Hello. My citizenship application is in process now and few months earlier I have moved outside of Canada. But Im ready to fly in for the test and oath at any time I'd be called. I do not want update CIC with the fact that I've left the country as it will lead them to delay invitation to test and wait untill I move back which will not happen in nearest future. If I continue keeping my last Canadian home address on my file , won't it be considered like misprisentation? Of course on the interview itself I'll tell all the trouth about my current place of living , but I just want to be called for this interview first
Thank you in advance.
If you are living outside Canada now, your residential address (the address where you actually live) has changed. It is a misrepresentation by omission if an applicant fails to timely notify IRCC of any changes in the information provided in the application. So, yes, of course, this could be considered misrepresentation.
Will you get caught? Will IRCC pursue formal misrepresentation proceedings if it discovers the failure to timely give notice of the change? Maybe. Maybe not.
Odds are probably high that the worst case scenario, in practice, is being denied citizenship with a prohibition for five years. No impact on PR. No criminal charges (thus no jail for example). And while this could happen, even this is not all that likely.
Odds are probably better that even if IRCC identifies this, the only impact will be on IRCC's perception of your credibility, possibly resulting in something like RQ and, as you are aware it appears, some delays in processing your application. Odds are even more in this direction and not in the serious consequences (outright denial on grounds of misrepresentation) direction if, as you say, you admit to the interviewer you have been concealing the fact you have moved abroad. (But is that really what you would do? I know, more likely an applicant in this situation will characterize it differently, that is not as an admission of concealing a material change in circumstances, but it is nonetheless what it is.)
It is very difficult to forecast to what extent IRCC is looking for indications an applicant is living abroad while the application is pending. It does not directly affect any of the qualifications for citizenship. Except for the short period of time in which the "intent to reside" requirement applied (from June 11, 2015 until Bill C-6 was adopted in June, 2017), it never had any direct effect on an applicant's qualifications. BUT historically it has been something CIC looked for (at least going back to when a Liberal government issued an OB specifying reasons-to-question-residency including looking for passport stamps which indicated the applicant had recently returned to Canada in time for the test and interview) and which has tended to trigger elevated scrutiny and delays. Which obviously you apprehend may still be the case. And while I do not know, I too suspect there are good reasons for your apprehension of this.
There are many indications scores of PRs applying for citizenship have done this without a problem. Which is to more or less acknowledge many get away with it.
Distinction between notice of travel outside Canada versus notifying IRCC information in the application has changed:
Do not confuse IRCC online information advising applicants to notify IRCC if they will be traveling abroad for more than two weeks, which is to alert applicants they need to do this so they do not miss important notices from IRCC. That is not equivalent to what is required by the applicant's verification in the signature box of the application, in which the applicant certifies he or she will notify IRCC of any material changes in the application. It is worth noting that the vast majority of information submitted in an application is historical, done, not subject to change. Address where the applicant actually resides is one of the few items of information in the application which can change. And, the applicant's signature certifies the applicant will notify IRCC if such information changes.
How an individual applicant approaches this is, of course, a very personal judgment for the applicant to make.
