Hearing with Citizenship Officer after Failing 2 Tests

[perlom]

Hello all,

My wife failed the written citizenship two times, she got 14/20 in both cases. We received a letter in the mail to meet up with a citizenship officer. However, we only checked that mailbox in the same day of the scheduled interview. Now, we received the second letter to meet with a citizenship officer in Scarborough.

This letter did not have any checkbox ticked in front of the 4 possible things that the officer can assess ie.

• Adequate knowledge of English/French
• Adequate knowledge of Canada
• Physical presence
• Free from any prohibitions

Non of these checkboxes were checked. My question, what shall we expect in this interview? Anyone with past experience would be helpful and greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance.

 

[dpenabill]

Hello all,

My wife failed the written citizenship two times, she got 14/20 in both cases. We received a letter in the mail to meet up with a citizenship officer. However, we only checked that mailbox in the same day of the scheduled interview. Now, we received the second letter to meet with a citizenship officer in Scarborough.

This letter did not have any checkbox ticked in front of the 4 possible things that the officer can assess ie.

• Adequate knowledge of English/French
• Adequate knowledge of Canada
• Physical presence
• Free from any prohibitions

Non of these checkboxes were checked. My question, what shall we expect in this interview? Anyone with past experience would be helpful and greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance.

I have no personal experience with this.

That said, we know some about the process because this forum has seen occasional reports from those who have gone through this and the procedure is partially explained in PDIs . . . including this one: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/canadian-citizenship/admininistration/decisions/interviewing-adult-applicants.html

In any event, all these matters can be addressed in the interview.

Obviously, the interview will include testing for knowledge of Canada, since that is what has triggered this interview (also referred to as a "hearing"). Previous reports from others suggest that oral knowledge of Canada tests can be more difficult than the written test. So the applicant should make a concerted effort to study the book and prepare for that. For example, some have reported that the oral test was NOT multiple choice.

Demonstrating adequate ability in one of the official languages (English or French) is also an obvious part of any such interview.

Applicants are asked to confirm NO prohibitions at every stage of the process, but this is perfunctory, the applicant simply verifying that there have been no arrests or criminal charges, no inadmissibility report (such as 44(1) RO reports issued at a Port-of-Entry). Same as applicants must again verify when appearing for the oath ceremony. Many times this involves signing a form verifying no prohibitions, the form containing essentially the same items as Item 16 in the 06-2019 version of the citizenship application, CIT 0002 (06-2019) E.

Physical presence might be examined in the interview but most reports indicate this too is perfunctory, a few questions to confirm the information already of record, UNLESS there are reasons to question or challenge the applicant's physical presence calculation.

 

[perlom]

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. I apologize, I just realized after your message that there is a difference, actually the letter we received says “Interview with a Citizenship officer”.
Do that mean we will get another “Hearing” invitation? What should we expect if this was an “interview”?

Thanks

 

[dpenabill]

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. I apologize, I just realized after your message that there is a difference, actually the letter we received says “Interview with a Citizenship officer”.
Do that mean we will get another “Hearing” invitation? What should we expect if this was an “interview”?

Thanks

IRCC information sometimes refers to an "interview" and other times to a "hearing."

My observations above apply to both an interview and a hearing when it involves a "Citizenship Officer." In fact I noted in my previous post the "interview" is sometimes referred to as a "hearing."

. . . that is what has triggered this interview (also referred to as a "hearing").

In terms of what is asked the label makes little or no difference. That said, generally a formal decision is made attendant a "hearing," whereas an interview does not necessarily involve a formal decision (technically an "interview" is for the purpose of gathering information; a hearing is for the purpose of decision-making . . . but this is an interview with the individual who will make the decision whether the applicant is qualified or not, and will make that decision in large part based on this interview, so even though in terms of its format it is an interview, it will have similar effect to a hearing).

In any event, as I noted, this will involve a knowledge of Canada test, probably an oral test (and thus maybe NOT multiple choice). It will include an assessment of the applicant's ability in one of the official languages . . . this is NOT a formal test; rather language ability is generally assessed by engaging in casual conversation . . . many seem to not realize the so-called chit-chat the interviewer engages in is actually done in large part to evaluate the applicant's ability in English or French. Of course the knowledge of Canada test also tests language ability.

It will probably include verification the applicant has no prohibitions.

It may also include questions related to verification of actual physical presence, but if there are no questions or concerns about this requirement, it is not likely there will be many, if any, direct questions related to physical presence. But, nonetheless, questions about actual physical presence can be asked.

 

[perlom]

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. My wife did her best in reviewing the exam material. We went to the interview on Wednesday morning. As you said, the officer actually asked her again 20 questions verbally, which is definitely even harder that the written test, which she already failed twice before. This does make any sense. The officer even didn't engage in any chit chat to try to understand/evaluate why she failed the the written test twice (14 out of 20).

The issue now is that this morning we received a letter stating that her application has been refused due to insufficient of knowledge of Canada (letter received in the mail in less than 48 hours from the interview time, this must be the fasted reply ever from IRCC). My questions, what are our options now? Can we appeal this decision? And what are the chances of success if we appeal.

Also, we re-apply, do we get the fees of the first application back?

I appreciate all your help in this regards!

 

[perlom]

I am reading here about the possibility to seek judicial review of the decision by the Federal Court of Canada. Is that a promising route to take, or is it technically a waste of time?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=905&top=5

 

[tdot96799]

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. My wife did her best in reviewing the exam material. We went to the interview on Wednesday morning. As you said, the officer actually asked her again 20 questions verbally, which is definitely even harder that the written test, which she already failed twice before. This does make any sense. The officer even didn't engage in any chit chat to try to understand/evaluate why she failed the the written test twice (14 out of 20).

The issue now is that this morning we received a letter stating that her application has been refused due to insufficient of knowledge of Canada (letter received in the mail in less than 48 hours from the interview time, this must be the fasted reply ever from IRCC). My questions, what are our options now? Can we appeal this decision? And what are the chances of success if we appeal.

Also, we re-apply, do we get the fees of the first application back?

I appreciate all your help in this regards!

1) Not an expert about you cannot fight this case when they reject you on insufficient knowledge, best you can hire a lawyer and look into the different possibilities about this application.
2) No, they wont return money for the application as you reached the initial processing phase of AOR and Test Invite.

 

[dpenabill]

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. My wife did her best in reviewing the exam material. We went to the interview on Wednesday morning. As you said, the officer actually asked her again 20 questions verbally, which is definitely even harder that the written test, which she already failed twice before. This does make any sense. The officer even didn't engage in any chit chat to try to understand/evaluate why she failed the the written test twice (14 out of 20).

The issue now is that this morning we received a letter stating that her application has been refused due to insufficient of knowledge of Canada (letter received in the mail in less than 48 hours from the interview time, this must be the fasted reply ever from IRCC). My questions, what are our options now? Can we appeal this decision? And what are the chances of success if we appeal.

Also, we re-apply, do we get the fees of the first application back?

I appreciate all your help in this regards!

There is no right to an appeal. The applicant may, however, request leave for judicial review, which is almost like an appeal, and which if granted is basically an appeal.

These days very few citizenship cases appear to get leave.

Moreover, as @tdot96799 suggested, the odds of successfully pursuing judicial review of a decision denying the application based on failing to prove sufficient knowledge of Canada are very, very POOR. To have any feasible chance would require hiring a lawyer, and that would not be worth the expense given the low probability of success (money better spent on paying fees for new application and perhaps classes to prepare for the test).

No need for chit-chat to assess language ability if the applicant is being asked questions in one of the official languages, as that itself tests ability in an official language. Moreover, no need to address other possible grounds for refusing the application, such as language ability, when there is a definitive ground to refuse the application based on failing to prove sufficient knowledge of Canada.

Unfortunately she will need to start the application process over. When she is confident she is ready.

I do not recall the fee structure for citizenship applications or the amounts. She should be refunded the portion of the fees paid that were the "right of citizenship fee." My vague recall is that this is a small portion of the total fee paid. Obviously the application processing fee portion is kept since the application was processed.

 

[saroo970]

Hi, my wife failed the 1st and 2nd written test. We need to know how long it takes till they send for the interview.
1st test was on 08-May-2019
2nd test was on 17-Jun-2019
CO interview is still unknown?


Many Thanks,
Saroo

 

[TaylorS18]

Hi, my wife failed the 1st and 2nd written test. We need to know how long it takes till they send for the interview.
1st test was on 08-May-2019
2nd test was on 17-Jun-2019
CO interview is still unknown?


Many Thanks,
Saroo

My dad also failed his exam twice. He took the first exam on December 2019 and the retest on Feb 2020 and we still haven’t heard back IRCC about a retest/in person interview request ever since. I was wondering if you’ve had any progess in your application?