ERJOPA said:
With the changes on June 11th, and more current applicants getting processed, would there still be a possibility that some applicants would take the test and the oath on the same day?
In previous topics in the forum, it was raised that applicants who have to travel a good amount of distance for their test would be considered for same day oath taking. I would count myself in that category being that where I live in Alberta is a good 2 1/2 hour drive to Edmonton when I get the letter for the test.
However, I am hoping not to have the same day oath as most of my Family (kids, grandkids, in-laws, special friends) live in Calgary, and they has expressed interest in being at my side when I take my oath. A same day oath would make it impossible for them to travel in an express manner to Edmonton on short notice.
My wife will be with me no matter what happens.
But- if I am asked to take the oath on the same day, so be it.
So, anyone heard if same day oath and test still exists?
The June 11 changes probably have little influence over local office practices in scheduling test/interviews and oath ceremonies.
One of the reasons for same-day test and oath scheduling, or for scheduling these close together (my oath was scheduled for the second morning after my interview; all such oath scheduling is, of course, contingent on the outcome of test and interview), has been to accelerate the number of applications concluded. The backlog which motivated this has been decreased and is further decreasing, so this reason for such scheduling is probably disappearing.
There are other situations and reasons, however, which underly the practice of same-day, or close-together scheduling in various local offices. For example, my experience was with itinerant services and the proximity scheduling was largely for the convenience of the CJ and CIC personnel who travel over a thousand km for events scheduled here. As you allude to, accommodation may be made as well for applicants who must travel long distances to the venue where these are scheduled.
Many times (as it was for me) the scheduled oath appears in eCas but the formal notice itself is not delivered until the end of the interview or after the test. Thus, while I had less than 48 hours actual notice in writing, at or around (it was more than a year ago now, so the precise details are a bit fuzzy in my memory) the time I learned when the interview would be (I was test exempt) I also learned the date of the oath in eCas, not the time or address, just the date. I have seen, in contrast, other reports by individuals who were advised they "could" take the oath the same day, some advised of a day within the week, with
no prior indication the oath would be scheduled so soon. In these latter situations, the reports indicated that there was no problem at all in declining the more immediate date in favour of being formally noticed for a later scheduled date (but to what extent this resulted in a significant wait was not clear).
Overall, the relationship between test/interview date and date scheduled for the oath is largely (if not almost entirely) is rooted in local office policy and practice, and so far as I have seen there is no clear pattern even in Alberta or Montreal (the two locations which seem to have had more reports of same day test and oath scheduling).
All that said, moreover, many venues for the oath will only accommodate a limited number of spectators and thus accompanying family or friends may be limited. Was not the case for here, but there were only 52 of us scheduled for the oath and the venue was quite large (with lots of standing room beyond the seating). Other participants from Alberta should have reported their oath experiences in many topics, so it may be worth your while to go digging through back pages looking for those.
