December 2024 - Citizenship Applications

[elonmusk5]

My wife’s portal also shows a ghost update on Dec 18, but nothing actually changed.
She has a very similar timeline to yours: AOR Dec 1, background and test completed, LPP pending.
The last real update was March 1, then NOW after 9 months ,a ghost update on Dec 18.

We received GCMS notes, which mention PM03- grant review.

Is this ghost update likely related to an officer being assigned? And usually, how long do PM03 cases take after such a ghost update?

Similar to your wife's status, my application also showed"Last Updated: December 20, 2025" but nothing changed. Everything was in the same state as before. My last update before the recent one was "Mar 2025"

 

[Basitaally]

Congrats!

Before LPP marked completed on Dec 1, any Ghost update at all ?

No Ghost update, only tracker was updated.

 

[Walle_007]

Similar to your wife's status, my application also showed"Last Updated: December 20, 2025" but nothing changed. Everything was in the same state as before. My last update before the recent one was "Mar 2025"

Yeah, it seems like they’ve touched these December files. We plan to call IRCC and ask what the update actually was. Hopefully, they’ll start working on December AORs with PM03 now.
My wife’s background has been cleared since February, so it’s definitely not stuck in security. It seems more like an issue with the PM03 queue.

 

[armoured]

My wife’s background has been cleared since February, so it’s definitely not stuck in security. It seems more like an issue with the PM03 queue.

Are your spouse's LPP (all three, including prohibitions) cleared?

If prohibitions are not cleared, then I don't think you can say it's not stuck in security.

The exact split between background and prohibitions is not entirely clear to me, but I'm quite certain that at least some of the things in the prohibitions bucket include security issues.

Similarly with PM03 - while PM03 is clearly not a 'high level' position in IRCC staffing, it's also not the lowest, and implies at least some level of authority/judgment required to look at the file and make recommendations. (I believe it doesn't tell us the PM03 /will/ make the final decision, or that necessarily stuck with the PM03 - quite possible any recommendations by the PM03 would need to be confirmed by some functional manager with specific authority, and 'kick up' to higher level of authority / more work for most complicated cases always a possibility).

 

[nikunjnagalia]

Are your spouse's LPP (all three, including prohibitions) cleared?

If prohibitions are not cleared, then I don't think you can say it's not stuck in security.

The exact split between background and prohibitions is not entirely clear to me, but I'm quite certain that at least some of the things in the prohibitions bucket include security issues.

Similarly with PM03 - while PM03 is clearly not a 'high level' position in IRCC staffing, it's also not the lowest, and implies at least some level of authority/judgment required to look at the file and make recommendations. (I believe it doesn't tell us the PM03 /will/ make the final decision, or that necessarily stuck with the PM03 - quite possible any recommendations by the PM03 would need to be confirmed by some functional manager with specific authority, and 'kick up' to higher level of authority / more work for most complicated cases always a possibility).

Best way to find out is if you order notes from CBSA. They will send non-redacted notes, which will show whether Security has been cleared. In my case, Security was cleared back in Feb 2025.