Oath ceremony after leaving Canada

[freezing_aussie]

I am hoping someone could have some good advice for how to deal with this situation.

I applied for citizenship more than 9 months ago, and passed the citizenship test in early October. Just after the citizenship test my (Canadian citizen) husband got offered a better job in his field with higher pay in my home country. I've been having a very hard time finding a job relevant to my advanced qualifications in Canada (probably specifically difficult because of the economy in the province where we were living), so we have been existing on a single income while my graduate qualifications were going to waste for a long time. We decided to take the opportunity in the hope that this would put our family in a much better financial and career opportunity position overall.

At this point I wasn't sure what to do about my citizenship application. It seemed bittersweet that I would finally become a Canadian citizen at the point that I was going to leave the country, but my husband in a Canadian and so are all his closest family members, and my child was born in Canada. We would always remain strongly connected to Canada. By this point I had also spent several years in Canada and and felt this was my second home, too.

The online system showed decision made about two months after the test, but the CIC call centre would not tell me what this decision was. I was advised to change my address online, so I did initially update it to the family address in different province, where we would be living in the interim.

For a very long time, I checked the online application status page every single day. At some point, in the all the stressful preparations to leave Canada and in the hope to save my sanity, I stopped.

Then in the last couple of days I finally receive a letter, via email, inviting me to a citizenship ceremony. In my original province, NOT in the province of my last updated residence on file. These two places are on the opposite sides of Canada, and this is a big country. Two weeks notice only, of course.

I am no longer in Canada at all anymore, and of course I should have advised them straight away of my new circumstances. That is on me. Shouldn't they have, however, moved my file to the new province and scheduled me for a ceremony there instead? That's what I was told would happen over the phone when I changed my address more than 3 months ago.

I literally JUST started a great new job. I do not want to jeopardise it. I have no leave, and I cannot possibly make it to the oath ceremony and back without taking several days off.

I have to at the very least ask for a reschedule. Is this possible, under these circumstances? The consensus on the forum seems to be that reschedules should only be asked for under extremely serious circumstances (death in family etc).

As far as I can tell, I still meet the residency requirement for citizenship for some time, and will continue to meet my PR requirements as long as I am accompanying my Canadian husband (which I am).

Does anyone have any advice for what to do? Should I just withdraw my application? I do not wish to misrepresent my circumstanced to IRCC, but if someone has an idea what my options are at this point, I would really appreciate it. This forum has been a lifeline of support and sanity over the years, and I'm very grateful it exists.

 

[spyfy]

I am hoping someone could have some good advice for how to deal with this situation.

I applied for citizenship more than 9 months ago, and passed the citizenship test in early October. Just after the citizenship test my (Canadian citizen) husband got offered a better job in his field with higher pay in my home country. I've been having a very hard time finding a job relevant to my advanced qualifications in Canada (probably specifically difficult because of the economy in the province where we were living), so we have been existing on a single income while my graduate qualifications were going to waste for a long time. We decided to take the opportunity in the hope that this would put our family in a much better financial and career opportunity position overall.

At this point I wasn't sure what to do about my citizenship application. It seemed bittersweet that I would finally become a Canadian citizen at the point that I was going to leave the country, but my husband in a Canadian and so are all his closest family members, and my child was born in Canada. We would always remain strongly connected to Canada. By this point I had also spent several years in Canada and and felt this was my second home, too.

The online system showed decision made about two months after the test, but the CIC call centre would not tell me what this decision was. I was advised to change my address online, so I did initially update it to the family address in different province, where we would be living in the interim.

For a very long time, I checked the online application status page every single day. At some point, in the all the stressful preparations to leave Canada and in the hope to save my sanity, I stopped.

Then in the last couple of days I finally receive a letter, via email, inviting me to a citizenship ceremony. In my original province, NOT in the province of my last updated residence on file. These two places are on the opposite sides of Canada, and this is a big country. Two weeks notice only, of course.

I am no longer in Canada at all anymore, and of course I should have advised them straight away of my new circumstances. That is on me. Shouldn't they have, however, moved my file to the new province and scheduled me for a ceremony there instead? That's what I was told would happen over the phone when I changed my address more than 3 months ago.

I literally JUST started a great new job. I do not want to jeopardise it. I have no leave, and I cannot possibly make it to the oath ceremony and back without taking several days off.

I have to at the very least ask for a reschedule. Is this possible, under these circumstances? The consensus on the forum seems to be that reschedules should only be asked for under extremely serious circumstances (death in family etc).

As far as I can tell, I still meet the residency requirement for citizenship for some time, and will continue to meet my PR requirements as long as I am accompanying my Canadian husband (which I am).

Does anyone have any advice for what to do? Should I just withdraw my application? I do not wish to misrepresent my circumstanced to IRCC, but if someone has an idea what my options are at this point, I would really appreciate it. This forum has been a lifeline of support and sanity over the years, and I'm very grateful it exists.

I think these are your options:
1. Go to the ceremony (which you say is impossible due to your circumstances)
2. Send a letter requesting a reschedule. Be truthful in the letter. It can't hurt to ask. However I don't see how rescheduling would help you. You would still get at most 3-4 weeks notice for the new date at best. So seems like kicking the can down the road to me.
3. Withdraw your application.

 

[freezing_aussie]

Thanks, spyfy. I think you are right. The reason why I am still considering asking for a reschedule is that if the ceremony is in a few months I may be able to accrue some leave (not to mention also hopefully a little goodwill) at my new job, and not ask for leave basically in my first week.

Also, if the ceremony is scheduled on the West coast instead of the East coast, I will have to spend significantly less time travelling to get there (meaning potentially less time off that I need to ask for from work).

Added complication is that I have an expired PR card (not for lack of eligibility or effort on my part to apply for renewal in time). It means I need to try and organise a PRTD ahead of time. I doubt I could get one in less than two weeks. I clearly need to get onto that, ASAP.

 

[GraceCan]

Does your home country allow's dual citizenship then you should get the final process of Canadian citizenship completed assuming that you have been working hard on it. This would mean you need to explore all possible options on how you can come and participate in the oath even if the date is moved or the location is A instead of location B. Prehapse the travel is for a day or two. Once you get your citizenship and Canadian passport you can go back to you location of work and continue. The only challenge would be that you need to now declare tax's in your home country as well as Canada each financial year. Finally if in future you do decide to get back atleast you have the valid status to get back to Canada considering you are a Citizen.
Ultimately the decision to pursue the final step of oath is your's since you know your situation and circumstances better than anyone of us

 

[itsmyid]

I am hoping someone could have some good advice for how to deal with this situation.

I applied for citizenship more than 9 months ago, and passed the citizenship test in early October. Just after the citizenship test my (Canadian citizen) husband got offered a better job in his field with higher pay in my home country. I've been having a very hard time finding a job relevant to my advanced qualifications in Canada (probably specifically difficult because of the economy in the province where we were living), so we have been existing on a single income while my graduate qualifications were going to waste for a long time. We decided to take the opportunity in the hope that this would put our family in a much better financial and career opportunity position overall.

At this point I wasn't sure what to do about my citizenship application. It seemed bittersweet that I would finally become a Canadian citizen at the point that I was going to leave the country, but my husband in a Canadian and so are all his closest family members, and my child was born in Canada. We would always remain strongly connected to Canada. By this point I had also spent several years in Canada and and felt this was my second home, too.

The online system showed decision made about two months after the test, but the CIC call centre would not tell me what this decision was. I was advised to change my address online, so I did initially update it to the family address in different province, where we would be living in the interim.

For a very long time, I checked the online application status page every single day. At some point, in the all the stressful preparations to leave Canada and in the hope to save my sanity, I stopped.

Then in the last couple of days I finally receive a letter, via email, inviting me to a citizenship ceremony. In my original province, NOT in the province of my last updated residence on file. These two places are on the opposite sides of Canada, and this is a big country. Two weeks notice only, of course.

I am no longer in Canada at all anymore, and of course I should have advised them straight away of my new circumstances. That is on me. Shouldn't they have, however, moved my file to the new province and scheduled me for a ceremony there instead? That's what I was told would happen over the phone when I changed my address more than 3 months ago.

I literally JUST started a great new job. I do not want to jeopardise it. I have no leave, and I cannot possibly make it to the oath ceremony and back without taking several days off.

I have to at the very least ask for a reschedule. Is this possible, under these circumstances? The consensus on the forum seems to be that reschedules should only be asked for under extremely serious circumstances (death in family etc).

As far as I can tell, I still meet the residency requirement for citizenship for some time, and will continue to meet my PR requirements as long as I am accompanying my Canadian husband (which I am).

Does anyone have any advice for what to do? Should I just withdraw my application? I do not wish to misrepresent my circumstanced to IRCC, but if someone has an idea what my options are at this point, I would really appreciate it. This forum has been a lifeline of support and sanity over the years, and I'm very grateful it exists.

You are thinking too much - a friend of mine just sent a request for reschedule , which is likely to take a few extra month to get another one ( it’s been a month and half since his original oath time and he still hasn’t got a new date yet

 

[itsmyid]

Does your home country allow's dual citizenship then you should get the final process of Canadian citizenship completed assuming that you have been working hard on it. This would mean you need to explore all possible options on how you can come and participate in the oath even if the date is moved or the location is A instead of location B. Prehapse the travel is for a day or two. Once you get your citizenship and Canadian passport you can go back to you location of work and continue. The only challenge would be that you need to now declare tax's in your home country as well as Canada each financial year. Finally if in future you do decide to get back atleast you have the valid status to get back to Canada considering you are a Citizen.
Ultimately the decision to pursue the final step of oath is your's since you know your situation and circumstances better than anyone of us

And just consider yourself lucky that you got oath invite even when no longer living in Canada - tons of people have been waiting in Canada for more than a year and half to even get anything moving

 

[canvis2006]

1. Attend the oath ceremony and take few days off, go fly, do it and then leave Canada for good. Your new employer should understand that once u explain and take few days off. Tell em you'll make it up when u get back. Fly, rent hotel room, attend oath collect certificate and leave back.
You can always apply for Cdn passport in your home country at the nearest Cdn embassy/mission.

2. If you have a nationality from a western/developed country i don't thnk its a big issue if u dont become canadian. You'd always be able to get back here based on marriage/life with a canadian husband. Most people like it bcaz the Cdn passport is the main deal as it allows visafree access to lot of places or makes travel easier.

IRCC might not like or may delay your oath if u let them know you're no longer residing here permanently, so no need to tell unless asked.
Oath is finalization of the process so don't disturb bureaucracy