What binds us together in this group is our lazer focus on that moment when a government functionary looks at our file and decides this one is good to go.
I'll share a side story to give your mind a moment of distraction.
I sent in my citizenship application in January. IRCC says on their website the processing time is 12 months which means 80% of applications are done by then.
My PR card expires in mid-November. I travel across the border occasionally for business reasons. More importantly, I have a week long Caribbean holiday booked and paid in mid-December.
Two IRCC employees have casually said not to worry about it, I'll be done by then. If not, just show my expired PR card.
Well, I'm.70 days away from my trip. I've been “In Process” for the last six months. During a moment of idle curiosity I looked up “travel with expired Permanent Resident card”. Nope. Can't do it. I need either a valid PR card or a Permanent Resident Travel Document which can only be applied for outside of Canada.
(
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=065&top=10)
Which means I'm just one eagle eyed airline Check-in agent away from no vacation, money all gone.
PR renewal is $50, processing time is 22 days. After careful consideration I decided to think of the $50 fee like travel insurance. I'll have the card for the trip. If Citizenship happens before the PR I'll tell them to stop the PR process. If Citizenship happens after I get the card I will be happy to give them back their new card.
In the meantime I have one less thing to worry about.
Okay. Enough diversion. Go check your application status. And good luck!
