Hello Fellow October applicants and my dear CanadaVisa forum fellows.
I had my oath ceremony today at the Glen Erin Citizenship and Immigration Office in Mississauga at 9 AM today.
Reached the venue at 8:45 am
Was asked to sign page 3 (consent form) that was given after my test (part of the Oath invitation letter) and stand in a line to enter the Oath Ceremony room.
Guests will be asked to sit either to the far left or far right of the room while the applicants will be seated in the middle.
As you enter the room, your invite and PR card needs to be shown to the officer validating your presence at the venue. On successful identification, officer will put in a serial number on your oath invite which is nothing but the seat # that is reserved for you to be seated.
Once everyone is seated, a video will be played about Canada and Canadian heritage. Goosebumps.
After the video, Citizenship administrator / Jr Judge will debrief you on the process of the oath ceremony and what is going to happen through the next 2 hrs.
Once the administrator announces the arrival of judge into the room and says "Rise", everyone must stand up and then follows the Judge into the room after which you will be asked to be seated.
Judge Congratulates everyone for having reached this stage and explains the importance and value of Canadian citizenship with a bit of their own experience of being Canadian Citizens and how they valued it.
Then time for the reciting the Oath of Allegiance to the Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Canada.
Then comes the most exciting part, starting the right most first row, names are called and people go in the same order to receive their Citizenship Certificate and a handshake with the Judge and also the Chief Guest which in my case is the MP of the Mississauga East - Cooksville constituency.
While you walk away from the Judge after receiving the citizenship certificate, you walk towards the cic administrator / officer and sign twice on a form (once for acknowledging you haven't been charged with any offense from the time of application to the time of oath and second one reaffirming the oath and allegiance to queen).
While your face glows like a 1000W bulb looking at the citizenship certificate, in comes the moment where the Judge makes everyone chant/sing/hum the Canadian National Anthem "O Canada" followed by a special notes from guest of honor.
Finally the Citizenship Ceremony concludes with the Administrator advising everyone to wait for at least 2 business days before applying for passport(as the data needs to be transferred from CIC Canada to Passport Canada) and not to use the citizenship certificate for a travel document.
Then paves for the way for everyone to take a moment and have pictures with the Judge and Guest of Honor.
It was emotional, exciting and in part mixed feelings moments for me personally as I am now Proudly Canadian Citizen ;D ;D ;D but also feel sad about losing my Indian Citizenship
...(well not so much as i know nothing will change in me being an Indo-Canadian except for the fact that i wouldn't have my Indian passport)
Well...Thats my story of being a Canadian Citizen....I wish the rest of the fellow members a speedy processing and a happy ending.
Good luck to each and every one of you.
I am always available to answer any questions for you(within my capacity)
Cheers,
Srini
