Citizenship test results, Edmonton Office
- Thread starter edm2012
- Start date
Hi People,
Just wondering how accurate is the 2-4 months test to oath period in Edmonton. Did my test early December and now thinking of planning my Spring get away . . . Any October/Nov test takers invited to oath yet?
Thank you
Just wondering how accurate is the 2-4 months test to oath period in Edmonton. Did my test early December and now thinking of planning my Spring get away . . . Any October/Nov test takers invited to oath yet?
Thank you
Hi all, today there were some more citizenship ceremonies and yours truly went again to see if I can find me some citizenship officers to bug.
I did find one, and he was very gracious and willing to answer many of my questions. It certainly appears that the staff at CIC is almost as frustrated with the backlog and the current processing times. A big part of the problem is the lack of adequate staffing levels at the local offices. In fact, he said that there are people at the Edmonton office who have spouses whose applications for citizenship are stuck in the same hell as everyone else's and they very much understand what many of us are feeling.
The most important tidbit I got today is regarding the order in which responses to form CIT0520 are being processed. This may not be news to some, but it was to me. It matters not when you were given/replied to CIT 0520, but rather when your application was initially submitted. That is, the files are placed in queue and are being reviewed according to your file number (which is assigned sequentially at the time the application is received in Sydney).
The newly hired staff at CIC-Edmonton has finally started to work on the pile of non-routine files, in two independent streams, RQs and RQ Lites. The fellow said that for applications where CIT0520 was issued, file numbers that start with "439" (439xxxx, not to be confused with your 4-digit UCI number) the review will likely be completed over the next 2 to 3 months (e.i. by the end of April). File numbers 440xxxx and above - who knows... 5, 6 or many more months into the future. This is consistent with the response I got to my email to the CIC higher-up who, as of December/January informed me that in my particular case, I can expect a final resolution in six months (basically by June). My file number, I just checked after coming back to my office, is 4397xxx.
I was also under the impression that the reviewing officer can still refer the file to a citizenship judge for a hearing but was told that CJs are now completely out of the picture and that if a hearing/interview was required, it will be conducted by the citizenship officer. I then asked what if it turns out or it seems that an applicant is a few days short -- does the officer have the authority to use the Koo/centralized mode of existence test and grant them citizenship. The answer appears to be "Yes". The reason for that is that the purpose (at least now) of CIC0520 is not to so much to help prove the exact number of days a person has been in Canada, but for the officer to basically look at the documents and be confident in saying to himself, yup, this person has obviously lived and worked in Canada over this 4-year period. They might call an employer and ask if you've worked there or if you've taken 3-month long vacations, but what they are looking for is a general sense of what you've been up to, and not for you to prove where you were at 9:53 am on February 16, 2013 or anything like that.
I also confirmed with him that unless a passport stamp is from places like Iran or Egypt where the date is not in a Western format, a translation is not really necessary.
I did find one, and he was very gracious and willing to answer many of my questions. It certainly appears that the staff at CIC is almost as frustrated with the backlog and the current processing times. A big part of the problem is the lack of adequate staffing levels at the local offices. In fact, he said that there are people at the Edmonton office who have spouses whose applications for citizenship are stuck in the same hell as everyone else's and they very much understand what many of us are feeling.
The most important tidbit I got today is regarding the order in which responses to form CIT0520 are being processed. This may not be news to some, but it was to me. It matters not when you were given/replied to CIT 0520, but rather when your application was initially submitted. That is, the files are placed in queue and are being reviewed according to your file number (which is assigned sequentially at the time the application is received in Sydney).
The newly hired staff at CIC-Edmonton has finally started to work on the pile of non-routine files, in two independent streams, RQs and RQ Lites. The fellow said that for applications where CIT0520 was issued, file numbers that start with "439" (439xxxx, not to be confused with your 4-digit UCI number) the review will likely be completed over the next 2 to 3 months (e.i. by the end of April). File numbers 440xxxx and above - who knows... 5, 6 or many more months into the future. This is consistent with the response I got to my email to the CIC higher-up who, as of December/January informed me that in my particular case, I can expect a final resolution in six months (basically by June). My file number, I just checked after coming back to my office, is 4397xxx.
I was also under the impression that the reviewing officer can still refer the file to a citizenship judge for a hearing but was told that CJs are now completely out of the picture and that if a hearing/interview was required, it will be conducted by the citizenship officer. I then asked what if it turns out or it seems that an applicant is a few days short -- does the officer have the authority to use the Koo/centralized mode of existence test and grant them citizenship. The answer appears to be "Yes". The reason for that is that the purpose (at least now) of CIC0520 is not to so much to help prove the exact number of days a person has been in Canada, but for the officer to basically look at the documents and be confident in saying to himself, yup, this person has obviously lived and worked in Canada over this 4-year period. They might call an employer and ask if you've worked there or if you've taken 3-month long vacations, but what they are looking for is a general sense of what you've been up to, and not for you to prove where you were at 9:53 am on February 16, 2013 or anything like that.
I also confirmed with him that unless a passport stamp is from places like Iran or Egypt where the date is not in a Western format, a translation is not really necessary.
Hey bambino, what about the regular applicants with no RQ/RQLite? Do they get new officers as well, because that line is just as slow as the RQ/RQLite line!
I think I mentioned it in an earlier post that they have made routine cases, especially the straightforward ones, a priority. I believe many of the new hires are working on those. There have been people posting here recently who got their test invitation in less than 18 months, if I'm not mistaken, so that's a definite improvement over the 24 months to just get to the test that 2012 applicants had to endure.ABscientist said:
Ok people, so I received the CBSA report . . . and as expected its not complete as I was not really inspected on a few occasions and it only contained entries to Canada. So I called CIC customer service to ask if it will make any impact to send in a copy with revised residency calculation based on the report. The agent checked my file and said that nothing has being received from CBSA as I was promised during interview, so I can send the report in if I want. At the interview in early Dec 2014, I was told that CBSA report will be requested and it will only take 48 hrs (hope she doesn't mean 48 weeks ;D).
Also, the agent doesn't have any information about future oath dates in Edmonton - Anyone know how the dates are set?.
By the way, I am not sending the CBSA report in.
Also, the agent doesn't have any information about future oath dates in Edmonton - Anyone know how the dates are set?.
By the way, I am not sending the CBSA report in.
My timeline...Gemt2014 said:Thanks for all the info Bambino
We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on February 12, 2014.
We sent you a letter acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on February 12, 2014. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
We started processing your application on March 28, 2014.