April 2025 - Citizenship Applications

[abff08f4813c]

Ummmm.... while I applaud attempts to compare one jurisdiction (esp one such as Australia) to another (Canada) in this instance, you have to be careful to compare like to like. Waiting lists are not annual throughput / applications, is one basic example. Okay, it's not always easy to find the same numbers, but at least attempt to do so (and note where the numbers don't match).

Ahhh... good catch. Both were "processing times" but I missed that there was an apples to oranges difference here.

I actually wasn't able to find good numbers from IRCC for this year, but last year (Jan to Oct 2024 to be specific - covering a period of 304 days) it seems that they did >325,000 apps. Rounding this down to an even 325,000, we can make an assumption (that this trend holds for the rest of 2024) and extrapolate how much would have been handled for the whole year 325,000 / 304 * 364 ~= 390,214.

Meanwhile, while covering a slightly different period of time (July 2024 to June 2025), https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-statistics/statistics/citizenship-statistics says that 165,193 folks became Australian citizens.

While that suggests it's roughly 2.3x as much (390,214 / 165,193), according to https://immigration.ca/citizenship-uptake-falls-in-2025-as-fewer-immigrants-become-canadian/ 2025 actually had a bit of a slowdown. So going with 2x (instead of 3x as I wrote previously) seems reasonable.

Okay, it's not always easy to find the same numbers, but at least attempt to do so (and note where the numbers don't match).

Agreed - I've made an attempt to do so (though I do make mistakes from time to time) and will continue to do so (as well as correct any mistakes as soon as they're pointed out).
.

you've compared the 8X number that (I'm pretty sure) you made up - or at least is highly speculative

That comes from https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...hip-applications.869454/page-77#post-11111154 so I made it up derived it from (224 online citizenship ceremonies held per month * 135 clients on average invited to those ceremonies) / (52 in-person citizenship ceremonies held per month * 75 clients on average invited to these ceremonies) ~= 30240 / 3900 ~= 7.75

That said, this is from Oct 2023, so applying it to current trends is indeed highly speculative.

you have to be careful to compare like to like.

But the part I've bolded above is, ahem, a thought crime: you've compared the 8X number
- to the 'volume' number (that has its own issues).

Another good point. You're also correct here - I'm making an assumption that the comparison in numerical differences between in-person and online ceremonies will generalize to the overall processing time.

On reflection, I believe I was mistaken on this.

I believe processing time counts from the app being received to either the app being denied or to the point of oath at the ceremony (or in lieu of for those few who are eligible to get citizenship without an oath). But say for example a change (e.g. to remove online citizenship ceremonies altogether) leads to an increase in waiting time for the ceremony part alone from 1 month to 13 months. The ceremony part has gone up by 13x but the overall processing time has only doubled (using the current 13 months processing time).

What this suggests is that switching from online ceremonies to in-person ones might double the time, but then switching to locally managed ceremonies instead of centralized once might make up for the difference. In fact this may benefit those who prefer in-person ceremonies (by decreasing their waiting time).

That said, I overall agree with your point - esp on the centralization part, there's no reason IRCC couldn't leverage much more resources locally (who would for the most part love to participate!). As far as I can tell by law (partly by memory i.e. I haven't checked the text of the alw), the only part that's critical is the citizenship judge, which I'm sure could be finessed somehow - as they've done by going virtual.

In fact, if the law can be tweaked, I'd be ok with going further - the citizenship judge can move the application to an "approved-in-principle" status and then pass it to the local folks, who would deal with the scheduling and such and then verify that the person attended the ceremony and took the oath to complete the grant.

[Don't take offence at thought crime, I say that in good humour]

It's all good - I'm an avid reader of 1984 too. More seriously, I do appreciate all the good advice you've given here along with the effort to help me correct any mistakes I've made.

 

[armoured]

In fact, if the law can be tweaked, I'd be ok with going further - the citizenship judge can move the application to an "approved-in-principle" status and then pass it to the local folks, who would deal with the scheduling and such and then verify that the person attended the ceremony and took the oath to complete the grant.

This is fair - I don't know exactly what the law requires viz. citizenship judges, but I understand it's largely ceremonial - don't see why some local dignitary (retired judges, police, firemen, military officers of a certain rank, etc) couldn't be deputized. Particularly since the shortages/difficulty in organizing seem to be mostly outside of large urban centres, so the demands woudn't necessarily be enormous. From what I've seen a lot of people would be happy to do in-person if they didn't have to wait.

 

[ruka]

Hi,
Applied on the 24th of April 2025. Still Background and Prohibitions in progress

24th April 2025 - Applied:
26th May 2025 - AOR
30th June 2025 - Test invitation
10th July 2025 - Test given
16th July 2025 - Citizenship Test completion updated
29th Oct 2025 - Physical presence and Language Skills updated

Background and Prohibitions still in progress since 29th Oct 2025.

Anyone in similar situation?

I have travel history to the US, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. All are short visits less than three weeks. Can this be causing a delay ?
What do you think I should do?
Thanks

 

[abff08f4813c]

Hi,
Applied on the 24th of April 2025. Still Background and Prohibitions in progress

24th April 2025 - Applied:
26th May 2025 - AOR
30th June 2025 - Test invitation
10th July 2025 - Test given
16th July 2025 - Citizenship Test completion updated
29th Oct 2025 - Physical presence and Language Skills updated

Background and Prohibitions still in progress since 29th Oct 2025.

Anyone in similar situation?

I have travel history to the US, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. All are short visits less than three weeks. Can this be causing a delay ?
What do you think I should do?
Thanks

Our timelines are almost identical. I also have that short US travel.

I've speculated that the US travel may be the reason for the delay - the US government had a shutdown a little while ago, and was still shutdown while your PP and LS were updated. So any pro forma checks that IRCC/CBSA would have asked CBP or other relevant US federal agency would have been put on hold until the shutdown ended (at which point they probably have a giant backlog to clear through).

 

[moscatojuices]

Finally got an update. The invited me to an interview in January. Letter states:

"You will be interviewed by a citizenship officer or agent to verify your identity and the originals of the
documents you provided at the time you applied. You will also be asked to answer any concerns we may
have about your application in order to help determine if you meet all the requirements for citizenship."

Has anyone done these before and what do they ask?

I applied in on April 28 from memory.

 

[Bp3012]

Finally got an update. The invited me to an interview in January. Letter states:

"You will be interviewed by a citizenship officer or agent to verify your identity and the originals of the
documents you provided at the time you applied. You will also be asked to answer any concerns we may
have about your application in order to help determine if you meet all the requirements for citizenship."

Has anyone done these before and what do they ask?

I applied in on April 28 from memory.

Timeline pls

 

[armoured]

Finally got an update. The invited me to an interview in January. Letter states:

"You will be interviewed by a citizenship officer or agent to verify your identity and the originals of the
documents you provided at the time you applied. You will also be asked to answer any concerns we may
have about your application in order to help determine if you meet all the requirements for citizenship."

Has anyone done these before and what do they ask?

I applied in on April 28 from memory.

We had done and I believe wrote about it in the March 2025 thread - it would have been right about the end of May.

It was very low pressure, verify documents (hold them up to screen), ask some questions about work and life, that was it. It was almost certainly because physical presence was close to the limit and a lot of travel - and CBSA records had a missing exit (or two?). They asked us to provide complete scans of all travel documents incl entry/exit stamps, done before the interview (which in this sense responded to the specifics of whether the missing records would have changed the day calc) - but really they seemed more interested in just establishing 'bona fides' and that spouse actually resides in Canada (despite the travel).

So it was very low pressure and went well. Obviously YMMV. The physical presence got completed on the tracker a few days after the interview so that's what that was about. Unfortunatley no movement on anything else since then.

 

[ruka]

Our timelines are almost identical. I also have that short US travel.

I've speculated that the US travel may be the reason for the delay - the US government had a shutdown a little while ago, and was still shutdown while your PP and LS were updated. So any pro forma checks that IRCC/CBSA would have asked CBP or other relevant US federal agency would have been put on hold until the shutdown ended (at which point they probably have a giant backlog to clear through).

Thanks. When was your AOR and in what state is your application now?

 

[Bp3012]

Just keep an eye on email if they ask for any document as u has US travel .. also I don't know i read some where that for one person ircc asked for translation of stamps on passport as those were in other language

 

[bassamkaaki]

Hi,
Applied on the 24th of April 2025. Still Background and Prohibitions in progress

24th April 2025 - Applied:
26th May 2025 - AOR
30th June 2025 - Test invitation
10th July 2025 - Test given
16th July 2025 - Citizenship Test completion updated
29th Oct 2025 - Physical presence and Language Skills updated

Background and Prohibitions still in progress since 29th Oct 2025.

Anyone in similar situation?

I have travel history to the US, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. All are short visits less than three weeks. Can this be causing a delay ?
What do you think I should do?
Thanks

My timeline is as follows:
29th April 2025 - Applied:
4th June 2025 - AOR
8th July 2025 - Test invitation
11 July 2025 - Test given
16th July 2025 - Citizenship Test completion updated
24th Sep 2025 - Physical presence and Language Skills updated

Background and Prohibitions are still in progress. Usually, the background starts the moment the application is submitted, not when language or presence is updated, since you might see some get their clearance in a week or more.

I have noticed from previous submissions that if the BG is completed first, all LPP's turn green at the same time later. In cases such as ours, it might take some time for BG to clear, so IRCC finalizes what they can from their side until the third party provides their input. That does not mean there is anything wrong with the case; it just means we have been placed in different cohorts and batches for processing.

Just being patient is the key to this current situation. We can't control what cannot be controlled. Live your life and enjoy your time; we will soon receive our BG, prohibitions, and Oath as well.

Never compare to other files, since this will only confuse you and cause panic and anxiety.


Good Luck!

 

[moscatojuices]

We had done and I believe wrote about it in the March 2025 thread - it would have been right about the end of May.

It was very low pressure, verify documents (hold them up to screen), ask some questions about work and life, that was it. It was almost certainly because physical presence was close to the limit and a lot of travel - and CBSA records had a missing exit (or two?). They asked us to provide complete scans of all travel documents incl entry/exit stamps, done before the interview (which in this sense responded to the specifics of whether the missing records would have changed the day calc) - but really they seemed more interested in just establishing 'bona fides' and that spouse actually resides in Canada (despite the travel).

So it was very low pressure and went well. Obviously YMMV. The physical presence got completed on the tracker a few days after the interview so that's what that was about. Unfortunatley no movement on anything else since then.

Thanks I hope so...

I can't make the interview as I'm overseas and they ask for a "reasonable explanation" if you can't make it. Should I send them flight tickets as evidence or just mention I'm overseas, date of return etc.

I also am self-employed in Canada, generally do work for overseas clients, and haven't paid taxes for the year as I'm not on an installment plan yet (first year of running a business). Do you reckon this could be an issue?

Thanks,

 

[armoured]

Thanks I hope so...

I can't make the interview as I'm overseas and they ask for a "reasonable explanation" if you can't make it. Should I send them flight tickets as evidence or just mention I'm overseas, date of return etc.

I also am self-employed in Canada, generally do work for overseas clients, and haven't paid taxes for the year as I'm not on an installment plan yet (first year of running a business). Do you reckon this could be an issue?

Thanks,

-Have they asked for an in-person interview? I mean, I'd just respond that you're out of the country for work (if that's true of course) and your return date; offer to provide more info if needed. It can't hurt to state you'd be available for on-line interview.

-I don't know. As far as I'm aware, if you've filed taxes for previous three years there should not be an issue but again - do not know.

Side point: for spouse's app, we got the request for passport copies (all pages with stamps), it was a strong clue that it was about physical presence ('clue' in sense that I was 100% certain but my spouse worried anyway). Obviously won't apply to all cases, and I wouldn't want to guess.

I can say that most of the cases I've seen reported here where people had interviews, they went quickly (I'm pretty sure they don't have more than 10 mins scheduled for it) and didn't end up being a big deal. Now this may be selection issue, i.e. those who have more serious issues come up aren't reporting details here, although just by math likely problem cases are relatively uncommon.

 

[airwb01]

Sigh.. I'm still stuck waiting on prohibitions, LPP, and language. Background and Exam passed. Last update was a ghost update on Sept 15th. Applied April 21st. Any one else still on the same boat?

 

[onward28332]

Stuck on Background and Prohibitions. April applicant.

 

[afaisalnwo]

Hi,
Applied on the 24th of April 2025. Still Background and Prohibitions in progress

24th April 2025 - Applied:
26th May 2025 - AOR
30th June 2025 - Test invitation
10th July 2025 - Test given
16th July 2025 - Citizenship Test completion updated
29th Oct 2025 - Physical presence and Language Skills updated

Background and Prohibitions still in progress since 29th Oct 2025.

Anyone in similar situation?

I have travel history to the US, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. All are short visits less than three weeks. Can this be causing a delay ?
What do you think I should do?
Thanks

I have similar dates.

I have travel history to US, India and UAE. May be US shutdown is something delaying our process not sure though. For me everything is in progress except Test. Let's hope we get some good news next year.