Info on File transfer; Traveling abroad; international fingerprints; PR expiring while abroad.

[GeoCanadian]

Hello everyone,

I thought I'd share our experience with the citizenship application for the benefit of those going through similar circumstances. Our case is an interesting one in terms of four things (1)It shows that long trips of even several months-long are not an issue when your citizenship case is pending, as long as you keep informing the IRCC of your travels; (2)Also, it may happen that, after formally requesting the file transfer with a letter sent via post/courier service, the IRCC may manage to complete the file transfer from one end of the country to the other AND even call you for the citizenship test within just 10 days of receiving your file transfer request; (3)Even if your PR card expires abroad, as long as you get your PR Travel Document in time for the citizenship test, this is not an issue either (of course, processing times and expenses related to requesting the PR Travel document are a nuisance, but when you have to do it, you have to do it); And, (4)Submitting fingerprints from abroad is possible (albeit expensive and time consuming).

Anyways, here is our family Citizenship application history:

>Our family's application for citizenship (my spouse, our son and I) was received by IRCC on August 13th, 2018;
>We received AOR on October 29th, 2018;
>November 15th, 2018 - Vancouver IRCC office started processing our application (we submitted it from Nanaimo, Vancouver Island);
>We moved to Halifax and updated our Canadian address with IRCC on October 15th;
>November 27th, 2018 - Despite the address change, Vancouver IRCC was the one which requested RCMP fingerprint record for my spouse only;
>Due to the fact that my spouse has been staying with her parents (her mom is having health issues) overseas since November 1st and had to go through the complicated procedure submitting her fingerprints through the international channels, we requested an extension of time (via online system) and finally submitted the RCMP fingerprint report to Vancouver IRCC branch on February 15th, 2019 and emailed the Vancouver IRCC office an email in which we asked for a file transfer.
>BTW, My spouse's PR card expired on January 31st, 2019, while she was still overseas (she did not expect to stay there that long) and she had to apply and has received a so-called PR Travel Document (looks like a TRV foil affixed to the passport) to be able to travel back to Canada. This did take good 40-days and some additional expenses.
>As there was no change reflected in ECAS, I called IRCC around March 11, 2019, and we were informed that the file was still in Vancouver and its transfer to the nearest IRCC office to us was not going to happen automatically, despite the new address being on file with the IRCC and me mentioning this in an email to the IRCC office. IRCC advised us that if we wanted to transfer our application file, we should send a letter via post/courier (and not online or email) to the IRCC office on Expo Boulevard in Vancouver.
>We sent the letter by post to the Vancouver IRCC requested the file transfer to Halifax IRCC and this was received by Vancouver IRCC on March 19th, 2019.
>Even though ECAS never showed that our file transfer had taken place, unexpectedly, on March 29th, 2019 - just ten days after filing the file transfer request, we received an invitation for the citizenship test that will take place on April 16th in Halifax, NS. Needless to say, the file transfer for us was very swift compared to others' experience. I suspect this may have to do with several factors (a)the fact that our family application had been pending for seven months, and (b)perhaps the receiving location (Halifax IRCC branch) may have been not as busy as some other places.

Hope this is useful for someone looking for information on any of these twists in the citizenship case (I know, I have many a time searched for the information about others' experiences in similar situations). Good luck to everyone

 

[sujani]

Thank you for sharing your experience.
Can you tel you me how much were the charges and time consumed to send fingerprints overseas?

 

[GeoCanadian]

Thank you for sharing your experience.
Can you tel you me how much were the charges and time consumed to send fingerprints overseas?

So, in a foreign country, you have to find a locally accredited forensics unit or agency or police station that can verify your identity and take your ink fingerprints using the standard English/French fingerprint card. Fingerprints must be of high definition, high quality. The fingerprint card must be accompanied by a notarized letter that certifies that the agency verified your identity and took your fingerprint imprints as in the attached fingerprint card. Then, you have to courier everything to Commissioners in Ottawa so that they can digitize your ink fingerprints and submit them to the RCMP and then to the IRCC. See https://www.commissionaires-ottawa.on.ca/pages/services-en/fingerprinting-background-screening/international-fingerprinting/
The local costs for fingerprinting and notarized certification varies, of course. Commissioners charge about $260CAD for the whole process if I remember correctly. Plus courier expenses.

Time - for us the local process overseas took 5 days from the day we had our ink fingerprints done and the time we picked up the notarized certificate and the fingerprint card. The courier took another 4 days to deliver it to Commissioners in Ottawa. It took about two weeks for the Commissioners to digitize and pass the fingerprints to RCMP and another two weeks for RCMP to send the report to IRCC. So, approximately 4 weeks altogether. We did request additional time beyond the deadline to submit the fingerprints, which was granted without a problem.

 

[Chocolaye]

So, in a foreign country, you have to find a locally accredited forensics unit or agency or police station that can verify your identity and take your ink fingerprints using the standard English/French fingerprint card. Fingerprints must be of high definition, high quality. The fingerprint card must be accompanied by a notarized letter that certifies that the agency verified your identity and took your fingerprint imprints as in the attached fingerprint card. Then, you have to courier everything to Commissioners in Ottawa so that they can digitize your ink fingerprints and submit them to the RCMP and then to the IRCC. See https://www.commissionaires-ottawa.on.ca/pages/services-en/fingerprinting-background-screening/international-fingerprinting/
The local costs for fingerprinting and notarized certification varies, of course. Commissioners charge about $260CAD for the whole process if I remember correctly. Plus courier expenses.

Time - for us the local process overseas took 5 days from the day we had our ink fingerprints done and the time we picked up the notarized certificate and the fingerprint card. The courier took another 4 days to deliver it to Commissioners in Ottawa. It took about two weeks for the Commissioners to digitize and pass the fingerprints to RCMP and another two weeks for RCMP to send the report to IRCC. So, approximately 4 weeks altogether. We did request additional time beyond the deadline to submit the fingerprints, which was granted without a problem.

Hi,
How di you find a locally accredited forensics unit or agency? Is there any list available?

 

[iceman55]

Hi,
How di you find a locally accredited forensics unit or agency? Is there any list available?

iirc RCMP has an email address on their site for this. If you write to them they will provide the list for your country.