I am still not sure if I would send this, as I am afraid IRCC would retaliate to the person who send it by delaying their application even more, but I wanted to share this letter I wrote out of frustration. Feel free to use it as a first draft if you are thinking to send a letter for a petition or for an individual letter.
Dear IRCC/Minister of Immigration,
We are a group of people who share their experiences regarding their citizenship applications on the Internet, and came together to send you this letter to convey to you our collective message, which we hope to be taken into consideration from future Canadian citizens, who they feel they are Canadians already.
We came to Canada years ago seeking a better life and a better treatment, and we all see Canada as our second home. We left behind us parents and siblings, and sacrificed many personal choices to come and settle in Canada, and be active participants in building the future all Canadians dream for themselves and their children.
However, we collectively feel that we are left behind since the pandemic started in Canada. Our applications were not processed for months after the lockdown enforced back in March 2020. Many didn't hear anything about their applications for as long as 18 months. Citizenship applications now take more than two years to be approved, especially for applicants who applied mid to late 2019. This is without taking into consideration the time it takes to receive the citizenship certificate after taking the oath, and after that the passport. These latter steps may take up to 3 months alone.
We acknowledge that the pandemic has slowed things down to make sure everyone is safe, but after more than 18 months into the pandemic, and most of Canadians are vaccinated, we are still at the same point 18 months ago. These days it takes 4-5 months between each step and the next one. Even those of us who have their applications approved wait 4-5 months to get invited to take the oath. In addition, permanent residency card renewal applications take 4-5 months to be processed and approved. As a result, some of us are left without an easy way to return to Canada if we leave, for example to attend the holidays with our families later this year.
Furthermore, we are seeing, from the spreadsheets we are using to report our files' progress, some trends in processing applications that don't follow the chronological order. For example, we have noted that late 2020 and early 2021 applicants, are progressing faster than or at the same stage as some mid and late 2019 applicants, who have been waiting longer. Also, some offices, notably in Ontario, move faster than other offices such as Calgary and Montreal offices. All of this moves inside us a feeling of unfairness, where when and where you apply can affect your file's processing time significantly.
Therefore, we would like to make the following request: to prioritize mid and late 2019 and early 2020 applicants in all offices and to expedite the next steps in their files. Late 2020 and early 2021 applicants are still within the 12 month processing time limit announced in the official website of IRCC, while mid to late 2019 applicants are way beyond that limit.
Some applicants individually sent letters before, and received the same response that mentioned Covid-19 as the main culprit in all of this delay. We believe that new strategies and policies can change and improve the processing time, and we believe that IRCC has the capacity and means to improve the experience of current and future citizenships applicants.
Sincerely