londonhatter

Sorry folks, I think that I may just be venting here, however I have become extremely frustrated with Citizenship and Immigration Canada recently and I just wonder if mine is an exceptional case or is this the norm.

I have been in Canada now since 2009 and have permanent residency with a spousal application as my wife is a Canadian Citizen.

Last year I realized that I had the appropriate number of days in Canada under my belt and so applied for Citizenship. Now I am a fairly patient guy and I realize that these things can take some time and so I sent the application and waited.

I waited quite some time but thats what I expected and was delighted in January this year to recieve a notice to appear for the Citizenship test. I studied hard for the test just to ensure that I passed. My estimate when I took the test was that I had 18 out of 20 questions correct and so handed my papers in.

I passed the test and went for the post test interview. The person giving the interview mentioned that they could not track my UK visits as the UK will not stamp my UK passport and so the process may take a little longer as they had to check Border Control for my crossings.

Thats all ok. Mostly what I expected, although slightly bemused as the original application form asks you for your permission to check with Canadian Border control for your crossings in and out of Canada to which I said 'Sure, no problem'.

Ok so this are going swimmingly well really, this is just a time thing and well, I have lots of time.

After this point is when things start to go a little odd.

I received a notice to send a color photocopy of each and every page of my passport with any non English/French stamps translated.

Ok I say, this is in response to firming up my entry and exits from Canada. A little odd as the requirement for a photocopy of every page of the passport is in the original Citizenship application. No problem though, I guess that I may have to jump through some hoops. I duly got a translation for the one stamp in my passport that is non English/French and sent that document off.

Its just going to take time right.

Then about a month after this I have just recieved a request that I really do not understand.

I have received a document requesting

1. all the info that is in the original application
2. The passport phocopies of every page including translations
3. further requests for proff of address, Proof of marriage,proof of my wifes citizenship and many others that were just not in the orignal application.

I an kind of confused and annoyed right now, so I guess that I am still venting.

I guess I don't understand the process. I seem to be going backwards through the Citizenship process from sitting in the Citizenship test to now having to prove why I am even in Canada.

My only explanation is that they lost all the original documents but this still does not explain re-requesting the photocopies and application info


Not sure where to go from here. I have 45 days to reply. I guess that at some point once calm again I will sit down and get everything together again (Documents wise) but am just really confused and have no heard of others experiencing the same.

I think that I am signing off

Dissapointed in Canada (For the first time)

christmasoompa

Perfectly normal, and nothing to worry about.

Sounds like you've simply had a residency questionnaire, which is very common (something like 35,000 of them were issued last year).

Unfortunately though, that does add quite a bit of processing time to your application - http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...processing.asp

HTH.

londonhatter

Thanks Christmas

Still seems odd though as I have already sat and passed the Citizenship test. It just seems that its being processed out of order.

ExKiwilass

that sucks, sorry mate

adele

Yep, that's the good old RQ - they can come before or after the test. Yes it sucks, but just send them the documents and you'll get there in the end. I have my oath next week, just a few days shy of 2 years since I applied. I had the RQ in May 2013. It's demoralizing and another hoop to jump through but don't take it personally - they're sending quite a lot of them out these days, it's not just you.

Hang in there!

Novocastrian

I just hope you get your citizenship in time to help vote this crazy government into oblivion.

Hang in there.

londonhatter

Hey Adele

I was reading an old post of yours elsewhere and read that you applied for citizenship with 1122 days. I actually have 1121 with my application. I wonder if I am being singled out as a smartass.

Just a quick question, did you send off all of that paperwork you discussed or were there holes. After having been here 5 years its tough getting some of it together.

adele

Hi londonhatter,

Yes, I provided everything I could from the list of things they asked for to prove I'd been here for the time stated. There were a couple of gaps e.g. when I first moved here I shared an apartment for a few months with a roommate and the tenancy agreement and hydro bill were in her name - we didn't have anything written between us. Also, there was another period of a few months when I lived with an ex-boyfriend and some of the rent payments went out of a joint account that is now closed and I didn't keep any of the statements (although the tenancy agreement was in both our names and I provided a copy of that). I just explained everything and documented what I could as thoroughly as possible. Luckily I have worked for the same employer the whole time so that bit was easy and apart from those exceptions mentioned above I had comprehensive documentation and included copies of everything. When I spoke to the citizenship officer after my test she said I'd documented everything very well and commented in particular that it was good that I'd provided itineraries and/or boarding passes for all my absences.

What bits are you missing or unsure of?

Adele

londonhatter

Actually just the amount of stuff

Bank and Credit Card Statements ok but for every single month? thats a lot of peperwork.

Also I no longer have copies of our rental agreement from three years ago

Starting to get all this stuff together though.

MarkG

This is why I kept absolutely everything in a big box until I had my passport!

adele

Yep, it's a lot of digging out and copying - I sent off a huge package, must've been about a ream of paper in it, at least. I didn't have hard copies of all my bank and credit card statements so I had to go through month by month, download all the electronic statements and print them all off. I previously had a chequing account with another institution and had closed it without downloading the statements, so I had to go to a branch and pay $45 for them to print them all off. Moral of the story - save everything, either electronically or hard copy!

It takes some time to prepare but it's worth it all in the end. I wrote a cover letter detailing in point form what I was enclosing and explaining those couple of things I didn't have and why. Good luck!

britsnake

I sent off a smaller package with a rude covering letter asking them why they are wasting my time and money making me copy all those documents.

I said we had been working, paying taxes, claiming child support, paying rent and a morgage since coming to Canada. I said that in the UK the government have access to information which would allow them to verify my information without all this hastle. I said that I had already paid a processing fee which they should use to do do those checks.

I regretted it within a couple of days of posting it off, but I was invited for my Citizenship test two months later. At the test I was told I should be called for my ceromony within four months. I still have a couple of months to wait, so .

londonhatter

Ha ha

Thought about maybe not a rude letter but a cheeky letter myself.

Something along the lines of

All that matters here when it boils down to it is the question

'Have I spent the 1095 days in Canada'

Since in my original application for Citizenship I ticked the box that gives you the authority to check my Canadian Border Crossings.

I have since then checked that same box on two other occasions during this process.

If you do indeed check the information that you have asked for authorization for and that I have freely given, then you will find out that I have actually spent the said time in Canada. Then you would not need any of this irrelevant other paperwork, which is adding to the early demise of the planet.

Yeah, something like that. However I will in fact just do exactly what they have asked as all governements are scary :-)


Rrrrrraaaaaaaa