dave_j

It appears to be a sad fact of life that the rate of progress for any individual application obeys few rules if any.

Our timeline is to date:
Application sent Nov 2017
Application Received January 3, 2018
Application acknowledged February 8, 2018. (Booklet not received)
In Process April 3, 2018.
Fingerprints requested May 30, 2018
Invitation to Appear sent August 28, 2018 to appear on September 12, 2018
Appeared September 12, 2018
31 Jan 2019 invitation to take oath on 20 Feb 2019.

Nearly there and managed to stay alive long enough.....

MrHyperPants

I did my finger printing through them. Did it in Surrey though, as it was closer to where I was working on that day.

They told me to call the IRCC after two weeks, to see if they received the finger prints. My application hasn't moved forward for 2 months. I just tried calling IRCC just to make sure they have received them, but the line hang up on me and told me to try again due to been busy. The voice messages said to wait at least 6 months before contacting IRCC if you haven't heard from them on your application.

I best apply for a new PR card, as I can see that's gonna expire before my application goes any further. Those that get asked for something seem to go the quoted time of processing (12 months).

​​​​​​I'll just have to play the waiting game then.

james.mc

Check my recently updated signature file below for timeline to citizenship. Over 55, so no citizenship test, fingerprints or interview required. Applied and straight to Citizenship oath (in Victoria) as shown below.

Talking to one of the staff at the ceremony I was advised that in certain cases they are dropping any interview requirement from the process. Her words, not my expectation. Not sure if this is a new thing, but though it worth mentioning in any case.

beckiwoo

Could you upload a document online to show you had got the fingerprints done (a bit like the placeholder for the proof of medical you do for PR?).

For me it sounds better to get the fingerprints sent to your address and then send them via courier to the IRCC office (I don't know if you send to the local office that is process your application or Nova Scotia). I don't know if that is an option or if RCMP have to send it direct to IRCC

really annoying they cant confirm receipt of fingerprints on your status when you log in

dave_j

As I said in my last post, there appear to be few rules if any. We also over 55 but fingerprints and interviews required, but pleased for you and any who follow.
For those who wait and worry, I'll advise not to fret overmuch.
The wheels of officialdom rotate slowly and sometimes they stop completely but they do apparently start up again. Sometimes they slip a gear and jump from first to third for no reason all.
It really is a strange system they operate where the only rule of note is that there are no rules......

roflwell

Application 'In Process' as of January 15th.
Got a request for fingerprints today (dated February 1st). While originally a bit concerning, this seems to be a common request now (and I have a ridiculously common name) so I'm now less concerned...

Weirdly, they apparently sent me a 'Discover Canada' study book in December... but that's apparently disappeared into Canada Post Hell

mush77

Siouxie

You can read it online, have the audio version playing or download the book.. or as mush77 mentioned, order a new copy!
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...er-canada.html

beckiwoo

sean75

Update!

1. We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on May 22, 2018.
2. We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on July 26, 2018.
3. We started processing your application on August 15, 2018.
4. We sent you correspondence on September 12, 2018. [This was for fingerprints. Took almost a month to get the appointment, then a couple of weeks to receive the results and submit them, so an approx. six-week delay for this stage.]
5. We sent you a notice on November 14, 2018 to appear and write the citizenship test on December 13, 2018.

I just now received an invitation to take the oath on March 12.

dave_j

An observation.
It happens more often than we'd like. You have your flight booked, you've checked in, you're in the departure lounge and.... the loading time arrives and... you start looking around. There are attendants there, they're chatting among themselves and ignoring the few hundred sitting quietly waiting.
An hour passes, and an announcement tells you that the flight's delayed, apparently an engine has fallen off the airplane.
So what annoys you most?
Is it the fact that the plane wasn't airworthy?
Is it the screaming 3 year-old whose lost it in the seat next to you?
Is it the fact that the loo is on the other side of the lounge door?
None of these.
It's the fact that nobody, nobody has taken the trouble to tell you what's really happening.
It's the attitude of those that know who don't consider it's their business to let you in on the big secret.
It's called communication, and it's the lack of it that really gets up my nose because it's communication that eases stress and allows you to believe that someone out there considers you important enough to actually let you know what's going on.
So what has this rant got to do with Citizenship?
Consider my timeline:
Application sent Nov 2017, Received January 3, 2018, Acknowledged February 8, 2018. In Process April 3, 2018, Fingerprints May 30, 2018, Invitation August 28, 2018, Appear September 12, 2018, Decision October 12, 2018, Oath Invitation Jan 2019, Oath 20 Feb 2019.
There are a few times when I would have liked some simple tidbits.
We sent our original documents requiring a signature. Apparently IRCC don't do that so we never actually knew whether the documents had arrived safely. Canada Post tracking suggested that it had and of course Canada Post never make mistakes so that was ok.
So we knew in January that the docs were there.. but it would have been nice to have seen a notice like, "Docs received, we'll review these and if you don't hear from us then we'll let you know when we'll start processing". Instead we observed a description of what IRCC had done, not what they would do next and it's this anticipation that raises stress levels.
So many, like myself, were asked for fingerprints, but no information was given as to why or whether this was simply a normal request. Imagine you're not familiar with this site and you're asked for fingerprints, well no doubt it'd be time to reach for yet another bottle of scotch.
So I received a notice that a decision was made in October. I didn't know what this meant. Did this mean I'd been rejected or did it mean I'd been approved? Would it have been too much trouble to have replaced 'Decision Made' with 'Application Approved'?
After that I heard... Nothing. Nothing for 3 months. Would it have been too much trouble to have indicated what would happen next? Would it have been too much trouble to have communicated something like "Don't worry if you don't hear anything for a few months, that's completely normal"?
Anyone with a computer looks online to see what's happening to others. They see others who applied after they did happily displaying their new citizenship documents while you're waiting, waiting for IRCC to get around to moving your application from one pile to another and triggering one of their skimpy announcements.
It's a lack of communication in general that annoys me. My application wasn't the first to have been made. There will have been a wealth of experience available to IRCC that will associate any application with the process. Dissemination of some of this valuable information to the applicant would ease so much worry.
Just let us know what's going on, it ain't so hard really, just think about it.
Rant over.

jamesmc

yup wife said the cic worker said the same when she took her paperwork in …..I timed her less than 2minutes in office....1 hr wait for surname letter to come up lol

dave_j

Well we finally have our citizenship and took the oath in Surrey BC. For others who might need to visit this office you should note that parking is limited since what used to be the Skytrain parking area is now/still a building site. On the two occasions we visited we found public parking space at the CRA parking area off 134st. You can find free parking elsewhere if you can be sure you're total visit time won't exceed 2 hours. If you can travel by Skytrain then the office is next door to the King George Skytrain station. If you, like us, arrive early then Timmies is just around the corner, a welcome warm haven when the temperature is in the blue zone.
So as a canadian I'm now able to speak french fluently and drive like a maniac.
Our final timeline was:
Application sent Nov 2017, Application Received January 3, 2018
Application acknowledged February 8, 2018. (Booklet not received), In Process April 3, 2018.
Fingerprints requested May 30, 2018
Invitation to Appear sent August 28, 2018 to appear on September 12, 2018. Appeared September 12, 2018
31 Jan 2019 invitation to take oath on 20 Feb 2019. Oath taken 20 Feb 2019.

vinegarboy

Congratulations to you. I was a fellow November 2017 applicant, and I became a citizen in September (so 10mos total). Being a rural applicant, I was able to request to have my file sent to a Regional Itinerant office (3hrs' drive away from me), and I was also luckily told by a call centre agent that I could even apply (based in my case on me being physically located 5hrs' drive-time from any permanent IRCC office), she kindly told me that I could also apply for a little-known IRCC program called "One Pass" processing, which (if granted by one's file's IRCC officer upon her/him considering one's circumstances and one's specific request for "One Pass" processing) means that one does one's citizenship Test, the Interview, & then the Oath all on the same day (yippee!), which is exactly what happened for me in my case. I then waited for ten days before submitting my passport application in-person, and I was holding my new passport in my hands exactly seven days after having submitted my application for one.

dave_j

It's at times like this that one appreciates the really useful snippits that the site has to offer.
So.. if any potential citizenship applicants are out there, and I imagine there are one or two, and they want to avail themselves of these little known IRCC offers then they should immediately move to Fort Conger, it's about as far away from any IRCC office that you can find. Applications from there will likely take no more than a few days to process, once Canada Post has commissioned the ice breaker to collect and arrange delivery and the ice has cleared. Processing time should fall within the twelve months that IRCC reckons applications take to process.
Those among us who appreciate the quieter life will probably grow to like Fort Conger, eventually.
It's located on the northern shore of Lady Franklin Bay in Grinnell Land, northeastern Ellesmere Island within Quttinirpaaq National Park. Though lacking in timber, the area is characterized by grasses and sedges. The surroundings are rugged and boast high cliffs around the harbour. Now uninhabited,[4] it is one of only a handful of previously manned stations in the Queen Elizabeth Islands.
So you see, there's scope for improvement of this rarely visited site, and I suspect that grants would be available for construction or renovation of the only three room dwelling you could find there.
As a new citizen, like those who now clutch at their hard won certificates, I was given a free Cultural Pass allowing me to visit out of the way places free of charge where I can shoot all manner of beasts, but I have to say that Fort Conger, lying as it does sufficiently far away from the equator to require head to toe thermal underwear at all times, promotes a new kind of challenge that us red blooded canadians love to grapple with. It's exemplified by this quote from Wikipedia.
During his 1899 expedition to reach the geographic North Pole, Robert Peary reached Fort Conger, only to have several toes snap off at the first joint because of frostbite.[6] Bedridden for weeks while recuperating, Peary wrote on a wall, Inveniam viam aut faciam ("I shall find a way or make one."),[7] the words Hannibal had allegedly said before crossing the Alps.
Peary wouldn't have been one to await 12 months for citizenship. He'd have grabbed destiny by both cajones in his two hands, if he'd any left of course after the frostbite, and might have declared Fort Conger to be a colony of the British Empire. had he been english. But having sacrificed so much I'm inclined to forgive his non-englishness . We might, even today be booking tours to visit Pearyland and eating pork pies and drinking flat beer from specially warmed barrels in the most northerly pub on the planet.