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Citizenship test: Collective action required, or expect endless delays, years. Example of the effective lobbyng of people awaiting spousal sponsorship

canuck78

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Jun 18, 2017
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That there is likely a non-technology reason why online test have not expanded beyond "pilot" capacity of 5k applicants. Recall when the pilot was launched, there were high hopes for rapid expansion. It's a bit naive to assume the slow progress is due to technology scalability. Notice radio silence out of IRCC on their online test plans.
That is making a large assumption. Online testing seems very simple but it is full of potential problems. Speak to anyone who has switched to online teaching this year. The are huge issues with cheating and the lengths to which people go to try to cheat and the lengths schools are having to go to try to combat the cheating are incredible. Nobody has found a good system and schools are having to deal with how many people to fail, put on academic suspension, etc.
 

novascotia27

Hero Member
Jan 4, 2016
491
280
That is making a large assumption. Online testing seems very simple but it is full of potential problems. Speak to anyone who has switched to online teaching this year. The are huge issues with cheating and the lengths to which people go to try to cheat and the lengths schools are having to go to try to combat the cheating are incredible. Nobody has found a good system and schools are having to deal with how many people to fail, put on academic suspension, etc.
I think more than the “cheating” issue is that expanding the online testing greater than 5,000 requires a lot more manpower (officers) to verify and approve each one of the tests taken. There’s is also a quality control portion that should be factored in. So I think it’s more related to lack of officer resources than technology scalability or cheating.
 
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prash42

Hero Member
Jun 1, 2014
291
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I don't want to dismiss cheating or other issues with going online. But when communication from IRCC has been as weak as it has, they are asking for people to make assumptions.

Pre-COVID, more than 80% of test takers were passing the citizenship test on their first try... it's not a particularly hard test. Unless there's data suggesting that a much larger percentage of test takers are passing the online test, I'm not sure what the concern is.

Regarding your school analogy, I have not heard any school say it will do online testing for only half its students due to COVID, or ask half its student body to miss a school year. They have been forced to make compromises, and iterate and get better. It's not clear to me why IRCC gets to decide it will process less applications. COVID has made life difficult for everybody, they need to deal with it.

I don't know what the right solution is... may be put big penalties on those found cheating? But the answer can't be delays for the vast majority of honest citizenship applicants.

That is making a large assumption. Online testing seems very simple but it is full of potential problems. Speak to anyone who has switched to online teaching this year. The are huge issues with cheating and the lengths to which people go to try to cheat and the lengths schools are having to go to try to combat the cheating are incredible. Nobody has found a good system and schools are having to deal with how many people to fail, put on academic suspension, etc.
 

fr72

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2017
375
253
I don't want to dismiss cheating or other issues with going online. But when communication from IRCC has been as weak as it has, they are asking for people to make assumptions.

Pre-COVID, more than 80% of test takers were passing the citizenship test on their first try... it's not a particularly hard test. Unless there's data suggesting that a much larger percentage of test takers are passing the online test, I'm not sure what the concern is.

Regarding your school analogy, I have not heard any school say it will do online testing for only half its students due to COVID, or ask half its student body to miss a school year. They have been forced to make compromises, and iterate and get better. It's not clear to me why IRCC gets to decide it will process less applications. COVID has made life difficult for everybody, they need to deal with it.

I don't know what the right solution is... may be put big penalties on those found cheating? But the answer can't be delays for the vast majority of honest citizenship applicants.
Look at this person's post history. She sees cheating and fraud everywhere (only amongst immigrants) and loves punishing all for the (alleged) actions of a few.
 

prash42

Hero Member
Jun 1, 2014
291
176
It's a bit frustrating to see that attitude, given have valuable immigrants are to Canada. If you look at our public finances closely, you will realize the country needs immigrants. Desperately. Immigration is a 2-way street, Canada needs productive immigrants just as badly as immigrants want to come here for a better quality of life than their home countries. Take immigrants away, and given the current birth rate in Canada, our fabled social net looks like a house of cards.

On a related note, Canada also desperately needs tax rates to go up. Notice Chrystia Freeland's joy when the Biden administration talked about OECD countries stepping back from competing on taxes. I'm not saying all of this to be critical of Canada, but it's worth noting that the Canadian economy is uncompetitive across a range of metrics. Immigration is one of the few bright spots.

Look at this person's post history. She sees cheating and fraud everywhere (only amongst immigrants) and loves punishing all for the (alleged) actions of a few.
 
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fr72

Hero Member
Jan 6, 2017
375
253
It's a bit frustrating to see that attitude, given have valuable immigrants are to Canada. If you look at our public finances closely, you will realize the country needs immigrants. Desperately. Immigration is a 2-way street, Canada needs productive immigrants just as badly as immigrants want to come here for a better quality of life than their home countries. Take immigrants away, and given the current birth rate in Canada, our fabled social net looks like a house of cards.

On a related note, Canada also desperately needs tax rates to go up. Notice Chrystia Freeland's joy when the Biden administration talked about OECD countries stepping back from competing on taxes. I'm not saying all of this to be critical of Canada, but it's worth noting that the Canadian economy is uncompetitive across a range of metrics. Immigration is one of the few bright spots.
If you read that person's posts, you would think that every immigrant is a tax leach and contributes nothing to taxes.

When anyone challenges her with facts and figures, she stops responding and starts trolling in other threads.
 

Mexontario

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Sep 9, 2020
529
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Windsor, ON
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
Ottawa
App. Filed.......
02-05-2014
Doc's Request.
23-06-2014
AOR Received.
04-06-2014
File Transfer...
23-06-2014
Med's Request
23-06-2014
Med's Done....
07-08-2014
Passport Req..
26-09-2014
VISA ISSUED...
18-11-2014
LANDED..........
04-04-2015

CBC News article today. Hopefully this helps to gain some momentum with reducing processing backlogs/delays!!
 

umanitoba

Hero Member
May 30, 2015
831
166

CBC News article today. Hopefully this helps to gain some momentum with reducing processing backlogs/delays!!
The 1M Dollar question is that: while many people are waiting for their test from 2018, 2019, and early 2020 how come many people from sep, oct, nov, and dec 2020 received test invites and I heard some of them got the oath invite as well. Clearly the issue is more than only backlog. The issue is simply discrimination against some applicants (longer background check without any reason, longer wait after the test, etc.). In the 300 pages document I saw “low risk customers” how ircc define that a person is low risk? Only by his/her nationality? I suggest we check the possibility of a class action lawsuit. We can go with individual mandamus but it’s expensive although it will work.
 
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novascotia27

Hero Member
Jan 4, 2016
491
280
The 1M Dollar question is that: while many people are waiting for their test from 2018, 2019, and early 2020 how come many people from sep, oct, nov, and dec 2020 received test invites and I heard some of them got the oath invite as well. Clearly the issue is more than only backlog. The issue is simply discrimination against some applicants (longer background check without any reason, longer wait after the test, etc.). In the 300 pages document I saw “low risk customers” how ircc define that a person is low risk? Only by his/her nationality? I suggest we check the possibility of a class action lawsuit. We can go with individual mandamus but it’s expensive although it will work.
That’s the question I also have, how do they know who is low risk and who isn’t? To me that implies, nationality, whether applicants work professionally or not and god knows what else…

I support the class action lawsuit..
 
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umanitoba

Hero Member
May 30, 2015
831
166
That’s the question I also have, how do they know who is low risk and who isn’t? To me that implies, nationality, whether applicants work professionally or not and god knows what else…

I support the class action lawsuit..
Also if there is more than 300k backlog why IRCC is not stop accepting new apps and focus resources on the existing backlog?? These question must be answered by ircc.
 
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