Oath on Monday, Trip to US on Friday - will Priority Passport App Complete?

[alienangel]

So I've had a trip to the US planned for a while (and I have a valid US visa in a valid non-Canadian passport so that's not the issue). I had my Citizenship test just over a week ago, and wasn't expecting the Oath to be terribly soon, but it has been scheduled for the Monday before my Friday trip.

As I understand it, when they administer the Oath, they'll take away my PR card, and give me a Citizenship Certificate. So my questions are:

1. How much difficulty will US Border/Customers Personnel raise about my trying to travel without a PR, but with a Citizenship Certificate (note that I do have a valid non-US/non-Canadian passport with a valid US visa).

2. How difficult will it be to return to Canada after a few days with just the Citizenship Certificate (and Ontario Driver's License etc)?

3. How likely is it that if I apply for an Urgent passport through Passport Canada, they'll be able to process it in time? I see if you're wiling to pay $110 and go to the passport office in person, they say they can process it in 24 hours. But I'm not sure if Oath on Monday and trip on Friday leaves enough time for that - supposedly they tell you to wait 2-3 days after the Oath before applying for a passport?

I'll try calling CIC tomorrow to ask this stuff too, and if I can reschedule the Oath (I really don't want to delay it 60 days though), but if anyone has experience with any of the above situations, it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[torontonian2003]

Read this thread from another forum contributor who recently requested an urgent passport request shortly after taking oath:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/urgent-passport-after-oath-t190090.30.html

 

[alienangel]

Thanks torontonian2003, that's a useful thread! I'll start looking into this Guarantor and references stuff to make sure I can have them available Tuesday if this is an option.

Still curious to know if anyone has answers to the other questions if this falls through though - re: crossing the border with just a Citizenship Certificate.

 

[bangloboy]

Thanks torontonian2003, that's a useful thread! I'll start looking into this Guarantor and references stuff to make sure I can have them available Tuesday if this is an option.

Still curious to know if anyone has answers to the other questions if this falls through though - re: crossing the border with just a Citizenship Certificate.

No you cannot. Cit Cert is NOT a valid travel document. As stated in my experience I was travelling by air and had ticket etc. you have plenty if time though, you can apply by Wednesday and then do urgent processing and receive your passport max by Thursday to travel for Friday. I had oath on Wednesday and needed to travel by Friday. You should be fine but I would go with the $110 urgent process option - they had mine ready same day!

 

[alienangel]

Thanks Bangoboy!

It looks like I'm actually travelling on Thursday, which should still be possible if they give me the same "within 24 hours of Oath" treatment you got. Did you tell the Citizenship office about your urgency before your oath, or after?

Potential complications I'm still worried about:

1. You actually had an emergency you needed to travel for, mine isn't an emergency. I really don't want to cancel the trip though.

2. I'm driving across the border instead of flying, but can produce tickets for the events I'm going for, and hotel/train receipts already bought for use within the States

3. Apparently the Wednesday is Vimy Ridge Day (April 9th), hopefully the Passport office stays open for that

Grats again on completing your process! Exciting end to it all

 

[bangloboy]

my experience is explained in detail in the thread. As always being in the system is the most important. Good luck

 

[alienangel]

Just to update this since the info should be useful to anyone else in the situation described in the initial post:

1. Have non-canadian Passport with VISA
2. Losing PR card before travelling due to taking Citizenship Oath.

The summary is that YES you can both travel and return to Canada in this situation, although the latter may be complicated if you are returning to Canada by Air (driving across the border on the other hand is easy). You only need your Citizenship Certificate to prove your right to return to Canada.

Details:

So I ended up calling the Citizenship Office. According to them as long as I have a valid non-Canadian passport to travel on, travelling is not an issue, and returning to Canada is fine with just a Citizenship Certificate. They directed me to CBP to confirm though, since their response was just based on talking to their superiors.

So I called CBP and they basically said the same thing. Travelling just depends on having a valid travel document, and if you had to get a visa in your non-canadian passport to travel when you were a PR, you already have that as your travel document. Crossing the border back into Canada just requires proof of Citizenship, and the Certificate of Citizenship you are given after taking your Oath is absolutely acceptable for this, and a standard process that the Border agents do regularly - she described this as "Entering by Rights". The CBP agent I was speaking to did say that if I can get a passport before travelling I should try though, since it's definitely going to be faster to cross the border both ways with a Canadian passport. The only catch is that this is for land crossings of the border - if you are flying back to Canada (I wasn't) this may be problematic since the checking will be done at the airport you leave from.

Just to round stuff out I called the US Border agency (forgot the name sorry) to confirm they had no issues, and they didn't care at all, as long as your non-Canadian passport lets you enter the US (via visa or otherwise) they will let you in/out.

And I called the Passport office for timelines, and they said the same things bangloboy said; try the day after your Oath, have your references and Guarantor available; pay for 24 hour service. You do NOT need to bring your Guarantor with you (although it doesn't hurt), they'll be calling your References and Guarantors to confirm. I asked if it mattered that my reason for travel wasn't "URGENT" (I'm going for a video-game convention, not a funeral or family illness), he said no, although it might if the Passport Office I go to is very busy that day.

So I lined all that stuff up, took the Oath on Monday, mentioned to the clerk that I was travelling on Thursday morning, and he said the expected "we recommend waiting 48 hours, but check tomorrow". So I went to the Passport office on Tuesday around 1pm, waited in line till around 2pm, showed them my US train tickets and asked for Urgent processing. They looked it over briefly, said they'd call my references and guarantor, and that I should come back on Wednesday afternoon to pick up the passport. They didn't ask why I was travelling or what the urgency was.

They called my references and guarantors around 5pm Tuesday, and today (Wednesday) I picked up the passport

All in all, very smooth and fast process, much less scary than it seemed when I first posted this. Thanks everyone for information and help!