Request for documents while outside Canada - help please!

[w3rlgn]

I just received this email from CIC. Subject is “Request for Documents”
The email states this:


From the assessment of your application, it is noted that you were/are outside of Canada. We require an
update on your current status.
If you have not returned to Canada, please provide us with an expected return date in order to facilitate your
citizenship processing.
If you have returned to Canada, please submit any proof such as travel itinerant, e-booking confirmation, flight
confirmation, boarding pass or a Canadian date stamp from your passport to show that you have returned to
Canada.
For any scanned documents you submit, please do the following:
Convert any scanned documents to PDF format.
Rename the PDF document with your last name and file number:
"LAST NAME - APPLICATION #".PDF
Please respond by replying to this email at (local office email address) by 2022-03-07
Thank you,
Citizenship Official
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Office: Surrey IRCC
____________________________________

Here is my issue:

I gave my citizenship test from outside Canada in December and have been stuck outside since I left Canada a year ago. Now the issue is, I don’t know when I can come back because the borders are closed where I am.

I am open to going back if they need me but can anyone explain 1) what I’m supposed to reply with 2) what they actually want and 3) if anyone else has received this.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Dreamlad]

This is so weird. Why didn't they just schedule oath for you? Just give them your expected return date. I gave them my expected return date before taking test but without any guarantee. Just give them a date.

 

[w3rlgn]

But the issue is that I don’t know when I’m coming back. Or even if. I’ve moved here because my partner needs me here for a few years to take care of his family. I can go back if it’s absolutely necessary for a short trip but then there’s no guarantee I can return to be reunited with my partner. So I don’t know what they want exactly from me.

 

[Dreamlad]

But the issue is that I don’t know when I’m coming back. Or even if. I’ve moved here because my partner needs me here for a few years to take care of his family. I can go back if it’s absolutely necessary for a short trip but then there’s no guarantee I can return to be reunited with my partner. So I don’t know what they want exactly from me.

You have to go back for oath ceremony which is required so either take oath as required or give up the application. When oath comes, you can always reschedule it. You have to decide.

 

[dpenabill]

But the issue is that I don’t know when I’m coming back. Or even if. I’ve moved here because my partner needs me here for a few years to take care of his family. I can go back if it’s absolutely necessary for a short trip but then there’s no guarantee I can return to be reunited with my partner. So I don’t know what they want exactly from me.

Many in this forum have the view that being outside Canada while a citizenship application is in process is not at all problematic. Many of those expressing that view seem to rely some, or a lot, on the fact that access to taking the knowledge of Canada test online while abroad illustrates or perhaps even reinforces this. Some seem to claim it proves there is no extra risk for applicants outside Canada after applying.

However, any follow-up reports here about taking the oath by those applicants who took the knowledge of Canada test online while outside Canada remain scarce, insufficient to support those views dismissing the RISK of problems.

For now it is apparent that at least in some local offices IRCC is not proceeding to schedule the oath for some or most, or perhaps all applicants known or perceived to be outside Canada. It is not clear whether this means those local offices are not going to the next step of approving the grant of citizenship (a prerequisite step to scheduling the oath) for such applicants.

What we do know is that if the applicant remains abroad so long that they fail to comply with the PR Residency Obligation before they actually take the oath, that will make them inadmissible and not eligible to take the oath. Current delays in processing are increasing the risk of this for more than a few who have relocated abroad after applying.

What has been apparent in the past, and my sense is this continues (although I have been berated for saying so), is that living abroad after applying increases the risk of RQ-related non-routine processing, which can delay the process and, in particular, delay being approved and scheduled for the oath.

Notwithstanding the fact that IRCC has been accommodating applicants abroad for purposes of the knowledge of Canada test, my guess, my fairly strong sense, is that living abroad after applying still triggers some concern if not suspicion, and that IRCC is generally not likely to be overly accommodating toward such applicants.

It probably comes down to returning to Canada in order to complete the process of being granted citizenship; for sure, for now anyway, you will need to come to Canada to take the oath.

 

[BogusApplicant]

This is causing concern.
I too will be in a similar situation that I've applied for citizenship in Jan 2022 (last month), but taking up a job in Seattle for 3 years starting in May 2022.
Expecting the ceremony by the end of the year and I was counting on the easy travel across the border.
Now it seems they will only schedule the ceremony if we are in Canada and that would pose immense challenges.

Also, legally I'm not sure if there is any requirement that you should be a current resident to obtain citizenship. The eligibility only talks about conditions that need to be met on the date of application.
Do we need to have PR status while taking Oath? Also believe the requirement to demonstrate intent to stay in Canada was removed a few years abck.

Any more recent experiences to share?

 

[Seym]

Also, legally I'm not sure if there is any requirement that you should be a current resident to obtain citizenship. The eligibility only talks about conditions that need to be met on the date of application.
Do we need to have PR status while taking Oath? Also believe the requirement to demonstrate intent to stay in Canada was removed a few years abck.

Only PRs are eligible to become citizen.
So yes, you need the PR status from the day you apply to the moment you pronounce your oath, and that includes respecting the PR residency requirements at all times.

Also, the intent to stay in Canada was scrapped a few years ago, but the fact that you stay outside the country can create logistical or procedural issues, as clarified by @dpenabill, even with no PR residency issues.

 

[BogusApplicant]

Only PRs are eligible to become citizen.
So yes, you need the PR status from the day you apply to the moment you pronounce your oath, and that includes respecting the PR residency requirements at all times.

Also, the intent to stay in Canada was scrapped a few years ago, but the fact that you stay outside the country can create logistical or procedural issues, as clarified by @dpenabill, even with no PR residency issues.

That means, technically, if I leave after submitting my application, the oath ceremony should complete within the next 3 years, provided I've stayed full 2 years before the application.
Also, my current ID documents that I submitted, like health card and drivers license will expire when I get to the interview. Can I use foreign identity documents at that time?

 

[CasioLottoMax]

That means, technically, if I leave after submitting my application, the oath ceremony should complete within the next 3 years, provided I've stayed full 2 years before the application.
Also, my current ID documents that I submitted, like health card and drivers license will expire when I get to the interview. Can I use foreign identity documents at that time?

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/canadian-citizenship/admininistration/identity/acceptable-documents-show-identity-applications.html

 

[americanidiot]

This is causing concern.
I too will be in a similar situation that I've applied for citizenship in Jan 2022 (last month), but taking up a job in Seattle for 3 years starting in May 2022.
Expecting the ceremony by the end of the year and I was counting on the easy travel across the border.
Now it seems they will only schedule the ceremony if we are in Canada and that would pose immense challenges.

Also, legally I'm not sure if there is any requirement that you should be a current resident to obtain citizenship. The eligibility only talks about conditions that need to be met on the date of application.
Do we need to have PR status while taking Oath? Also believe the requirement to demonstrate intent to stay in Canada was removed a few years abck.

Any more recent experiences to share?

Hate to be that person but is it really hard to get to Canada from Seattle for a couple of days to take the oath? The border has been open for a few months now and I myself have travelled to the States about 4 times since it opened.

 

[Seym]

Hate to be that person but is it really hard to get to Canada from Seattle for a couple of days to take the oath? The border has been open for a few months now and I myself have travelled to the States about 4 times since it opened.

That's not what he asked for.
Going back to Canada for the oath is easy, living outside Canada while the application is being processed for a long time (say a few years) would mean that the PR residency requirement (2 years in Canada out of the last 5 at all times) could come back to bite the applicant.

 

[americanidiot]

That's not what he asked for.
Going back to Canada for the oath is easy, living outside Canada while the application is being processed for a long time (say a few years) would mean that the PR residency requirement (2 years in Canada out of the last 5 at all times) could come back to bite the applicant.

Read again. He says

Now it seems they will only schedule the ceremony if we are in Canada and that would pose immense challenges.

 

[BogusApplicant]

Hate to be that person but is it really hard to get to Canada from Seattle for a couple of days to take the oath? The border has been open for a few months now and I myself have travelled to the States about 4 times since it opened.

Thanks for the response.
I can of course quite easily travel to Canada for scheduled appointments, for test or oath. But in the letter above, IRCC seem to not scheduling the oath unless otherwise the applicant proves he is in Canada.
If that is the case, I cannot leave my job and kids school to come to Canada, communicate I'm back, then they schedule the oath. A process which can take a month or two.

 

[CaBeaver]

I just received this email from CIC. Subject is “Request for Documents”
The email states this:


From the assessment of your application, it is noted that you were/are outside of Canada. We require an
update on your current status.
If you have not returned to Canada, please provide us with an expected return date in order to facilitate your
citizenship processing.
If you have returned to Canada, please submit any proof such as travel itinerant, e-booking confirmation, flight
confirmation, boarding pass or a Canadian date stamp from your passport to show that you have returned to
Canada.
For any scanned documents you submit, please do the following:
Convert any scanned documents to PDF format.
Rename the PDF document with your last name and file number:
"LAST NAME - APPLICATION #".PDF
Please respond by replying to this email at (local office email address) by 2022-03-07
Thank you,
Citizenship Official
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Office: Surrey IRCC
____________________________________

Here is my issue:

I gave my citizenship test from outside Canada in December and have been stuck outside since I left Canada a year ago. Now the issue is, I don’t know when I can come back because the borders are closed where I am.

I am open to going back if they need me but can anyone explain 1) what I’m supposed to reply with 2) what they actually want and 3) if anyone else has received this.

Thank you in advance!

I am afraid this means they will not proceed with your file unless you come back to Canada. Provide them with a return date but don't say you are not sure and see what happens.

 

[MrChazz]

I am afraid this means they will not proceed with your file unless you come back to Canada. Provide them with a return date but don't say you are not sure and see what happens.

That's what I too would do in such a case.

There does not seem to be a legal basis for them to stop processing your application. They themselves say that you are free to go out after filing and your application will still be processed. If it comes to the worst, the OP should get a lawyer to send then a stern note.