Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Evidence
 

Hey all,

Some bad news unfortunately. Just got a letter yesterday (dated December 9th) from IRCC letting me know that I've been "randomly selected for a special review exercise in connected with IRCC's Quality Assurance Program".

So this includes the following:

• Physical Presence Questionnaire - Quality Assurance Exercise (CIT 0205). This requires information such as: passport info, absences from Canada, address information, info about close relatives even those outside Canada (i.e. where they've lived, their profession, etc.), education info, employment info, professional associations, what volunteer work I've done, income/taxes abroad, property owned inside/outside Canada, businesses owned inside/outside Canada, etc.
• List of Required Docs*
• Fingerprints
• Reference

*List of Required Docs
- Scans of all pages (including blank ones) from all passports (2 for me since I recently got a new UK passport)
- Entry/Exit Records from countries of citizenship/residence, other than Canada (UK for me)
- Provincial Personal Health Claims Summary
- Rental/Lease agreements
- Letter from landlord confirming rental period
- Property titles or Mortgage documents
- Property tax assessments
- Official school transcripts
- T4 Slips from CRA
- Letters from employers describing each position held, date of hiring, work schedule
- Records of employment from CRA
- CRA Statements of Employment Insurance benefit periods
- Statements of social assistance
- Statements of disability assistance
- 3 Letters from suppliers or clients for any businesses owned inside/outside Canada
- Incorporation documents
- Advertising contracts
- Contracts and invoices demonstrating a continuance o business activity
- Business bank statements
- Professional licence/membership card/permit to practice
- A personal Canadian citizen reference who has known you for the past 2 years and can answer questions about you such as work, study, housing, sports, cultural or religious activities, volunteering
- Consent Form



Fingerprints must be done within 30 days of letter (Dec 9th) and everything else must be sent back within 60 days. I'm unsure how a lot of this is possible given the festive period closures, even with the normal length of time some of it takes.


To start with, I just have to get the frustration off my chest. For someone who was "randomly" selected (i.e. no apparent cause or reason), this is an incredible amount of work to get done and also includes additional fees to do some of these on top of the large amount already paid for citizenship. The vast majority of this information isn't relevant to citizenship eligibility. My application has to be very near as straightforward as you can possible get: arrived in 2012 on TWP, got PR in early 2014, only left for a few vacations here and there, had 2 jobs, filed taxes, way over the number of days needed, already laid down roots with 1 child born here and another on the way, etc.

I really want citizenship, but I'm honestly considering whether this is worth it. Perhaps I'm just so pissed off right now, but that's what I feel at the moment. This is already a stressful time, particularly because we're trying to get ready for the imminent arrival of our second child and this feels like an unnecessary stress.


If I'm going to do this, I'm looking for some help on some things:
- Fingerprints - does anyone know anywhere near Whitby? The closest I'm finding is Newmarket, Cobourg, etc. because most local police services don't do it anymore.
- Entry/exit records for the UK - I keep finding conflicting info on this. Does anyone know the easiest/quickest way to do this?

I think that's the main things for now, but I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Oh, and any way to get out of doing this? Maybe my MP can tell them to drop it :-)

Thanks!

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Yes Graham, It's a pain :blink: Jump up and down, kick the wall if necessary, but do it anyway.

This time last year I was worried as I'd just applied for Citizenship, I was well beyond stressed, Canada is not the most wonderful country I've lived in...or the worst either, but having got my Citizenship, I have choices. I can go, I can come back...when my kid finishes school I can escape the winter, I can do practically what I want and nobody can stop me from doing it. I can vote!

Press on regardless. You have a growing family and it's going to be soooo much easier for you to do all of the things that one does over time if you are a Citizen.

You have a baby on the way, Christmas is coming, stress is piled on by the bucket load and you need this extra pressure like a hole in the head, but it is just some stupid Canadian tick box exercise, probably by a Civil Servant being a jobsworth.

Very, very best of luck!

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

So sorry to hear you have been given this news so close to Christmas. It does seem unfair and this looks more complex then anything asked for at PR stage.

I am afraid I cannot help you with the questions but I wish you all the best with it. I agree with Millie that you should try and press on it with it as after you get this, it's over!

I am going to follow this thread though because any of us that have our citizenship application to do in the future could end up with this nightmare of bureaucracy.

Keep us all posted

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Thanks for all the thoughts people.

There has certainly been, and will likely continue to be, a lot of venting! My wife did manage to go to our local MP's office today. The local staff person at the mp's office that deals with citizenship stuff has seen random selections before, but said she's never seen anything to this extent. i know i'm not the only one, have seen people on other forums with similar "straightforward" cases getting it. So she's going to contact them for an extension and will hopefully vent a bit too. She guesses that perhaps with the rules changing recently to allow more people to be eligible, perhaps they're doing this to a few people to cover their asses.

And yep, definitely worth bearing in mind that there's a chance you may be asked for all this stuff, so don't go throwing things out :-)

My boss was quite understanding today when I gave her the scoop, so she told me to just go at lunch to get fingerprints and whatever else done that I could. So I managed to get that done, and the form mailed to request the health care claims summary, as well as the form to the UK (at least I think it's the right form!!) for entry/exits.

My next pain-point is the required translations for passports if I have any stamps, etc. not in English or French. Cuba thankfully just put Cuba and the name of the airport, so I don't believe that needs a translation as it is place names.

However, the Mexican stamp has some Spanish at the top so I guess unfortunately that means it needs translated by someone certified (or an affidavit if the person isn't certified). So I'm trying to find out if anyone I know happens to know anyone in this category or whether I need to go find and pay someone for one stamp...

Any thoughts/experience on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Our issue isn't in the same league as yours but we have just had both our applications returned because we apparently failed to include all documents on the checklist.

In particular we failed to include two government issued documents that contained a photograph and date of birth and we were referred to the Instruction Guidelines.

In the guidelines it clearly states that if you've had a passport within the past 5 years then include one document and include two if you haven't.

As we have passports and included photocopies of them I naturally assumed that copies of our PR cards would be good enough as this was all that was requested.

Not so.. they apparently need two even though their own guidelines, the very same guidelines that we were invited to study, say differently.

You can't trust anyone to anything properly.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

That's frustrating!

I think I chose to use driving license, rather than PR card. That in addition to my current passport (I think checklist said it had to be current?). Although we did also include our PR cards (I forget where exactly) because when we submitted in the first day or two, IRCC hadn't yet clarified whether they needed it or not. If I remember correctly, the original instruction guide implied it was needed but the checklist didn't mention it. While IRCC subsequently updated the instruction guide to match the checklist, we had prepared our package before then so left it in just in case. So unfortunately I can't say for sure whether it'd make it through without that technically unnecessary second piece of ID. I'd expect that perhaps it's hit and miss unfortunately!

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

It is what it is. We'll return the application and wait. Since the timescale is months and months and not days I doubt that any delay will affect us too much if at all.

But at the very least we'll be keeping Canada Post solvent.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Doing your civic duty ;-)

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

I have no advice to give at all, but just wanted to say that's incredibly shitty. What a nightmare. As if the whole process isn't time consuming, costly and stressful anyway. Best of luck to you. You will get through it.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hi graham1710,

I was also selected in December for this review exercise as well as you but I still can not collect all the requested documents.

How has your experience been with this? It is a real headache.

Was you able to collect all the documents requested? Already sent back the Quality Assurance Exercise with all these documents? If you already sent it, have you received any response from IRCC?

Thanks

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hey,

Yep - managed to get all the docs eventually and sent them back on Jan 23rd (received, according to tracking on Jan 24th). No response from IRCC yet, but I'm not expecting anything anytime soon...

The longest one to get was the UK (as country of citizenship) entry/exit records, but I eventually got them. I submitted the request for them within a couple of days of receiving this request from IRCC, so it did take a while to get them back.

Most other things I got done (or at least requested) within the first few days.

If you have any specific questions about any of the docs, give me a shout.

And yep, headache doesn't even begin to describe it :-)

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Thank you for your prompt response.

How lucky you were collecting everything quickly. I'm still waiting for Quebec Health Claims Summary and US entry/exit records. In theory they should arrive this week.

Did you fill out form CIT 0205 by hand? Will you know if there is a website to download it and fill it with a computer? I already made a mistake filling a part and I do not want to use correction pen.

Thanks

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Well I wouldn't say I got them all quickly, haha. The health claims (from Ontario) didn't take too long actually, but I also got the request sent away within the first few days. I just got in a groove with head down and churned through things at a good pace. The entry/exit records probably took a good month to month and a half. Thankfully they arrived before the deadline, which allowed me to submit before the 60 day deadline.

The main advice I received regarding getting everything in time was (well, aside from start early!!) that if you aren't going to get everything in time, the main thing is keep the communication lines open. Submit what you have, with a clear explanation as to what is missing, what you've done to try get it and when you expect to receive it. As long as you're open with them, they're apparently very good if an extension is needed. If they're not, your local MP's office should be able to help.



With regards the form, yep I filled it out by hand. I wasn't able to find any kind of electronic copy. I did scan it in beforehand, then used a PDF editor to make boxes and fill it out on the computer. I then printed that out and then essentially copied it by hand onto the original. Otherwise, just print out scanned copies of the blank one, and do them by hand first so you get all the mistakes out the way :-)

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

There are many online pdf 'fill and edit' programs, where you upload the document and fill it out / edit online. There's also downloadable programs, though most aren't free - there's even a Chrome add-on. A quick Google search for 'free pdf filler' will bring up some. You can then download or save the pdf for printing.

:)

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hey Graham 1710

Would you mind sharing where you got your UK entry/exit records from? I applied for citizenship in Oct and just got my aor Mid Jan. I think that unfortunately I'm for sure going to get either selected for quality assurance or a residence questionnaire as I've lived all over and I want to get a start on gathering docs. Was it a subject access request with the home office? Thankyou :)

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hey Graham 1710

I have another question. When you took your fingerprints, did you send something to IRCC?? How do you know that the agency you went to take your fingerprints sent the results or how can you be sure that these results arrived to IRCC? I my case, I took my fingerprints in Gambit ID, they only sent me a form by email, but that's it. Do I have to send this form that I received from Gambit to IRCC along with all requested documents? Thank you very much.

Ceci

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hey,

Well in theory the quality assurance one I got was random, so you should have the same chance as anyone else of getting that... :-)


But this is what I did to get the entry/exit records, based on a post I found online an an (eventual) email reply from SAS.


Go here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...nd-immigration

Fill out the 'Application for fast track records only' (there's also an info link on how to fill it out). It claims this is a pilot and they're now gathering data to see if it was useful but while they do so, it's technically still available. I believe the pilot is simply the fast track version.

With regards the records required checkbox section, the email reply from SAS advised me to leave that blank and not check any but rather state in a cover letter (see below) what I wanted. I had actually already submitted by the time I received the reply, so I'd actually checked the 'IT Records' at it sounded like the closest match, lol. But I did also write a cover letter to explicitly state what I wanted.

As I mentioned above, I included a cover letter. It simply stated what I was including (completed fast track form, copy of current passport identity page and copy of driving license - they needed 2 forms of ID), and then a quick sentence stating that I was submitting this form to request my UK entry and exit records as part of my Canadian citizenship application. I then included a quick note why I picked IT records (basically I thought that was the most relevant to requesting entry/exit records), but that's irrelevant if you don't check that. Lastly, I had a sentence mentioning that I'd included my mother's address as a representative, noting that I wanted the completed forms sent there. My mother lives in the UK, so I figured it'd be quicker than waiting for them to mail back to Canada! Given the QA process required photocopies of these records, I then got her to email me them and she later mailed me the physical copies in case I'm ever asked for them at an interview, etc.


This was all then mailed to them at the address they list. To confirm, no payment was sent as the fast track application didn't require a payment.



As for timeline, they would have received my request on December 21st. My mother received a letter on December 30th (dated December 27th) acknowledging the request. It was very generic as it made reference to the 40 calendar day timeline for the normal request, rather than the 20 days for the fast track application. It also made mention to the payment being processed, even though there is no payment for the fast track application. She then received the entry/exit records on January 22nd (dated January 18th).


Just as an FYI, I wouldn't bother emailing them if you need anything answered urgently. My original email sent on December 20th wasn't answered till January 15th. I then sent a follow-up to that on January 15th and still haven't heard back (perhaps they won't bother since they've now sent the records and I was just following up about them).


Let me know if you have any specific questions as to what I filled in, ticked, etc. and I'll check to see what I did.


Hopefully you get lucky and don't need to bother with this!!

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hey,

I used Fingerprinting Services – Toronto and Scarborough, Canada | Canadian Police Clearance and Fingerprinting Services (an affiliate of ClearNeed, whoa re on the official list at Who can conduct a Criminal Record Check? | Royal Canadian Mounted Police).


As far as me receiving anything from them, absolutely nothing other than a receipt that I paid. I did ask (on more than once occasion to be sure!) and he assured me it would be sent directly. I think it goes to RCMP first, who then sent to IRCC, but I forget. One thing I made sure to do was check it'd go to the right office. Apparently for him, most of his customers are processed at the St. Clair office downtown, even though he's right across the street from the Scarborough office! So he had to look it up to make sure he could send to the correct one. I understand this is the normal process, but it would be nice to receive confirmation :-)


Unfortunately I have no way of knowing that it happened! On my cover letter after submitting all my QA items, I made mention near the top of the date and location/company of where I got them done and that they confirmed they would be sending directly. If you only have fingerprints and no other docs to submit directly, I'd personally be tempted to send them a quick letter just letting them know when/where it was done, in case they don't get it and rather think you've just ignored them.


I've not heard anything back yet. I do keep an eye on the Canadavisa forum as well, just because there's many more users that report their progress on a spreadsheet. So far, I've seen a couple (one Montreal based, one Mississauga based) that have had an interview invite after having returned the QA items. They both seemed to get the email about 3-4 weeks after submitting their QA info. However, that's a small data set even bearing in mind the total number of people to receive the QA exercise is small, so not really worth drawing a conclusion on timelines from. That being said, interesting to know and good to see that some others who received this are making some kind of progress.


Hope this helps.

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Thankyou so much. One more quick question if you don't mind. Did you have the copy of your passport certified? I read on the normal subject access form that my ID needs to be certified by a solicitor, commissioner of oaths etc like a passport photo would which just seems silly for requesting my own details. If you did not bother maybe its not necessary. Thanks again

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

For the entry exit record request? Nope, didn't get anything certified. I don't recall the fast track application asking for anything certified but double check the instructions.

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hi Graham1710,

Have you received the invitation from IRCC to take the citizenship test?

Or at least your application status has changed after sending the Quality Assurance documents?

Thank you.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Nope, nothing yet.

I did notice on another forum (Canadavisa) that a small number have managed to receive a test invite. However, I did note to IRCC on my cover letter that we have an upcoming vacation in the near future, so it is also possible they haven't given me an invite yet due to that.

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hi Graham1710,

How are you?

Nothing yet? Any response from CIC??

I've been waiting for 5 weeks and still nothing. It gives me a little anger because they said in the letter that this was not going to cause any delay in our applications, which is not true, because if they had not asked me for this additional information, I would already have received for sure the invitation to present the test.

This really is a bit frustrating :(

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hey,

Unfortunately nothing yet either. While it is frustrating (given what the letter said), I'm just trying to forget about it till I hear so then it doesn't annoy me :-)

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Wow, really? After almost 9 weeks still nothing. This delay is incredible and unfair, since there are people who submitted their application 3 months after us and have already passed their exam. :'( :'(

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

It seems that things have slowed down significantly. Our applications received on 3 January but status is still "Application Received" after 83 days or approaching 3 months so we're chilling out. The Black Hole'll no doubt splutter and cough up one of these days.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

So it would appear we actually have some movement.

I checked my online status today and had this note:

"We sent you a notice on March 22, 2018 to appear and write the citizenship test on April 13, 2018 at 8:16 AM. The notice you will receive by mail will be your official confirmation of your appointment. If you have not received this notice prior to the date of your scheduled appointment, please contact us."

We've just returned from vacation and haven't yet checked the mailbox, but I'm assuming there's something to reflect that in there.

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Now we just need to figure out what to do with our 3 month (more like 3.5 month by the time the test happens) during that time since she's breastfed! Our 2 year old will go to daycare, but it'd be hard with a 3 month old.

I guess our options are:
- See if our daycare lady can take both kids!
- Bring along a friend (no relatives here, unfortunately) to sit in the waiting room with her

From what I gather, it's a hard no on bringing any kids of any age into the test room.

Graham.

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

And just to confirm, the letters (dated March 22nd) arrived yesterday.

Better get the studying back underway :-)

Re: Citizenship - Random Quality Assurance Exercise and Request for Additional Eviden
 

Hey all,

Just wanted to update this thread for anyone that happens to come back to it looking for info. We've now had our oath date scheduled (according to the online status anyway, as we've not yet received the letter or email), so it's almost at an end!

To confirm, this is for the Scarborough office. So ultimately, despite the exercise, they do still seem to be keeping to similar timelines to everyone else (based on October applicants now starting to get oath invites for Scarborough on another forum I watch).

Application sent: October 12th, 2017
Application Received: October 16th, 2017
AOR: November 22nd, 2017
In Process: December 4th, 2017
PPQ-QA Received: December 19th, 2017 (sent date was December 9th, 2017)
PPQ-QA Completed & Sent: January 23rd, 2018 (received January 24th, 2017)
Test Invite Received: March 28th, 2018 (sent date was March 22nd, 2018)
Test Date: April 13th, 2018
Decision Made: May 23rd, 2018
Oath Invite Sent: June 27th, 2018 (ECAS showed 5th line on June 28th, 2018; not yet received email or letter)
Oath Date: July 19th, 2018