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.
BIG TANGENT and LONG POSTS:
(Most will want to skip/scroll past this and the next post.)
Before responding directly to the queries (for my direct response to the queries, see next post), at the risk of being redundant, but to avoid the risks looming large otherwise, some contextual reminders seem warranted. More and more these days many are emphasizing how things have gone in their EXPERIENCE.
I apprehend there is way, way too much reliance on anecdotal reports. How it goes for one person ONLY illustrates ONE example about how it CAN GO. That does NOT necessarily illuminate how it SHOULD go. That does NOT necessarily illuminate how it WILL go. Absolutely does not illustrate how it will always go. It just illustrates ONE EXAMPLE of how it has gone for one person.
When there are numerous anecdotal reports about how things have gone which appear to be consistent, particularly in the absence of contrary reports, yes that is evidence indicating a greater likelihood that is how it will go for another person . . . but (1) NOT necessarily so, and most importantly (2) the inference is DEPENDENT on just how much the SAME the facts and circumstances are.
The facts and circumstances are NEVER absolutely the same for two different people. The problem is identifying if and when the differences are relevant and recognizing if and when the differences in facts and circumstances might result in a difference in how things go.
This forum is rife with excessive attention to and focus on a FEW specific similar facts and circumstances, leading to grossly unrealistic expectations and reliance on anecdotal experience.
To some extent there is good reason for this FOR MANY applicants. That is because the vast majority of applicants apply ONLY when they are in fact qualified, have at least a reasonable buffer of presence over the minimum, followed the instructions and submitted a complete and accurate application. So, for the vast majority of applicants, there is NO PROBLEM, no issues, no reason for concerns, no non-routine processing.
NO PROBLEMO.
Other than reminding those individuals there is NO reason to worry, NO reason to micro-manage the progress of their application through the process, I rarely post in response to what are, in effect, essentially FAQ type queries. There are numerous other conscientious and well-informed participants here who usually provide competent and timely commentary for those queries.
BUT WHEN THERE ARE REAL ISSUES, DIFFICULT SITUATIONS, the conventional wisdom, the standard answers, the FAQ responses, tend to not only fall short or go a bit wide, they can be way off, even outright erroneous.
EXAMPLE: For many years the conventional wisdom and oft given advice to PRs planning to apply for citizenship was that they needed to have and submit a copy of a valid passport with their citizenship application. Thus, if they had allowed their home country passport to expire, or lost it, or for some other reason did not have one, the standard advice given in this and other forums (and by the call centre as well) was to apply for and obtain a valid passport before applying for citizenship. THIS TURNED OUT TO BE VERY BAD ADVICE FOR
SOME PRs. For PR-refugees in particular. For them, obtaining a home country passport automatically establishes a presumption that they have reavailed themselves of home country protection, which is grounds for cessation of protected person status. As of December 2012, cessation of protected person status automatically terminates PR status and thus renders these individuals both INELIGIBLE for citizenship and potentially subject to deportation. (And, this applied even if the act deemed reavailment occurred PRIOR to the change in law in December 2012; prior to December 2012, once the refugee became a PR they were a PR like any other PR, only subject to the same obligations as other PRs, and cessation of protected person status had no impact on their PR status.)
Which is to say, many came to a forum like this and asked a simple question: "
should I have a valid passport when I apply for citizenship?" And, the simple answer almost universally given was: "
yes, you need a valid passport when you apply."
And for some who followed this advice, for those who became a PR through the refugee-class, that was a totally, absolutely WRONG answer.
And a thousand forum posts in the form "
I renewed my home country passport before applying and all went well" were probably true, BUT when it was further opined, in those posts, that this is thus the right way to go about it, they were giving very BAD advice to some prospective citizenship applicants. Advice which could not only make someone ineligible for citizenship, but potentially exposing them to deportation.
This may seem like an unusual or unique example. IT IS NOT. While this is one example applicable to a particular, less than majority percentage of citizenship applicants, there are scores of situations in which the conventional wisdom and, especially, individual anecdotal experience, fails to identify a potentially serious pitfall or outright mistake.
All that is to highlight and emphasize how important it is to understand NOT only that I personally am NOT an expert, but that even someone who is an expert SHOULD NOT be giving personal advice in a forum like this.
Leading to this:
REMINDER: I am NOT qualified to offer personal advice. For multiple reasons, including practical reasons, not just technical or formal reasons.
In particular,
I am NOT an expert. Not by a long shot. Sure, I make a concerted effort to do the homework, be informed, and make observations based on careful reasoning, which is obviously going to stand in stark contrast to streams of myopic, narcissistic, and anecdotal-rooted commentary which tends to be rife in forums such as this (along with the usual
troll and
bot tripe). But this does NOT make me an expert and there should be no confusion about that. It warrants remembering, too, that I get some things wrong, and in the past I have gotten some things very wrong (back in 2012, for example, I way underestimated how much chaos OB 407 was going to cause, and in turn underestimated the impact on processing timelines, by about a YEAR).
One of the main reasons why no one, including me, and including any experts, should be offering personal advice in a forum like this, has to do with how complex the individual case can be. Many cases are simple. No expertise necessary. But even being able to distinguish which cases are complex from those which merely appear to be simple is a complicated and oft times difficult task dependent on a large array of variable factors.
To put this in perspective, the expertise of an immigration and citizenship lawyer is NOT the most important reason for going to a lawyer for advice. The most important reason for going to a lawyer is that in a confidential-communication setting the lawyer can examine and consider the facts and circumstances in-depth, and apply his or her expertise to not just opine on the issues or concerns the client raises, but to fully consider many facets of the case and to in particular do what all good lawyers do almost instinctively: engage in issue-identification. Recognizing and identifying potential pitfalls is crucial.
Ultimately: if an applicant needs personal advice about their application, they should consult with an appropriately qualified, competent LAWYER.
Most applicants, most by a big margin, Do Not need such advice. But for those who do, they should NOT rely on what I post or what anyone posts in a forum like this.
The point of all the above is twofold:
First, it should be reassuring for the vast majority of applicants. They really have no need to worry. No need to micro-manage the progress of their application. RELAX. WAIT. WATCH FOR NOTICE from IRCC. And RESPOND accordingly.
Second, if there is reason to worry, or there is some complicating developments in processing the application, this forum can provide a lot of information, some heads-up and beware observations, some illuminating commentary or even insightful analysis BUT IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOT RELY ON WHAT IS POSTED HERE, not on what I post, not on what anyone else posts . . . use what is here to help do the homework but always verify information and ultimately the individual must depend on his or her own reasoning and judgment UNLESS a licensed LAWYER is consulted.
