I will be away for 2 months, will this affect my application?

[Egyman]

Hi everyone
My citizenship application is being processed by CIC and I can see online that it was recently transferred to the local CIC office. I will be taking a vacation and go out of Canada for about two months starting September 2010. And since I was expecting to get called for the citizenship test while I am away, I called the CIC call center and informed them about my absence. I asked the agent if this will delay my file and he said not at all, unless there are other factors that can delay the file. I am asking here because some friends said this can delay the file siginificantly. So, if anybody here had a similar experience or know if this could affect my file at all, please share your experience. Thanks so much

 

[maxvol]

There should not be any problems as you have done the right things by informing them of your absence and this will not affect your application in any ways

 

[Egyman]

Thanks so much maxvol. Any other comments from PMM or Leon? Thanks

 

[Leon]

In my experience, they will not schedule according to your needs. Around the time I had my oath coming, I was also contemplating going overseas for a couple of months and I contacted the CIC call centre and asked if it was a problem and they said that they do not let people schedule these things at a time that is convenient for them. This is along the lines of what I've heard from other people as well. If they invite you for the exam while you are overseas and you can't make it, you will have a chance to explain to them why you couldn't make it and they will give you an opportunity to take it later. Later could be a year later and it might also not be at a time convenient for you. If you postpone a 2nd time, you might end up being called for an interview, possible a year later again, to explain to them if citizenship is actually important to you. This happened to one member on this forum who postponed twice because they were overseas.

Therefore, my advice, if you can help it, try not to postpone the exam and/or oath. If you must, then you must but be advised it really can delay your application. The guy at the call centre who told you that it wouldn't, well, he's sitting at the call centre. He's not the one who will send you a letter to appear for exam because it's your local office that does that. When I was waiting for the oath, I also went to the local CIC office to ask about possible dates and they wouldn't/couldn't tell me anything apart from that it would usually happen 2-4 months after the test. In my case, it was 2 months or actually a bit less.

 

[Egyman]

Thanks Leon for sharing your experience. So what do you suggest now, should I call the CIC call center again and tell them to delete the note of absence in my file? I am really confused. Thanks in advance.

 

[Leon]

If you have decided to delay your trip because of this, yes, you can call them again and ask if there is a note of absence on your file and ask them to delete it if there is. You should also go talk to your local CIC office just to see what they say. Maybe they will say that it is not a problem for you to get your exam a couple of months later. Maybe they can even give you some dates.

In my case, my local office could not really tell me anything. For example, they could only tell me that the oath would be 2-4 months after the exam and no actual dates. Both for exam and oath, I was notified by mail 10-14 days before the actual date.

 

[Egyman]

Thanks a lot Leon. I am not planning to cancel my trip because I am not sure when they will send me to appear for the test and also I did not visit for my country for 3 years now.

 

[Leon]

Have somebody check your mail while you are gone. I think you have to notify them within 60 days of your date why you couldn't make it. If you are lucky, you might have the exam before you go and the oath afterwards.

 

[Egyman]

Thanks so much Leon. I will ask a friend to check my mail during my absence.
For the notification of CIC, the agent in the first call told me that we are allowed to miss ONE exam without sending any letters or explanations and they will automatically schedule you for a second one. However, you miss the seocnd one, you will be in trouble as you mentioned in your first reply.

 

[Leon]

I did have a look for my letters and found that I had actually kept them. Both of them say to phone CIC asap if you can't make the date but only the oath letter says that you must let them know within 60 days and that not appearing for oath will cause you to either have to apply again or convince a citizenship judge that you had a very good reason for not appearing.