Question Regarding Language Requirement: Application for Citizenship

[karandas.p@gmail.com]

Hello All, Good Evening, I am in the process of applying for Canadian Citizenship.

I have a question concerning the proof of language requirement as part of the application for the same.
As per the application guide, the requirements are as follows (& I quote them):

"If you are 18 to 54 years old: Photocopies of your proof of English or French language ability. Examples of the types of language evidence that can be submitted include:
> results of a third-party language test diploma,
> certificate or transcripts from a secondary or post secondary education program in Canada or abroad, where the language of study was English or French
> proof that you have reached the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 4 or higher through a government funded language training programs
For more information visit “What documents can I use to prove that I meet the citizenship language requirement?”

On clicking the link at the end (For More Information), i am redirected to another web-page and eventually come upon the following verbiage:

You may send a transcript, diploma or certificate showing that you graduated from a secondary school or from a post-secondary program in Canada or abroad. These materials must show that the program was in English or French. A single course in an official language is not enough to meet this requirement.

(I graduated from an English-or French-language high school/college/university. What can I use to show that I can communicate in one of the official languages when I apply for citizenship? (cic.gc.ca) )

To this point, I had the following questions:
1. First, I have a degree certificate from York University (in Toronto Ontario) with my name, degree and month-year of completion along with the usual items such as institution name, stamp and signatures. Will this suffice as proof ? The concern I have is that the certificate nowhere states that the language was in English. Does that even matter since it is a verified Canadian Institution?

2. I also have the option of requesting for Transcripts, however, institutions only provide an unofficial copy to you for your records and only share official versions either digitally or via hard copy by directly sending them to designated recipients via a form or an online process. Do I need to designate CIC as the recipient and then York U will send over details to the Government body, or does it suffice that I use the unofficial transcripts that were handed over to me and include that as part of my application package?

Please advise,
Thank you,
KP

 

[ybjianada]

Hello All, Good Evening, I am in the process of applying for Canadian Citizenship.

I have a question concerning the proof of language requirement as part of the application for the same.
As per the application guide, the requirements are as follows (& I quote them):



On clicking the link at the end (For More Information), i am redirected to another web-page and eventually come upon the following verbiage:

(I graduated from an English-or French-language high school/college/university. What can I use to show that I can communicate in one of the official languages when I apply for citizenship? (cic.gc.ca) )

To this point, I had the following questions:
1. First, I have a degree certificate from York University (in Toronto Ontario) with my name, degree and month-year of completion along with the usual items such as institution name, stamp and signatures. Will this suffice as proof ? The concern I have is that the certificate nowhere states that the language was in English. Does that even matter since it is a verified Canadian Institution?

2. I also have the option of requesting for Transcripts, however, institutions only provide an unofficial copy to you for your records and only share official versions either digitally or via hard copy by directly sending them to designated recipients via a form or an online process. Do I need to designate CIC as the recipient and then York U will send over details to the Government body, or does it suffice that I use the unofficial transcripts that were handed over to me and include that as part of my application package?

Please advise,
Thank you,
KP

You really are overthinking it.
1) Yes, this suffices. You do not need to prove that York University is English-medium. Was your program not conducted in English?

 

[CaBeaver]

Hello All, Good Evening, I am in the process of applying for Canadian Citizenship.

I have a question concerning the proof of language requirement as part of the application for the same.
As per the application guide, the requirements are as follows (& I quote them):



On clicking the link at the end (For More Information), i am redirected to another web-page and eventually come upon the following verbiage:

(I graduated from an English-or French-language high school/college/university. What can I use to show that I can communicate in one of the official languages when I apply for citizenship? (cic.gc.ca) )

To this point, I had the following questions:
1. First, I have a degree certificate from York University (in Toronto Ontario) with my name, degree and month-year of completion along with the usual items such as institution name, stamp and signatures. Will this suffice as proof ? The concern I have is that the certificate nowhere states that the language was in English. Does that even matter since it is a verified Canadian Institution?

2. I also have the option of requesting for Transcripts, however, institutions only provide an unofficial copy to you for your records and only share official versions either digitally or via hard copy by directly sending them to designated recipients via a form or an online process. Do I need to designate CIC as the recipient and then York U will send over details to the Government body, or does it suffice that I use the unofficial transcripts that were handed over to me and include that as part of my application package?

Please advise,
Thank you,
KP

IRCC with all their incompetency will know that York University's instructing language is English since it's, well, in Canada. So, you don't have to prove anything. A copy of your certificate and/or transcripts should be fine. I sent original transcripts, but IRCC needs only copies. However, they may ask for originals later on during the interview (if conducted).

 

[shazahsan]

I had the same doubt when I applied, so to be on the safe side, I also requested a letter from my university's (University of Waterloo) registrar's office stating that my program was in English just to be sure. I sent them that letter as well as my official transcript in the paper application.

 

[ybjianada]

I had the same doubt when I applied, so to be on the safe side, I also requested a letter from my university's (University of Waterloo) registrar's office stating that my program was in English just to be sure. I sent them that letter as well as my official transcript in the paper application.

Face palm

 

[shazahsan]

Face palm

Lol, better safe than sorry when it comes to IRCC to be honest. I didn't want to have to risk a returned application.

 

[ybjianada]

Lol, better safe than sorry when it comes to IRCC to be honest. I didn't want to have to risk a returned application.

There is nothing LOL about this. If I were an IRCC officer, and see that someone has submitted a bunch of documents that are 1) not requested 2) unnecessary, I'd be very irritated.

People complain about IRCC, but lots of applicants are not making things easy for them by submitting a bunch of extraneous stuff. In this forum, I've seen posts asking about submitting employment records, CBSA records, etc in their citizenship applcation when clearly the official instructions do not require such documents.

Read the instructions and follow them, no more and no less. And exercise common sense.

 

[Themaful]

Hello All, Good Evening, I am in the process of applying for Canadian Citizenship.

I have a question concerning the proof of language requirement as part of the application for the same.
As per the application guide, the requirements are as follows (& I quote them):



On clicking the link at the end (For More Information), i am redirected to another web-page and eventually come upon the following verbiage:

(I graduated from an English-or French-language high school/college/university. What can I use to show that I can communicate in one of the official languages when I apply for citizenship? (cic.gc.ca) )

To this point, I had the following questions:
1. First, I have a degree certificate from York University (in Toronto Ontario) with my name, degree and month-year of completion along with the usual items such as institution name, stamp and signatures. Will this suffice as proof ? The concern I have is that the certificate nowhere states that the language was in English. Does that even matter since it is a verified Canadian Institution?

2. I also have the option of requesting for Transcripts, however, institutions only provide an unofficial copy to you for your records and only share official versions either digitally or via hard copy by directly sending them to designated recipients via a form or an online process. Do I need to designate CIC as the recipient and then York U will send over details to the Government body, or does it suffice that I use the unofficial transcripts that were handed over to me and include that as part of my application package?

Please advise,
Thank you,
KP

Hi,

Having a degree from York, you already passed the language requirement so no need for transcript or any other language proof. Hope this helps.

 

[justanotherguy28]

There is nothing LOL about this. If I were an IRCC officer, and see that someone has submitted a bunch of documents that are 1) not requested 2) unnecessary, I'd be very irritated.

People complain about IRCC, but lots of applicants are not making things easy for them by submitting a bunch of extraneous stuff. In this forum, I've seen posts asking about submitting employment records, CBSA records, etc in their citizenship applcation when clearly the official instructions do not require such documents.

Read the instructions and follow them, no more and no less. And exercise common sense.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is not what's bogging down the IRCC. In addition, they can ignore stuff they don't need, it's not really that hard.

If they're irritated by seeing an extra sheet of paper that says the instruction medium was English they shouldn't be working for an agency like the IRCC.

 

[ybjianada]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is not what's bogging down the IRCC (I didn't suggest that). In addition, they can ignore stuff they don't need, it's not really that hard (I believe they will still need to keep all submitted materials).

If they're irritated by seeing an extra sheet of paper that says the instruction medium was English they shouldn't be working for an agency like the IRCC. (I was not talking just about this particular problem. Imagine the officer having to deal with un-requested employment records, bank statements, lease agreements, etc. The bigger point I wanted to make is to follow the instructions and use common sense, something that will serve one well in in life, in general)

 

[justanotherguy28]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is not what's bogging down the IRCC (I didn't suggest that). In addition, they can ignore stuff they don't need, it's not really that hard (I believe they will still need to keep all submitted materials).

If they're irritated by seeing an extra sheet of paper that says the instruction medium was English they shouldn't be working for an agency like the IRCC. (I was not talking just about this particular problem. Imagine the officer having to deal with un-requested employment records, bank statements, lease agreements, etc. The bigger point I wanted to make is to follow the instructions and use common sense, something that will serve one well in in life, in general)

Yes, under certain conditions. Like if someone is cocooned in a government office for life. Because government services are mandatory and there is no competition, you can order around customers.

However, in a customer-centric approach, employees are expected to parse customer information to understand the data and intentions and use it accordingly. Doesn't matter whether you're an entry level worker or a CEO.

In any real customer-facing job, customers don't present their information neatly laid out on a velvet cloth. Even government officials outside bureaucrats fall under this category. If you're a frontline government servant like a cop or a CBP officer if you don't have a little bit of creativity or have a rigid take on life, it's going to be a very difficult environment to navigate.

The primary reason why Silicon Valley is able to create trillions of dollars in market cap in such a short period of time is because they're the most customer centric companies ever. They conquered pretty much entire world with it. Love em or hate em, you have to use em. That's also the right approach for life.

Not to mention, in this case, we're talking about an agency that has handled applications from practically every single country on earth. They have to expect a lot of diversity in applicants and applications. Also, IRCC's guides aren't always clear, for example, there are still multiple ways to interpret their police clearance requirements. So someone who needs their application processed without any delays is going to include that extra police certificate.
And they still haven't fixed the year-old bug that shows a day difference in residency calculation. People might want to write an explanation about that when they send in their application.

When you're filling out your application, you're scrambling your life into little textboxes and sending it to them. The adjudicating official is going to have to put it back together in her mind in a human understandable format because we don't think in terms of textboxes or any discrete data format. And if you think there is a situation of a possible gap or a misunderstanding it's not a bad idea to provide an additional document or an explanation.

There was a very recent post on an interview where the interviewing officer asked about a minor customs violation. If you don't provide any context in those situations, they could assume the worst.

I don't think many are sending leases but even if they do, it's not that difficult to store/skip documents in a document management system.

Also, broad statements like 'read and follow instructions will serve well in life' are least true today than at any other time in human history.

 

[shazahsan]

There is nothing LOL about this. If I were an IRCC officer, and see that someone has submitted a bunch of documents that are 1) not requested 2) unnecessary, I'd be very irritated.

People complain about IRCC, but lots of applicants are not making things easy for them by submitting a bunch of extraneous stuff. In this forum, I've seen posts asking about submitting employment records, CBSA records, etc in their citizenship applcation when clearly the official instructions do not require such documents.

Read the instructions and follow them, no more and no less. And exercise common sense.

I agree 100% and am also an advocate for sending only what is needed and not more. I know of many applicants who sent copies of their entire passport even when they only specifically ask for the biographical pages. I only sent what was needed. This was the one case where, as the OP mentioned, there was ambiguity because the requirements stated "these materials must show that the program was in English or French". Moreover, the university's registrar's office had a pre-listed format for the letter including the statement about English already as they know it is a commonly requested letter.
I'm just amazed at your holier-than-thou complex and arrogance, honestly. Thinking everyone else here is just plain stupid. I picked up on that vibe in your first message and added the "lol" to keep things light, but clearly you wanted to go the extra keyboard-warrior mile to make assumptions and rant. If you had seen any of the other conversations and messages I've posted on here you'd realize I strive to guide other fellow members as properly as possible, and I don't throw empty blame to IRCC much like many others do that you assumed I was a part of. We're on the same team here. And yes, I've seen posts on here where applicants have been RETURNED because only a transcript was provided without proof that the program was in English or French.

 

[shazahsan]

And while we're on the topic of general life advice, being arrogant and passive aggressive will also catch up to you in life. The objective of this forum is to help people out as best you can; where people who are struggling should be able to safely post questions without the fear of people like you discouraging them with sarcastic and passively aggressive responses.

 

[blueangel371115]

I have similar concerns. I have diplomas from an American high school and college. It's probably obvious that the instruction was in English and the diplomas are written in English. I'm hoping they aren't fussy because it doesn't literally state 'the instruction was in English'. I would think it can be assumed that a person who graduated from an American high school would have some proficiency in English. Or am I overthinking it?

 

[armoured]

I have similar concerns. I have diplomas from an American high school and college. It's probably obvious that the instruction was in English and the diplomas are written in English. I'm hoping they aren't fussy because it doesn't literally state 'the instruction was in English'. I would think it can be assumed that a person who graduated from an American high school would have some proficiency in English. Or am I overthinking it?

Yes, you're overthinking it, and you should be fine. It will be important for those who finished education in institutions where instruction is in English but 'local language' is not English (or unclear).