Gaps in the passport validity during the citizenship eligibility period

[arsal385]

Dear all,
Am going to apply citienship application soon along with my dependent family members.
However, my family members passport has been expired in Sept 2018 and thus there is a gap of 1 year and a half during the eligibilty period.
I wrote an explanation why I was unable to renew their passports.
However, I heard that any gap in passport validity will delay the processing time.
Is it true?

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Dear all,
Am going to apply citienship application soon along with my dependent family members.
However, my family members passport has been expired in Sept 2018 and thus there is a gap of 1 year and a half during the eligibilty period.
I wrote an explanation why I was unable to renew their passports.
However, I heard that any gap in passport validity will delay the processing time.
Is it true?

Short answer = Somewhat likely

You'll have to provide an adequate explanation as to why there is a gap between passports OR why your family member doesn't have a passport at this time. This doesn't automatically mean that your application will go into non-routine processing but it is somewhat likely.

One of the primary reasons why they ask for passport (from the reading that I have done) is tally the trips you've mentioned in the physical presence calculator with stamps on your passport (during the interview). They want to be absolutely sure that you were where you said you were and to also verify the duration of the any trips you might have been on during the eligibility period. (CBSA hasn't been recording exit information for air travels).

If the case officers are satisfied with the explanation and if things check out, the gaps would not have any negative effect on the application. However, if the officer is not satisfied or needs more documentation / explanation about this, then application would go into non-routine processing and as a consequence, there might be delays.

 

[arsal385]

Short answer = Somewhat likely

You'll have to provide an adequate explanation as to why there is a gap between passports OR why your family member doesn't have a passport at this time. This doesn't automatically mean that your application will go into non-routine processing but it is somewhat likely.

One of the primary reasons why they primarily ask for passport (from the reading that I have done) is tally the trips you've mentioned in the physical presence calculator with stamps on your passport (during the interview). They want to be absolutely sure that you were where you said you were and to also verify the duration of the any trips you might have been on during the eligibility period. (CBSA hasn't been recording exit information for air travels).

If the case officers are satisfied with the explanation and if things check out, the gaps would not have any negative effect on the application. However, if the officer is not satisfied or needs more documentation / explanation about this, then application would go into non-routine processing and as a consequence, there might be delays.

Dear Raj,
Thanks for the detailed response- much appreciated.
We didnt travel outside the Canada since we landed in Canada as a PR and also mentioned that in residency calculator.

Actually, We were not able to renew the passport which was expired in September 2018 as we dont have facility of passport renewal in our city Saskatoon.
In order to get the passport renewal we had to travel to Pakistan embassy in Toronto which is miles away from Saskatoon and isnt that easy specially with kids.
I have explained that in citizenship form to satisfy case worker.
What do you reckon? Would that be sufficient to fullfil case worker requirements?
Regards,

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Dear Raj,
Thanks for the detailed response- much appreciated.
We didnt travel outside the Canada since we landed in Canada as a PR and also mentioned that in residency calculator.

Actually, We were not able to renew the passport which was expired in September 2018 as we dont have facility of passport renewal in our city Saskatoon.
In order to get the passport renewal we had to travel to Pakistan embassy in Toronto which is miles away from Saskatoon and isnt that easy specially with kids.
I have explained that in citizenship form to satisfy case worker.
What do you reckon? Would that be sufficient to fullfil case worker requirements?
Regards,

This appears to be a very valid reason.

Please remember that the case officers are vested with some degree of discretion in some matters (matters such as this one). It is up to the processing officer to decide if more documentation needs to be requested or not. Since this depends on a person's discretion and it differs from person to person, it wouldn't make much sense to try and predict the outcome.

I hope that your application doesn't go into non-routine processing. Wish you good luck.

 

[arsal385]

This appears to be a very valid reason.

Please remember that the case officers are vested with certain degree of discretion in some matters (matters such as this one). It is up to the processing officer to decide if more documentation needs to be requested or not. Since this depends on a person's discretion and it differs from person to person, it wouldn't make much sense to try and predict the outcome.

I hope that your application doesn't go into non-routine processing. Wish you good luck.

Agreed with you as it varies from case worker to case worker.
I hate this non routine processing which takes ages on top of this Covid-19 delay.

One of my relative had non routine process which took more than 2 years to get his approval back in 2018. Eventhough he never travelled outside of Canada but applied for citizenship with expired passport.