well I live in a condo, but no one from the management team knew the person who signed for my package
October 11th 2017 - Citizenship Applicants under 3/5 rule
- Thread starter HamiltonApplicant
- Start date
I am going to take oath on 15th August in Montreal and traveling to Vancouver on 17th. Can I apply urgent passport from Vancouver if i have a confirmed ticket to outside Canada on 24th.
Good day everyone.
I’m new to this forum and read many of the information shared and found it very helpful.
We applied as a family of 4 and our status is as follows on ECAS:
We were also asked to consider not traveling during the near future.
We were not able to sense what will happen and the question mark was all over my face and I bet the officer saw it. Then he said “congratulations” several times and asked us to contact them by end of September if we don’t hear back from them before then.
Test was in Hamilton.
Currently, our application status remains to be “In Process”.
Is it likely that we would be requested to submit anything else or is this it and we are only awaiting a decision to be made? I was under the impression that decision is made on the spot during the interview (there and then) but now I am slightly confused.
Also, when decision is made on ECAS, does this mean it’s positive or these words can hold multiple meanings?
I check our status every day and can’t wait for an update. Does it normally take long?
Thanks
I’m new to this forum and read many of the information shared and found it very helpful.
We applied as a family of 4 and our status is as follows on ECAS:
- application recieves on Nov 28, 2017
- We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on January 24, 2018.
- We started processing your application on March 9, 2018.
- We sent you a notice on June 27, 2018 to appear and write the citizenship test on July 19, 2018.
- We recieved a call the next day telling us that the teta day will be pushed a week.
- We sent you a notice on June 28, 2018 to appear and write the citizenship test on July 25.
We were also asked to consider not traveling during the near future.
We were not able to sense what will happen and the question mark was all over my face and I bet the officer saw it. Then he said “congratulations” several times and asked us to contact them by end of September if we don’t hear back from them before then.
Test was in Hamilton.
Currently, our application status remains to be “In Process”.
Is it likely that we would be requested to submit anything else or is this it and we are only awaiting a decision to be made? I was under the impression that decision is made on the spot during the interview (there and then) but now I am slightly confused.
Also, when decision is made on ECAS, does this mean it’s positive or these words can hold multiple meanings?
I check our status every day and can’t wait for an update. Does it normally take long?
Thanks
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Only if your background checks are complete before the interview, then status changes to DM fairly quickly. Decision cannot be made until both background checks (security, criminality) are complete and test is passed. Your status should change to DM soon after BG checks are complete.
I think if IRCC needed any more documents (typically to support your physical presence claim), they would've requested them during the interview. Unless of-course, something pops up on your BG checks that requires further scrutiny, they could request something. But if you have a clean record, then nothing to worry about. Just a matter of time.
It's not possible for anyone to predict how long it could take. Just hang in there. Good luck
While the interviewer might be the Citizenship Officer who will make the decision to grant citizenship, or not grant citizenship, typically the interviewer is a processing agent. The processing agent takes notes and offers comments for the Citizenship Officer to review, along with the entire file.
Many times, maybe even most of the time (as in more than half of the time, but not nearly all the time), everything is in order and the processing agent conducting the interview is merely doing a perfunctory verification of the information, and the file is fully ready for a Citizenship Officer to give his or her stamp of approval, to make the formal decision to grant citizenship.
As others observed, that decision is dependent on all THREE background clearances (often referred to as "checks"), the GCMS, RCMP, and CSIS clearances, all clearing the applicant for the grant of citizenship. Typically, for routinely processed applications, and especially so for an application made at least six or eight months previously, odds are high that all the background clearances, including the RCMP criminality and CSIS security clearances, are completed. So, contrary to what is commonly misunderstood by many, delays in decision-making following the test/interview are NOT usually due to waiting for background clearances to be completed. They are most likely already completed.
However, for this or that reason, IRCC may request the RCMP or CSIS to provide an updated clearance (GCMS background check is done by IRCC, and is done every time there is any action taken on the file). There is no publicly shared information about if and when a further clearance will be required. Most of the usual reasons are rather easily discerned, such as GCMS showing a recent hit for a criminal charge . . . not necessarily for the applicant, but potentially for anyone with a name similar to the applicant. One example among scores.
While the referral to request an updated RCMP or CSIS clearance MAY be the reason there is some delay between the test/interview and when a formal Decision is Made, and despite call centre reps commonly explaining the delay is due to waiting for the clearances, ODDS are HIGH, in most cases, the wait is NOT about the RCMP or CSIS clearance.
However, since all that takes place behind closed curtains, out of the public view, we do not really know what the reason for waiting is. What we do know is that the timeline at this stage varies widely. And, currently, for more than a few it appears to trend significantly longer than the three months IRCC information suggests is routine. My sense is that it is usually about waiting in a queue for the Citizenship Officer to actually do the review/assessment and make the decision.
Which brings up this:
What "background check is still in process" means is vague. If you can recall and share the precise language the interviewer used, that could be helpful and would be appreciated.
This phrase itself does NOT necessarily refer to any of the formal background CLEARANCES, which again are:
-- GCMS (the most broad of the background clearances)
-- RCMP (criminality clearance)
-- CSIS (security clearance)
As I previously noted, for example, the GCMS background check or clearance is repeatedly done throughout the processing of the citizenship application. Last we knew, internal guidelines required a GCMS check be done each and every time any action is taken on the application. (I have discussed what the GCMS typically involves, and what it could involve in particular cases, in other topics.)
Otherwise, "background check" can be a reference to IRCC procedures for verifying any information in the application, and can simply be a reference to the process of evaluating and verifying the information provided, including address history and employment history. Waiting for "background checks" could be about waiting for a processing agent (or Citizenship Officer) to make further inquiries toward verifying information . . . this could be telephone calls or Internet searches, going into LinkedIn accounts or Canada411, contacting employers or doing GCMS queries about the applicant's disclosed employers (to see, for example, if the employer pops up as connected to a fraud case or as associated with a particular consultant targeted as involved in fraud . . . many, many variations are possible). The latter may have nothing to do with RCMP or CSIS checks.
Forum participants tend to focus on the RCMP and CSIS clearances as the sum and substance of what constitutes the "background check." I am not certain, but I have the strong impression that misses the mark, and misses it by a wide margin.
In any event . . . As others have observed, there is NO reliable way to forecast the timeline. You could receive notice when to attend the oath very soon . . . or NOT for months.
Leading to this:
Good clue. Nothing to worry about until late September. In the meantime, relax, check eCas yes (but twice a week, maybe three times, should suffice), watch for notices. Assuming you and family are qualified, and truthfully providing all the information requested, there should be NOTHING to worry about. Just a wait. And yes, many, many others are in wait mode.
Thank you so much dpenabill for your detailed response... very helpful..
Speaking of what he specifically said, it was “we are waiting for your background check to be completed”. When I asked him how long does that take, he said “it can be as quickly as I get back to my desk or much longer. I would be able to tell.”
As to our file, during the interview I noticed that we received “checks” on all the items there was on it.
I was wondering though, we had our PR cards renewed last year (we received the renewed once June 2017). Wouldn’t the PR renewal process involves background checks of the nature you mentioned in your response?
Anyways, as you correctly mentioned, since my family and I are truly qualified and did provide all the truthful data and information, all we need to do is wait.
Can’t deny that I can’t wait hear back from them since I see many ppl receiving their Decision on the spot or next day. This probably set my expectations high when I was headed to the interview and test below being that I would know the decision on the spot, hence my disappointment when we didn’t receive this response to date
I guess they wanted to make sure that I was in Canada .... So weird !!
Maybe it's because I currently live in states , the interviewer was asking so much about why I live in states
BTW you can obtain one from service Ontario
My sense is that a recent PR card renewal should, indeed, help the processing agent and Citizenship Officer assess the case and verify the applicants' information. However, there are many, many reasons why there is some additional inquiry or review in a particular applicant's case. For the qualified applicant I describe below, the reasons are largely incidental, not really important, beyond the applicant's control, and ultimately no big deal . . . even if those reasons mean the application goes into a queue for further evaluation after the test and interview, and thus causes some delay. There are many, many possible reasons, too many for applicants to attempt navigating around, and more than a few of the reasons can be tied to things the applicant never had any control over, like having a name similar to another client which triggers additional inquiry.
The reason may be a very minor reason and one that can be resolved in a very few minutes, BUT the application likely goes into a queue for someone to do whatever that matter requires, no matter how simple. The WAIT is almost always, mostly, about the queue, not the task itself.
It could be something as simple as reviewing the CBSA travel history. Which probably takes no more than a minute or three. But this could (I am speculating here) separate an applicant from the group of applicants whose file immediately goes to the Citizenship Officer with, in effect, a Full-Speed-Ahead recommendation from the processing agent, and instead goes into a group of applicants for whom some additional inquiry is necessary. The latter group going into respective queues for the particular inquiry to be made. (Some into a queue for a processing agent to generate a Finger Print request, say; others into a queue for a processing agent to request updated RCMP or CSIS clearances; others into a queue for further review of the applicant's CBSA travel history; others into a queue for further inquiry into specific background factors, like verifying the applicant's employment history, or simply doing some searching on the Internet for information about the applicant; among many other possibilities.
Even if the task itself only takes a very little time, the applicant encounters a delay while the application is in a queue waiting for that task to be done. And the latter, the queue, is where the additional weeks and months get added to the overall timeline.
THE MAIN THING; the QUALIFIED APPLICANT:
For qualified applicants who have properly, responsively, and truthfully provided information, and who appropriately respond to notices or requests in the process (including, for example, attending the test and interview as scheduled), applicants who can OBJECTIVELY, honestly say they know of NO reason why there should be a problem with their application, THERE IS NO REASON TO WORRY.
The applicant's role is to WAIT, watch for notices from IRCC, and respond accordingly. At this stage that most likely means waiting until you get notice when the oath is scheduled, and showing up, taking the oath, and then celebrating according to one's preferences.
BUT the timeline between the various steps in the process can and often will VARY, sometimes by quite a lot, often by several or even numerous months.
It is likely there are reasons why one applicant's timeline is longer than another's. BUT for the qualified applicant I described above, that is largely incidental. The difference is NOT, not usually (by a big margin), anything to worry about. It is often, probably, related to details, particular facts and circumstances, the applicant had little or NO control over, and even if it is related to matters the applicant did have control over (such as amount of buffer over the minimum presence), once the applicant has submitted the application the applicant no longer has control over those.
Other than qualifying for urgent processing, BOTTOM-LINE is that there is almost NOTHING an applicant can do to accelerate the process after the application has been submitted. If there are facts or circumstances which could trigger additional inquiries or examination, the applicant has NO control over that. It will take as long as it takes.
Of course, THERE ARE WAYS TO CAUSE THE PROCESS TO TAKE LONGER after the application has been submitted. Lots of ways. Move abroad soon after applying. Miss an appointment. Fail to promptly respond to requests. Fail to keep contact information current. Get arrested. Give odd, conflicting answers during the interview. Fail the test. Among many, many more.
As to this in particular:
Thank you for the clarification.
There is a great deal about what is done behind closed doors we do NOT KNOW. I do not know precisely what the processing agent meant in referring to "we are waiting for your background check to be completed.”
I do know that is NOT NECESSARILY a reference to the RCMP or CSIS clearances. My sense, a strong sense, is that this is often NOT about waiting for either a RCMP or CSIS clearance, that it is more likely this is NOT what the next step is waiting for . . . even though, in some cases, that is the reason.
I am fairly confident that there is widespread misunderstanding about how and when further "background" checks are actually a reason for further waiting, and that this is often more or less an EXCUSE, an easy explanation, while the in fact reason for continued waiting could be any in a wide, wide range of potential reasons, such as some I noted above.
In any event, "background check" is a very, very broad concept. Any further review of an applicant could be fairly characterized as a "background check." Again, I do not know what processing agents mean, exactly, when they use this language. I simply recognize it is very likely this does NOT mean further steps are waiting for a formal clearance from the RCMP or CSIS, in many cases, and perhaps in most cases.
All of which is mostly about understanding the process better, so as to have more realistic expectations and less anxiety. This information does not change what the applicant needs to do. With some exceptions (and those applicants almost always know who they are and why), what the applicant needs to do, again, is WAIT, wait and watch for notices from IRCC, and then respond accordingly. Which, again, in your case probably means waiting to get notice to attend the oath.
Hi dpenabill,
Thanks for the time to explain and clarify situations in detail.
I have been in process from November 25th, 2017 ( Application received at IRCC on 16th October). I called IRCC couple of months back and was informed that my file was in Mississauga, was all complete and should receive a test invite soon. I called them about two days back and was informed my file is now in scarborough. I live in Mississauga with a mississauga residential and postal address. I was informed that the background checks are complete on my file and the officer was working on residence clearance and my application looked good to be completed within the 12 months period.
On the residency obligations, I am self employed and travel a lot. At the time of application I had 1189 days of presence in canada. I have records of all entry stamps and also travelled country entry/exit stamps matching my absence calculator in the citizenship application. At the time of PR renewal, I was very close to my residency requirements and I had a lot of communication going back and forth with the officer handling my file. This led to every time I travelled after my PR renewal, I had to meet a immigration officer on my return to canada. This officer would confirm the days I was away and remind me of the residency obligations. Most officers seemed to understand my situation and informed me that this was just routine and after I receive my citizenship, I would not be flagged anymore on my entry to Canada.
With your experience, do you see my application being completed on time or do you see IRCC requesting for any additional proof that I should start working on. Would appreciate your kind advise.