Forum member "deeha" has an interesting point of view regarding why the citizenship process is so long:
http://www.settlement.org/discuss/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16865
"Please note that the below is my assessment from various experiences, and is not necessarily a fact.
There has been a significant problem with immigration to Canada over the past decade. The Canadian population in 2000 was 30 million, and 34.5 million in 2011. Over the same period, 11 million births and 4 million deaths, and 3.3 million immigrants. With these numbers, it would be anticipated that the total population would increase by 10.5 million, whereas the population increased by only 4.5 million. The current federal government decided to delay applications intentionally for some applicants. This will filter the applicants to three categories:
1) those who plan to continue living here past citizenship will not really care about the 48 months hold.
2) those who left after the 1095 days, will most likely be denied citizenship, because according to the citizenship act, residency implies that ties have been established. Leaving after the 1095 is a proof that no ties were established.
3) those who plan to leave immediately after being granted citizenship will spend an additional 4 years working/spending/paying taxes, and with the longer wait, its likely that ties with their home countries are severed and ties in Canada are established.
In this day and age, it takes less than 30 minutes accessing various databases to verify residency, but the delay is intentional. My first child's birth certificate took 10 months of processing time in 2004 and it took 3 days in 2012. If there is a will to reduce processing delays, they can!
My recommendation from experience, forget about your applications and just wait for your turn. Unfortunately, right now, there is nothing that can be done.
Good luck!"
http://www.settlement.org/discuss/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16865
"Please note that the below is my assessment from various experiences, and is not necessarily a fact.
There has been a significant problem with immigration to Canada over the past decade. The Canadian population in 2000 was 30 million, and 34.5 million in 2011. Over the same period, 11 million births and 4 million deaths, and 3.3 million immigrants. With these numbers, it would be anticipated that the total population would increase by 10.5 million, whereas the population increased by only 4.5 million. The current federal government decided to delay applications intentionally for some applicants. This will filter the applicants to three categories:
1) those who plan to continue living here past citizenship will not really care about the 48 months hold.
2) those who left after the 1095 days, will most likely be denied citizenship, because according to the citizenship act, residency implies that ties have been established. Leaving after the 1095 is a proof that no ties were established.
3) those who plan to leave immediately after being granted citizenship will spend an additional 4 years working/spending/paying taxes, and with the longer wait, its likely that ties with their home countries are severed and ties in Canada are established.
In this day and age, it takes less than 30 minutes accessing various databases to verify residency, but the delay is intentional. My first child's birth certificate took 10 months of processing time in 2004 and it took 3 days in 2012. If there is a will to reduce processing delays, they can!
My recommendation from experience, forget about your applications and just wait for your turn. Unfortunately, right now, there is nothing that can be done.
Good luck!"