Hi everyone!

We are returning to the U.K after 3 wonderful years in Canada. We are sorry to leave, but have to as I was recently turned down for Teaching Certification. I was researched as far as to know that as a teacher, I would have to take some extra courses, but wasn't aware that school centred post grad certificates are not recognised at all here. I did apply for a B.Ed, as we were willing to put the time in to stay (we really love it here) and I was also told that my teaching experience would be taken into account once I've graduated but as places are so few at the U of Calgary, and no other college in the city offers the course, my 2.1 was not up to par and I was turned down for that too.

So we are retuning to the U.K but want to apply for citizenship as we have been here for 3 years. We will be selling the house here. I will return in the summer and my husband is thinking of putting the application in, staying for a few months to update the house and eventually selling it before he returns. Our 3 girls will return to the U.K with me.

We would be grateful for any advice from anyone who knows about applying for citizenship from outside the country.

Sorry for your misfortune.

Unfortunately there is no process for a PR to apply for citizenship from outside Canada

If you meet the required times right now your best bet is to apply while in Canada and use a friendly address who can check mail for test and ceremony dates, but it may not be practical to make the trip back for those given the short time frames they usually use to make sure that citizens are actually resident in Canada...

Hi Iaink!

Thanks for your prompt reply. My husband is going to begin the application in April when our 3 years are up while we are still here. I was going to return in the summer just so that I can start to work in schools from September as we need to think about finances, but he is going to stay for a few months after that, working and fixing the house up before he sells it. We do have friends here so we will definitely take your advice into consideration when the time comes for him to return. One of our friends, Steve, was only just granted citizenship after over a year waiting for a reply regarding his application so I'm not sure that it is a short frame.

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason so we are trying to stay positive about it all. Had I applied last year, my GPA would have fit the bill perfectly, but we weren't in Calgary then.

The short time frame is the amount of notice you get. Sometimes only a week or two to sit the test, which has to be sat in Canada. Then you wait for the result and a few months later get called in for the ceremony (in Canada), also possibly at short notice. It can take a year to complete, but you'd need to be prepared to drop everything and pay whatever air fares were necessary to get here in time to take the test on the given date.

If you have PR, get a job, any job, sit it out until you have citizenship then decide what to do.

Most in Calgary take the test and attend the ceremony the same day.

Not sure why BC is different then. We applied for our test, 6 weeks later got a weeks notice to sit it. The ceremony came 3 months later also at a weeks notice.

Its the two weeks notice or less to get here for the test and t hen later on the swearing in that is the short notice. Overall now a year is a fast turnaround for citizenship, but it does vary from office to office

I can confirm if your post is prompt you'll get 2 weeks notice for the test, and then at some point afterwards approx a month later two weeks notice by post of your oath ceremony. (Ontario GTA)

The CIC status web page is about 3 days behind the postal notice, this way you get the mail notice at the same time they update you on the web.

Trying to do this in the UK would most likely mean your get at best a week notice by mail, or if you follow progress on the web daily, two weeks notice at best.

Thanks all of you, for your great advice. It seems to me, that if we are here when the application goes in, and my husband is here for another year or so, we can make it work by, (if he hasn't heard anything by then), giving a friend's address and being prepared to come back at short notice.

We just received Citizenship in November. You have to show your passports (current and recently expired) at both the test and at the ceremony. This may flag up an issue with your residency if you are not already back living in Canada.

Our test and ceremony took 22 months from start to finish. The ceremony was 2 months after the test but that was in Nova Scotia.

We only got 10 days notice for test and the same again for the ceremony.

Have you thought about working in a preschool or as an educational assistant in a school until you can get your citizenship? Not as much money as teaching, I know, but your qualifications should be recognized for that and at least you'd still be in the country.

I did a PGCE in the UK and I also wouldn't want to jump through all the hoops of becoming a teacher here, but I did work in a preschool for a while. I also know of other UK ex-teachers, who presumably also have PGCEs rather thanBEds and they work as EAs in the local schools.

Ditto

Its not the lack of BEd thats the problem its the fact that most provinces don't recognise the GTP or SCITT program route to QTS in the UK.

It's true in other countries as well . I know that NZ don't accept the GTP

Can i ask why you would be applying for citizenship if you are moving back to the uk? Have i missed something?

presumably to retain the option of moving back at some point without having to maintain residence reqs. for PR