I have a withdrawn charge back in 2018. I recently applied for citizenship. Will this be a problem? and what are the chances of me being grant citizenship with a withdrawn charge? I am also scheduled for a PI interview on tuesday, what questions do they usually ask? They are also asking me to send my fingerprints, would my withdrawn charge be affect this? thank you.
withdrawn charge
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Overall: should be OK. No problem.
Longer Explanation with nuances:
A withdrawn charge does NOT constitute a prohibition (a condition or event which precludes IRCC from granting citizenship). So that alone cannot be a reason for denying the application.
Information recently obtained from IRCC through an ATI request by @rajkamalmohanram indicates that IRCC has identified that approximately 50% of citizenship applicants require a Program Integrity interview (PI interview). So this is common, as in around one-half of all applicants will be subject to a PI interview. It warrants noting that prior to covid, and apart from measures taken to facilitate processing applications despite covid, ALL adult applicants, and all those over the age of 14, were previously subject to the PI interview. So this is normal, no cause for concern.
The fact there was a criminal charge, however, may still show up in your criminal history; if not in the name-record search (though it could still be there), it was probably noted during the RCMP criminality clearance. This MAY be why you received a finger print request, but many applicants are asked for finger prints for a variety of reasons. Reason why does not matter much. While finger print requests are not as common as the PI interview, they are still quite common. It is inconvenient but should not cause a problem.
Odds are high the court record as reflected in the RCMP database properly shows the disposition of the case where the charge was withdrawn. So, again, this should pose NO problems. But court records are not always properly recorded in the system, so there is some chance (low probability) that IRCC might need to verify the disposition of that case. That would be inconvenient, require obtaining and submitting a copy of the court's records showing the disposition, and thus cause some delay. BUT that still would NOT be anything that would preclude you being approved for and granted citizenship. Again, this is just a possibility, not what is likely.
