Jellodog

I'm now supposedly a Canadian citizen, having completed my oath of citizenshi. However, after 11 weeks I've not received my citizenship certificate, so I can't get a passport or prove that I'm a citizenship.

I know that IRCC can be slow, but I'm starting to suspect that something has gone wrong. This was the Montreal office. Has anybody else had to wait this long? I can't get through to an IRCC agent on the phone.

I wouldn't mind so much if they didn't insist that I destroy my PR card, so now I can't leave and legally re-enter Canada. Scary stuff!

What is the best way to try and resolve this? I'm guessing that I should just keep trying to get through to an agent.

christmasoompa

So presumably you did your oath virtually? Did you choose an electronic or paper certificate?

Jellodog

Yes, virtual oath.

I believe that I chose electronic. There is nothing in my IRCC account, I’ve never received an email and nothing has arrived in the post. I submitted my signed oath on the same day as my ceremony.

During my interview before the ceremony, the agent said I would receive my certificate within 4 or 5 business days. She told me this because I said I was nervous about destroying my PR card, since my parents in the UK are very elderly and could become Ill or pass away at any time.

christmasoompa

That is odd. I know this is probably obvious, but you have checked your junk/spam folder?

Jellodog

Nothing in my spam folder. I got an immediate automated response from CIC when I submitted my signed oath to them on August 15th, so everything seems to be working fine in terms of email.

My experience of the Montreal office prior to this is that they seem pretty slow to process things; but 11 weeks is very concerning in terms of leaving me without any travel documents like this. Something still seems off about this.

I have read elsehwere that it's best to try and contact the IRCC line around 8am if I want a chance of getting through to an agent, so I will try again tomorrow.

Jellodog

Resolved!

I will post here in case anybody else has the same issue.

Firstly, it is important to try and call the IRCC helpline very early in the day if you want to get through to an agent. I did this and finally got through. I also used the callback service, once I had my place in the queue.

So the issue turned out to be that my certificate had been issued, and buried in my email history was an email from the Registrar sent a week before my citizenship ceremony with certificate download instructions in it and an access code. This was sent out around the same time as my Notice to Appear. I really didn't expect this.

The access code and details were buried in a sea of text and maybe I had read it at the time, but I'm not sure. I was totally focussed on preparing for the oath of citizenship ceremony and thought that I would receive an email or letter after the ceremony. Yes, I've been stupid, but I really don't think they make this clear enough!

I also created an IRCC account and never received any messages within that. As far as I understand it, that account was never linked to the account created to download the certificate.

So anyway, I signed up again at https://portal-portail.apps.cic.gc.ca/signup?lang=en and used my invitation code and this time around it worked perfectly and I got access to my certificate which had been there all along.

The IRCC agent on the phone said that this confuses a lot of people and happens all the time.

Bucks_Family

Thanks for sharing, that's useful information to know.

Karen1203

Thank you so much for sharing, I took my Oath this week and thanks to you I just found my certificate!