Proof of Citizenship Tracking thread?

[Going through]

Hi all,

I know there are many monthly tracker threads for those who are applying for Citizenship.

Are there any tracking threads for those who applied for Proof of Citizenship to compare notes with other members on processing times? Just curious as I would love to be able to get a better sense of the time line one should expect these days, since I'm assuming it's more of a streamlined process than those who applied for actual Citizenship in comparison.

In case you're curious:

Application sent from NY, USA.
Application for Proof of Citizenship (for minor child) received by IRCC on October 6th.
AOR on November 3rd.

Hoping to get a sense of the average wait time between AOR and IP, as I thought by now it would have at least moved into "In Processing".

Are there any sort of monthly threads for those who applied for Proof of Citizenship, not Citizenship in general?

 

[nyguy2]

Other than the disparate threads for applying for proof of citizenship by descent, no.

Adult and minor have the same form for proof of citizenship and the mailing address for the application is the same. There is likely no practical difference in processing time.

For my application over the summer it took 22 business days (30 days total incl. weekends and holidays) to go from AOR to in processing/approved (both happened on same day).

For my sibling's application in late September/October, it took 17 business days (24 days total) from AOR to approval.

Both of us are adults but the form and paperwork is essentially the same.

There's a possibility that your application got sent to program support, it happened to hawk39. Then all guarantees/estimates on processing time are off. He was notified of this, you may not have been (others looking for proof of citizenship have been sent to program support and were not sent a letter or email telling them such).

 

[Going through]

There's a possibility that your application got sent to program support, it happened to hawk39. Then all guarantees/estimates on processing time are off. He was notified of this, you may not have been (others looking for proof of citizenship have been sent to program support and were not sent a letter or email telling them such).

I'm hoping that's not what happened... although considering that it's now been 48 business days (not incl. weekends and holidays), I'm left to wonder.

 

[hawk39]

I'm hoping that's not what happened... although considering that it's now been 48 business days (not incl. weekends and holidays), I'm left to wonder.

No harm in contacting them to find out. I found out about my application being sent to Program Support after calling them, and asked to have the Notice Of Delay e-mailed to me for my own records. The influx of applications because of the passage of Bill C-6 may have slowed them down a bit if they process all types of citizenship applications together, rather than have separate departments for different types. My application is still "In Process" and it's been over 5 months, but at least I know it hasn't been lost.

 

[erica14]

The application for my daughter was received october 19 of last year received aor nov 18 but now still no update

 

[Going through]

No harm in contacting them to find out. I found out about my application being sent to Program Support after calling them, and asked to have the Notice Of Delay e-mailed to me for my own records. The influx of applications because of the passage of Bill C-6 may have slowed them down a bit if they process all types of citizenship applications together, rather than have separate departments for different types. My application is still "In Process" and it's been over 5 months, but at least I know it hasn't been lost.

I have thought about calling them using the "backdoor" method from the States...but I assumed that since I'm still under the 5-months time, they wouldn't tell me anything....but I suppose it is worth a try. I can't see why they would have moved it to Program Support since (I believe) based off of the checklist there would be no reason behind it, but yeah I'll call and find out nonetheless. Thanks!

 

[Going through]

The application for my daughter was received october 19 of last year received aor nov 18 but now still no update

Curious---did you send it from within Canada, or from elsewhere?

 

[erica14]

Curious---did you send it from within Canada, or from elsewhere?

outside us and canada

 

[Going through]

@hawk39 well just tried calling..

The recording asks what I applied for. If you applied for Proof of Canadian citizenship, press five. So I pressed 5. Then I was given choices. If your application number begins with EP, press 1. If E, press 2. S, press 3. G, press 4. H, press 5.

My daughter's application number begins with PR.

I chose option 1, but instead I got a recording saying they couldn't find my application and kept talking about Permanent Residency, thank you for calling, hung up on me. Called back and chose another option, same thing happened.

So I'm back to waiting except now I have no idea if I was given the wrong application number, or they are "putting through" her application as permanent resident instead of proof of citizenship (which is what is causing the In Process delay)....which makes me very nervous now.

 

[nyguy2]

So I'm back to waiting except now I have no idea if I was inadvertently given the wrong application number, or they are "putting through" her application as permanent resident instead of proof of citizenship (which is what is causing the In Process delay)....which makes me very nervous now.

Dan in wisconsin (that's his name on these forums) had the same trouble when he tried the backdoor (PR option not presented on phone menu) and my application for proof of citizenship (which was processed end-to-end in approximately two months) began with PR also, so did my brothers, and we (my brother and I) both got our certificate.

hawk39 might be able to speak to how he got to a human being from the phone tree.

Have you tried to check your status on the application from Canada.ca? After I got the AOR via email, I wasn't notified when my application was approved or when it was mailed. I had to check the tool myself to see those status updates.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-status.html

 

[Going through]

Have you tried to check your status on the application from Canada.ca? After I got the AOR via email, I wasn't notified when my application was approved or when it was mailed. I had to check the tool myself to see those status updates.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-status.html

I check that religiously to no avail Last update on that was that my AOR was sent in the first week of November.

 

[Going through]

Perhaps the "PR" is not given as an option because somehow it signifies the application was submitted from outside of Canada....another way to deter non-Canadian residents from calling, I guess, since they can't get through the computer recordings lol

I guess my only other option to find out if her application is in the dreaded Program Support will be to put my request for more info in writing ....

 

[Going through]

I wasn't notified when my application was approved or when it was mailed. I had to check the tool myself to see those status updates.

Were you notified on ECAS when your application moved to In Processing, though?

 

[nyguy2]

Perhaps the "PR" is not given as an option because somehow it signifies the application was submitted from outside of Canada....another way to deter non-Canadian residents from calling, I guess, since they can't get through the computer recordings lol

I guess my only other option to find out if her application is in the dreaded Program Support will be to put my request for more info in writing ....

I wouldn't sweat program support at this point, hawk39 had it reflect "in processing" on the tool and then called and found out later that it went to program support on that date.

AOR means someone opened the application and considered it complete from a document perspective.

Once it goes "in processing" then that means someone is going down this checklist. If you were Canadian and your daughter born outside Canada from Feb 15 1977 to present, the checklist is 3(1)(b) (section "before C-37" if she was born before 16 April 2009, and "After C-37" if born April 17 2009 or later). If you follow the questions asked on the checklist and you get all the way through the end of Section 4 without hitting a prompt that says "refer to program support", then most likely your application will not be sent to program support.

If any of the answers go to "refer file to program support"...then you can expect that to happen.

I think the relaxed eligibility for citizenship (via naturalization) in general has probably just increased the case load for the case centers, and that has probably slowed down other types of applications (like proof of citizenship).

Were you notified on ECAS when your application moved to In Processing, though?

Yes. This is how it reads. I would note per the link to the tool that the tool is updated in batch daily, so it's common to not see updates appear until the next day (example: The "started processing your application on August 25th" line showed up when I checked the status tool on August 26th).

We received your application for a citizenship certificate (proof of Canadian citizenship) on July 7, 2017.
We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s) on July 26, 2017.
We started processing your application on August 25, 2017.
We sent your citizenship certificate on August 30, 2017 to: 123 Main Street, Anytown, New york, United States of America, 12345-5678. If your certificate was sent to a Canadian embassy, high commission or consulate, you will be contacted when it arrives. Mailing times will vary by region and could take up to four months. If we have sent your certificate to the wrong address, please contact us.​

 

[Going through]

I wouldn't sweat program support at this point, hawk39 had it reflect "in processing" on the tool and then called and found out later that it went to program support on that date.

AOR means someone opened the application and considered it complete from a document perspective.

Once it goes "in processing" then that means someone is going down this checklist. If you were Canadian and your daughter born outside Canada from Feb 15 1977 to present, the checklist is 3(1)(b) (section "before C-37" if she was born before 16 April 2009, and "After C-37" if born April 17 2009 or later). If you follow the questions asked on the checklist and you get all the way through the end of Section 4 without hitting a prompt that says "refer to program support", then most likely your application will not be sent to program support.

If any of the answers go to "refer file to program support"...then you can expect that to happen.

I think the relaxed eligibility for citizenship (via naturalization) in general has probably just increased the case load for the case centers, and that has probably slowed down other types of applications (like proof of citizenship).


Yes. This is how it reads. I would note per the link to the tool that the tool is updated in batch daily, so it's common to not see updates appear until the next day (example: The "started processing your application on August 25th" line showed up when I checked the status tool on August 26th).

We received your application for a citizenship certificate (proof of Canadian citizenship) on July 7, 2017.
We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s) on July 26, 2017.
We started processing your application on August 25, 2017.
We sent your citizenship certificate on August 30, 2017 to: 123 Main Street, Anytown, New york, United States of America, 12345-5678. If your certificate was sent to a Canadian embassy, high commission or consulate, you will be contacted when it arrives. Mailing times will vary by region and could take up to four months. If we have sent your certificate to the wrong address, please contact us.​

Thank you *very* much for such a detailed and informative response. From my understanding in reading the checklist and how it pertains to the application I submitted, there would be no reason for Program Support...I was born in Canada in 1974 and moved to the US in 2004, she was born in the US in 2006, grandparents were Naturalized Canadians in 1969, no grandparent in foreign government employment, required certified documents sent, nothing *I* can think of that would make her application non-routine....I know there was a HUGE influx of applications this past year---guess it's just generic backlog these days.

I think my stress is more out of "there's no way to find out any information" just because I live in the US. If I were living in Canada, there'd be more resources available to find out real-time information since I could just call the call centre....it's more stressful when there is no option to get information at all (like those who can get info over the phone), especially since I cannot even call IRCC at all, now, it seems.

On an aside, wonder what IS the reason behind that? Just that they want to cut down on calls received daily, or....? It kinda blows my mind that there's no phone support given to people on the basis that they are in another country, not really complaining in a sense, just never understood why calls from other countries aren't welcomed by IRCC at all considering people in other countries are paying the same fees with whatever application type they are submitting. Ah, just venting as an "outsider" now!