On Sept 1, 2024, my account got updated with fingerprint requirements, however I have not received any email yet.
Why was I requested for biometrics? I wanted to ask if biometrics are requested on random? Because I believe I did not answer any questions in my online application that would cause me to get biometrics request specifically.
Also, it clearly states on IRCC website that citizenship applicants or PRs are exempt from biometrics, then why was it requested?
Should I email them or call them? Please suggest.
I made an online application for citizenship and got my AOR in June 2024. My citizenship test now shows completed. My online account > application history says "we sent you a letter or email with instructions to submit your fingerprint" on Sept 1, 2024. But I have not received any email with instructions yet.
I want to ask if it is common for everyone to receive biometrics request OR is this random?
I don't think I have answered any of the questions in my online application that would cause this. For example, under Prohibitions section, everything was answered correctly as "NO".
It confuses me that if I go to this page
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/biometrics/who-needs-to-give.html#exemptions , it clearly states that existing permanent resident or citizenship applicants are exempt.
Should I email them? Was this done in error by them?
No cause to be confused:
From first result in search of IRCC website for "
fingerprints:"
Submitting your fingerprints for a citizenship application
. . . If we ask you to submit your fingerprints for citizenship, you’re responsible for paying all fees to have your fingerprints taken. Your fingerprints must be taken electronically in Canada through . . . bring your fingerprint request letter to . . .
From the guide for making a citizenship application, here,
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-0002-application-canadian-citizenship-under-subsection-5-1-adults-18-years-older.html in Section 4 instructions for completing the application, for question 16, it states:
To make sure you’re not prohibited under the Citizenship Act, you may need to
- provide fingerprints and/or court documents
Not to mention many
HUNDREDS of posts in this forum, that is just the "
Citizenship" forum here, referencing fingerprints for citizenship, including scores and scores of posts specifically affirming that IRCC can and does request fingerprints from some (more than a few) citizenship applicants.
Not to mention how prominently reference is made to providing fingerprints in the results of any general internet search for fingerprints and Canadian citizenship, or biometrics and Canadian citizenship.
In contrast, for whatever reason one might search the IRCC website for "
biometrics" rather than "
fingerprints," when IRCC has requested a citizenship applicant provide "
fingerprints," even for the results to a search for "
biometrics," to get to the webpage cited and linked by the OP, which is about who needs to provide biometrics
with an application, one has to go down the list of results past numerous other links to IRCC webpages discussing biometrics, including those which state that "
We collect your biometrics so we can confirm your identity. This information is also used to help assess your application."
Among those citizenship applicants who are asked to submit fingerprints, "
why me?" is a very common response. It might be fair to say, as some do, only IRCC "
knows," but we know it is about confirming the applicant's identity, and in the context of processing citizenship applications it is typically to verify there are no prohibitions given the extent to which same/similar names often generate false-positive criminal record hits. But of course there are other potential reasons for verifying identity, ranging from those warranting a shrug to cases which involve more extensive background investigations . . . applicants at risk for extended probes into criminality or security related concerns generally know who they are and have an idea why, and should be able to forecast this would happen, even if they strenuously dispute there is cause for any such concerns.
Sure, IRCC's use of the term "
exempt" on the IRCC webpage (the PDI cited and linked by OP) about
who-needs-to-give biometrics is easily misunderstood if one overlooks, or does not grasp, that webpage is about who needs to give biometrics
WITH an application.
And sure, I do not know the precise language in the message sent to the OP, or the full content of it, but from what others, MANY others have shared, it readily appears the notice from IRCC is sufficient to clearly communicate the request in a manner that does NOT suggest it is in error.
"
Why me?" OK. But no, no cause to be confused.
In any event . . . obviously, both in terms of what makes sense, and as referenced and discussed at length in scores of threads in this forum, if in the course of any transaction with IRCC the processing agent or officer sees a need to verify an individual's identity, or to distinguish same/similar named persons with criminal history, among other reasons, IRCC can request a client (Canadian PRs as well as Foreign Nationals) to provide biometrics (fingerprints AND photo), or just request fingerprints in particular.
