I applied during covid, Sept 2020, I only got my PR on April 2022
I went through so many breakdowns during that 1 year and 7 months... i dont want to experience the same!
January 2025 - Citizenship Applications
- Thread starter forw.jane
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I applied during covid, Sept 2020, I only got my PR on April 2022
I went through so many breakdowns during that 1 year and 7 months... i dont want to experience the same!If you call IRCC you can just ask them what your primary office is. In my case, Webforms always get same generic reply.
Im sorry to hear that. Hang in there it’ll come through. Make sure to renew your PR if your expiration is within the next 6-9months.I applied during covid, Sept 2020, I only got my PR on April 2022
I understand where you are coming from; my PR took two years to process, as I also applied during COVID. But again, the citizen processing time in January is supposed to be within 7 months from AOR to taking the oath. For most of us, we are 3.5 to 4 months in the processing timeline. So, we are essentially halfway through it and everything should be fine. By the end of the year none of us would even remember all this waiting!I applied during covid, Sept 2020, I only got my PR on April 2022
I understand the wait for PR can be extremely anxiety-inducing because your status as a temporary resident might expire soon, but I'm just curious why you think you would go through breakdowns waiting for your citizenship grant? If you are already a PR, your status will no longer expire like pre-PR.I applied during covid, Sept 2020, I only got my PR on April 2022
I keep reminding myself that citizenship grant is probably very low priority for IRCC. To be fair, at least for most applicants, whether you get citizenship or not probably won't impact your life much in Canada since you are already a PR. Even if you need to travel, you can always use your current passport and apply for visas as needed. The stakes are simply way higher for many temporary residents trying to get their PR applications processed.
I would love to get my citizenship sooner than later, but as long as I get it within the official processing time, I would consider IRCC to have done their job properly.
My AOR came from Sydney and test invite from Scarborough. That's all I know; I wouldn't be surprised if it has since been assigned to Vancouver since it's moving rather slow.
I think it’s quite evident the system is collapsing under the immigration load.
The issue I have with standard processing time is that it is a moving target. As per my last conversation with IRCC if the application is processed within 10months it is considered within official processing time (despite the processing time being closer to 7 months in Jan). So who is to say processing time will not go up to 10-12 or even 24 months within the next year.
I do agree with you and think that for reducing stress, the best thing to to is file it and forget it. With maybe a nudge to IRCC every 3 or so months.
The issue I have with standard processing time is that it is a moving target. As per my last conversation with IRCC if the application is processed within 10months it is considered within official processing time (despite the processing time being closer to 7 months in Jan). So who is to say processing time will not go up to 10-12 or even 24 months within the next year.
I do agree with you and think that for reducing stress, the best thing to to is file it and forget it. With maybe a nudge to IRCC every 3 or so months.
My understanding is that immigration has slowed down, with fewer students coming in, along with how it is harder to get a PR now. If IRCC can survive COVID and all the immigration programs launched at that time, I am sure they're doing fine now.
I could be wrong about this, but my understanding is that the processing time shown when you applied is the processing time they will stick with for your application. Then if you apply now, you would be in the 10 months processing time bucket. I couldn't find a reference to this specifically, so I could be mistaken (best I could find is this: https://ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=535&top=3, which does say "Forward-looking processing times tell you how long we expect it will take us to process an application if we receive it today. We update these monthly.").
My friends and acquaintances who came to Canada around the same time as me, has gotten their citizenship processed and taken their oath within 5 to 7 months. So Just from anecdotal experience, they seem to still be able to maintain their processing timeline. Maybe IRCC could do a better job giving applicants more incremental updates, nonetheless here's hoping we get our updates soon!
Its not the case every time. I need my citizenship asap as i mentioned earlier i have medical conditions and upcoming travel related to it in june. I submitted webform as well for urgent processing no response from vancouver office. If i will not get my citizenship on time i will stuck badly in document works further. For my spouse and my child as well.
Posting my timeline to share some lessons learned on the citizenship test and application process/requirements. IRCC rejected my online citizenship test (passed on March 26, 2025) due to most likely technical issues with the web app for this test and requested an in-person test and citizenship interview. I also was requested to submit copies of all pages of my passports during my 5-year eligibility period including a certified translation of anything that was not in English (this applies to the passport stamps too), note this is something I was not required to submit in my online application. I submitted the copies of all pages of my passports and their certified translations a couple of days later after receiving the request. However, all the requests made delayed my application process for an additional 2 months.
When I attended my in-person citizenship test and interview found out that many people in Calgary are being required to present an in-person test and citizenship interview. The good news is I passed my in-person test (perfect score) and at the citizenship interview the officer was kind and only asked to show him my id and inquired my current occupation. He also kindly let me know that my application reviewers were still needing a transcript for my Canadian studies as proof of language. This was also an unexpected request from the reviewers given that I submitted a copy of my college studies diploma in Canada with my application and IRCC only asks either a diploma/certificate or a transcript for Canadian studies in the application guidelines, and does not require to submit both. After my citizenship interview I submitted right away an official transcript for completion of my studies and got all my application items approved and updated to completed after a couple of days.
So three lessons from my experience: 1. Submit all pages of your passport with a certified translation where applicable or if you are like me and were confused by unclear or updated requirements have a certified translator ready and available for any translation needed for your documents (this saved me time when I was requested my passports with translation). 2. Be extremely careful in using the web app for the online citizenship test, I suspect they rejected me because I was reading and moving my lips while taking the online test even though I was not talking at all, literally be like a robot and just read and respond (do not move the face or body or do anything weird in your computer). 3. When sending college/undergrad documents as proof of language you may consider sending both a diploma/certificate and an official transcript to avoid being asked later for either of them.
Below is my actual and revised timeline for the Jan 2025 Citizenship application spreadsheet:
When I attended my in-person citizenship test and interview found out that many people in Calgary are being required to present an in-person test and citizenship interview. The good news is I passed my in-person test (perfect score) and at the citizenship interview the officer was kind and only asked to show him my id and inquired my current occupation. He also kindly let me know that my application reviewers were still needing a transcript for my Canadian studies as proof of language. This was also an unexpected request from the reviewers given that I submitted a copy of my college studies diploma in Canada with my application and IRCC only asks either a diploma/certificate or a transcript for Canadian studies in the application guidelines, and does not require to submit both. After my citizenship interview I submitted right away an official transcript for completion of my studies and got all my application items approved and updated to completed after a couple of days.
So three lessons from my experience: 1. Submit all pages of your passport with a certified translation where applicable or if you are like me and were confused by unclear or updated requirements have a certified translator ready and available for any translation needed for your documents (this saved me time when I was requested my passports with translation). 2. Be extremely careful in using the web app for the online citizenship test, I suspect they rejected me because I was reading and moving my lips while taking the online test even though I was not talking at all, literally be like a robot and just read and respond (do not move the face or body or do anything weird in your computer). 3. When sending college/undergrad documents as proof of language you may consider sending both a diploma/certificate and an official transcript to avoid being asked later for either of them.
Below is my actual and revised timeline for the Jan 2025 Citizenship application spreadsheet:
| ID | JS |
| Location | Calgary |
| App. Type | Single |
| PhP Days | 1204 |
| App. Sent | 17-Jan-25 |
| App. Delivered | 17-Jan-25 |
| AOR | 3-Feb-25 |
| IP | 6-Feb-25 |
| FP Request | N/A |
| FP Received | N/A |
| BC Complete | 21-Feb-25 |
| Test Invite letter/ecas date | 7-Mar-25 |
| Test Passed | 26-May-25 |
| Test ECAS Complete | 27-May-25 |
| Language ECAS Complete | 27-May-25 |
| Prohibitions ECAS Complete | 27-May-25 |
| PhP ECAS Complete | 27-May-25 |
| DM date ECAS | |
| Oath Letter Date | |
| Oath Ceremony | |
| Notes (FP Request Date, Exam Score, Interview, ...etc) | Online, IRCC rejected online exam for unknown reasons and requested an in-person test and citizenship interview. At citizenship interview they requested to see a college transcript even though a copy of the official diploma was submitted with the online application. Submitted official transcript on May 27, 2025. Note that IRCC claimed the application status items were completed in May 27, 2025 but they did not post this until May 29, 2025 and this was the effective date when I found in the application status website completion of my application. |
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I see no particular evidence of this. What are you referring to?
There are some complaints about the refugee, H&C, and PGP apps processing - and those are arguably reasonable complaints, but they're also choices by government. And there have always been complaints about different programs and things.
What 'collapsed' was support for large numbers of student visas and TFWs in a context of a housing crisis. And there's going to be increased demand for any way for those temp residents to remain.
But citizenship processing going from an estimated 7 mos to 10-11 mos is not 'collapse.' 7 months was already probably close to the lowest ever.
Estimated timeframes change. They're still publishing them. They seem to still be reasonably close (for the citizenship ones anyway).
I don't want to put you on the spot to disclose your issue (it's your business) - but the bottom line could simply be that IRCC does not evaluate your request for urgent processing as something meeting their requirements to grant that urgent processing.
I received an email "Please find the instructions to download your electronic Canadian Citizenship Certificate (e-Certificate) in the attached document" and I created a IRCC Portal Account, but nothing is there. Also I havent received the oath invitation email and my tracker account - oath invitation is grey... what should I do?