the timelines? I am behind by a quarter at least compared to the other March-April 2013 applicants.

 

[a.R.]

I don't understand these background checks. Let say that they are valid for a year. Once they have been received by CIC, they aren't updated in real time?? So if an applicant is charged with a criminal offence after the background checks have been received by CIC and are still valid they will go ahead and schedule the test and oath, as i'm guessing that wont be reflected in the background checks. Right??? So why does it matter if they have expired after the test and before the oath. It just seems as if the process still hasn't been streamlined by CIC, which is really sad. Any organisation will be able to identity the circular instances and rectify as they are wasting resources.

The long and short of it is that its fairly disappointing to see CIC struggle with take a handle on these minor issues which are having a significant impact on processing times.

 

[pondering.in.prairies]

Just looking at my AITP notes again,

Notes 1: Responsible Office: CPC Sydney
CreatedDate: Feb 2014 (same day and a minute after note 2)
Type: General
Description: Flagged: A5

Notes 2: Responsible Office: CPC Sydney
CreatedDate: Feb 2014
Type: Required Documents Seen
Description: EMPTY


I've looked around for A5 its an RQ triage criteria, but didn't get any RQ from either CPC or Calgary yet. File originally sent May 2013, In Process - July 2013, transfer to Calgary office - Feb 2014.

What could the note possibly mean? Would I be getting an RQ on my test date as I haven't received a pre-test RQ yet and its probably too late for a pre-test RQ anyway? Would this also be the reason why my file is a bit delayed? (No test notification yet).?

Inputs are appreciated.


Side note, the notes show all of the checks are done and passed.

 

[Maria Ash]

Okay is anyone on this forum from nw calgary and has anyone written anything to their local mp my local mp is ablonzsky was asking about this coz if there is more than one complaint against slow processing times of cic Calgary compared to other parts of country maybe they will take some drastic measures

 

[YYC_April24_2013]

So i took and passed the test on Sept 9th, i did get the CIT 520 on the day i took the test requesting more documents because i had too many stamps in the passport from business travel. I returned what they asked for on Sept 12th and on the same day an RQ was sent to me. So they didn't even get a chance to look at the documents i sent with the CIT 520 form and they sent an RQ. The letter said that i was short by 12 days from the required 1096 days so I'm assuming that's why they sent the RQ. I re-sent more documents in addition to what i have already sent and hopefully they'll realize that the trips the couple trips I missed and actually most of those trips are business trips and give me a break.

Has anyone had a similar situation? I know that RQ can seriously delay my application so is it worth even cancelling my application and re-apply since now a year and a half after i initially applied i surely have enough days?

I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

 

[irajmirza]

Is your ecase shows the RQ request? What is the date on RQ request? When did you receive it?

Thanks

 

[YYC_April24_2013]

E-Cas does not show RQ request per say, here's my ecas history:

- We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on April 24, 2013.
- We sent you a letter acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on April 24, 2013. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
- We started processing your application on July 9, 2013.
- We sent you a letter on February 10, 2014. If you have not yet provided the information or the requested documents, please do so as soon as possible. Please wait until you receive the letter before sending us additional information, as the letter will outline all information that is required. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
- We sent you a notice on August 22, 2014 to appear and write the citizenship test on September 9, 2014 at 8:00 AM. The notice you will receive by mail will be your official confirmation of your appointment. If you have not received this notice prior to the date of your scheduled appointment, please contact us.
- We sent you a letter on September 12, 2014. If you have not yet provided the information or the requested documents, please do so as soon as possible. Please wait until you receive the letter before sending us additional information, as the letter will outline all information that is required. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.

The letter on Feb 10th, 2014 was for fingerprints and the letter on September 12th is the RQ.

 

[wsm_al]

So i took and passed the test on Sept 9th, i did get the CIT 520 on the day i took the test requesting more documents because i had too many stamps in the passport from business travel. I returned what they asked for on Sept 12th and on the same day an RQ was sent to me. So they didn't even get a chance to look at the documents i sent with the CIT 520 form and they sent an RQ. The letter said that i was short by 12 days from the required 1096 days so I'm assuming that's why they sent the RQ. I re-sent more documents in addition to what i have already sent and hopefully they'll realize that the trips the couple trips I missed and actually most of those trips are business trips and give me a break.

Has anyone had a similar situation? I know that RQ can seriously delay my application so is it worth even cancelling my application and re-apply since now a year and a half after i initially applied i surely have enough days?

I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

Hi,
so to clarify, were you actually short by 12 days when you applied (your physical days were not 1095) ? or you were missing some stamps that made them think you were short by 12 days?

 

[YYC_April24_2013]

I honestly have no idea if there are missing stamps but i did go through when i got the RQ and realized that it is true i have missed reporting couple of my business trips to the US.

 

[YYC_CICGUY]

I honestly have no idea if there are missing stamps but i did go through when i got the RQ and realized that it is true i have missed reporting couple of my business trips to the US.

YYC_April24_2013,


I am sorry about your situation, That's a serious issue, its not an easy fix........I think KOO test is the only way if somebody falls less than 1095 days mark, also they are making it tougher. Speak to an experience lawyer or immigration consultant. I have seen people in this forum withdrawing application and refilling it a fresh, but before you decide any route take professional advise.

start searching KOO as the key word to find some previous federal court rulings.

It is always a good idea to have 10-15days more when you apply, it really helps in these situations.

Thanks
YYC_CICGUY