Honestly, this whole citizenship process can be frustrating with no transparency and accountability. I dont even know why my application got passed to MONTREAL when i leave and applied from Halifax. It has now passed one year now since i submitted my application and yet no end in sight, very frustrating. I have a family friend who applied in April 2022, he already taken Oath (interestingly I guided this person with his application), Also, I have another family who applied in August 2022, they are currently waiting on the queue for Oath ceremony.
This whole process used to be very easy and fast. My wife and kids got their citizenships back in early 2020 and the whole process was around 7 months (back in Calgary); in fact Edmonton office used to process applications in 6 months.
When i was submitting my application back in Jan 2022, I had intentional pushed all foreign travels till end of 2022/ early 2023,thinking that the whole process will take a max of 9-12 month, so i did not see any reason to renew my PR card (which expired in Feb 2021). I have been stuck in the country now for almost 2 years now with the inability to travel via flights as my PR card expired since Feb 2021. My last urgent travel was via the land border in August 2022. I was trying to avoid renewing my PR card but looks like i will have to now as i have a family summer vacation trip planned for August 2023 which requires flying. Also, now that covid is over, business trips are coming up and I cant use covid as excuses any more.