Applied in August 2023 (AOR October 4,2023) I filed Mandamus myself in MAY, Background and Probation still in progress.
2023 Citizenship Applications
- Thread starter GFLiam
- Start date
I cannot opine on the prospects of any particular individual pursuing mandamus relief, whether or not a lawyer is involved; these cases are very fact specific depending on details in the individual's particular case. So, for example, I cannot forecast how this is going to go for @hsnhsyn12.
However, in general and overall, the prospects of successfully obtaining mandamus relief without the assistance of a lawyer are dismally poor, and not much better unless the applicant has the assistance of not just any lawyer, but a good lawyer with real experience in these kinds of cases. And of course in the event the case does not succeed there is a risk the court could impose costs, ordering the claimant/plaintiff (citizenship applicant seeking the Writ) to pay the government's costs in defending the action.
Claims in this forum about how to pursue mandamus relief without a lawyer are generally uninformed and ill-advised. Even the preliminary step of composing and serving a proper demand, which is a prerequisite to pursuing a Writ of Mandamus in the Federal Court (FC), is a technical challenge for many lawyers let alone non-lawyers. Nice-sounding AI assistance is not yet in ballpark (and you want to be in the ball park before you take a swing).
Here's the thing (with exceptions): for most qualified citizenship applicants, most by a big margin (that is, but for the exceptions), pursuing mandamus relief is unnecessary and not likely to accelerate (not by much) when the oath is taken. In particular:
-- if the merits of the case are such there are good odds that a proper mandamus demand will cause IRCC to proceed with finalizing the application, odds are also good that just waiting will get to the oath in a comparable amount of time
-- if the case is one in which IRCC defends the action (rather than proceeding to finalize the application) but given the merits there are decent odds the FC will grant the Writ, odds in this situation are also good that just waiting will get to the oath in a comparable amount of time (or sooner) . . . but noting that is comparable to how long it will take for the action to be heard and decided by the FC, which will be many months and given current FC caseloads might approach a year more (from when the action is filed -- for those who think IRCC is slow, the FC tends to be as bad or worse)
Exceptions: For some qualified citizenship applicants (in total a significant number, but a very few percentage-wise) their application can be bogged down in a security or criminality investigation that is not on track to get resolved at all soon, potentially for years, without judicial intervention. Most of these applicants either have a fair idea what the concerns are, at least in general terms, or they can figure out why they are among the exceptions. To the contrary of those who are willfully ignorant (such as those who claim there is no explanation because they decline to do the homework, the TLDR crowd dismissing what they do not read, or they otherwise decline to retain a lawyer to do the legwork), most of those affected by a security or criminality referral can, at the least, figure out whether they are at risk beyond the current two to three year bog (largely the consequence of how the government has been responding to two notorious cases in which security screening failed). In contrast, those who know (not due to willful blindness but who actually know) there is no cause for security or criminality concerns regarding them, they are most likely just among the collateral damage and waiting will work as well, or nearly as well, as pursuing mandamus will work.
Since (if I read your situation correctly) you are approaching three years in process, you may want to do some homework (or pay a lawyer to do it) to more fully evaluate your situation. Around five to six weeks ago I cited and linked a number of resources in this thread (to the chagrin of the head-in-the-sand crowd) that might help you get oriented. That information just scratches the surface and it will take a concerted effort to determine which tangent(s) to follow, and the homework really is work, but as I cautioned here in early September, for those who are not just collateral damage from an over reaction to the IMVE threat perceived in the wake of security failures in 2022, that is those who are the subject of a serious investigatory referral to CSIS or NSSD, there could be more at stake than just the citizenship application.
There's a lot of information out there. Not much that is helpful here. If you are confident there is no cause for the Canadian government to have security or criminality concerns, waiting should be OK, and at this juncture it really should be approaching the final stages. If, taking a close and objectively frank look at yourself, you are not all that confident, it may be approaching time to lawyer-up.
