October 2019 - Citizenship Applicants

[Macarad]

// response from Mississauga office//
Sooooo unfair ..

We apologize, we cannot give you a specific time frame. Since the beginning of COVID-19, IRCC has been increasing its use of digital tools to process Citizenship grant applications. E-applications were implemented in November 2020 in a limited capacity, and other virtual tools have been implemented to move towards virtual processing to the extent possible.



Applications are processed utilizing a first-in first-out processing model, with a small number of the oldest e-applications being processed as well. This ensures that the oldest of paper applications are processed while also allowing the move towards online services. Service delivery and processing times may vary depending on the complexity of each individual case.



The pandemic has had a considerable impact on overall processing times and they may vary from location to location depending on local inventories. IRCC is closely monitoring processing times and is working towards decreasing them as quickly as possible---

Cool story.... why do i feel there is more to it?? hehe

 

[Orgcom]

// response from Mississauga office//
Sooooo unfair ..

We apologize, we cannot give you a specific time frame. Since the beginning of COVID-19, IRCC has been increasing its use of digital tools to process Citizenship grant applications. E-applications were implemented in November 2020 in a limited capacity, and other virtual tools have been implemented to move towards virtual processing to the extent possible.



Applications are processed utilizing a first-in first-out processing model, with a small number of the oldest e-applications being processed as well. This ensures that the oldest of paper applications are processed while also allowing the move towards online services. Service delivery and processing times may vary depending on the complexity of each individual case.



The pandemic has had a considerable impact on overall processing times and they may vary from location to location depending on local inventories. IRCC is closely monitoring processing times and is working towards decreasing them as quickly as possible---

Very interesting, IRCC, please tell me more interesting stories!..

 

[CaBeaver]

Cool story.... why do i feel there is more to it?? hehe

Like what?

 

[Macarad]

Like what?

Ok, here is my take,



Citizenship grants had been ramping up for a while, and they peaked in 2019 with over 250k grants. In spite of COVID, they still processed 110k in 2020. This year has sadly been even slower. From Dec 2020 when online tests started to August 31st 2021, only 56k applications have been finalized (they have not published data for September or October).



Let’s assume that they receive around 200 -250k applications per year. Indeed, that means that most of the applications they have received since March 2020 have not been finalized. As such, it is possible that those “newer” applications that we have heard of that have been completed quickly may only be a small minority. This does NOT change the fact that they should be focusing on clearing the backlog first instead of processing newer applications.



This response from the local office does not provide insight into some of the abnormally long delays we have seen. Take my case, my in-person test was cancelled. IRCC clearly stated in November 2020 that applicants who had their tests cancelled would go first. And yet, it took over 16 months between the date my test was cancelled to when I was finally able to take it online. I’ve been following info on the CIMM reports. I estimate that around 100,000 people were called to take the online test before I was finally called. Then, for my physical presence, the internal report on my travels was completed on March 12th 2020. And yet, I only received the request for additional evidence on October 22nd 2021, more than 19 months later. There is clearly something missing in the way they choose and prioritize which files to work on.



My feeling is that they are simply processing everything at the same time, and now the queues for different parts of the process are huge with both newer and older applications mixed. Obviously, I cannot prove this 100%, and we need IRCC to be more transparent (which is precisely my point and why I feel there is more to it than that short answer they gave).

 

[Orgcom]

My feeling is that they are simply processing everything at the same time, and now the queues for different parts of the process are huge with both newer and older applications mixed.

This is exactly my point. I think they have a set of huge, spinning raffle drums (at least at the Montreal office) where they load the new applicants constantly. They pull out randomly some from time to time to do some processing on their applications. After the processing is done, they load the names of the applicants into another huge ruffle drum (say "oath drum") and the sequence continues...

 

[CaBeaver]

Ok, here is my take,



Citizenship grants had been ramping up for a while, and they peaked in 2019 with over 250k grants. In spite of COVID, they still processed 110k in 2020. This year has sadly been even slower. From Dec 2020 when online tests started to August 31st 2021, only 56k applications have been finalized (they have not published data for September or October).



Let’s assume that they receive around 200 -250k applications per year. Indeed, that means that most of the applications they have received since March 2020 have not been finalized. As such, it is possible that those “newer” applications that we have heard of that have been completed quickly may only be a small minority. This does NOT change the fact that they should be focusing on clearing the backlog first instead of processing newer applications.



This response from the local office does not provide insight into some of the abnormally long delays we have seen. Take my case, my in-person test was cancelled. IRCC clearly stated in November 2020 that applicants who had their tests cancelled would go first. And yet, it took over 16 months between the date my test was cancelled to when I was finally able to take it online. I’ve been following info on the CIMM reports. I estimate that around 100,000 people were called to take the online test before I was finally called. Then, for my physical presence, the internal report on my travels was completed on March 12th 2020. And yet, I only received the request for additional evidence on October 22nd 2021, more than 19 months later. There is clearly something missing in the way they choose and prioritize which files to work on.



My feeling is that they are simply processing everything at the same time, and now the queues for different parts of the process are huge with both newer and older applications mixed. Obviously, I cannot prove this 100%, and we need IRCC to be more transparent (which is precisely my point and why I feel there is more to it than that short answer they gave).

We can request notes on IRCC I believe, instead on a specific file. Someone did it in the past and shared it. The notes shed light on the internal affairs of IRCC. If someone order a new notes, we will know for sure what's going on.

 

[Paoloartois]

Good day all,
I was asked to provide colour pages of passports and I did so, I sent them by registered mail and obtain receipt proof, now it has been 40 days no news or further update.
I checked both new system and Ecas, looking at my application status for each step there is an activity been logged, like initial application receipt then processing, finger print request, test update etc, but there is no activates logged against the last request for passport copies. Is it normal?

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and feedback.

Hi there,

Why did you send this request by regular mail and not to the email of the office requesting it ?

Attached to my request in YELLOW stated to reply to that email with my passport scanned.

Just wondering...

 

[vvarma]

// response from Mississauga office//
Sooooo unfair ..

We apologize, we cannot give you a specific time frame. Since the beginning of COVID-19, IRCC has been increasing its use of digital tools to process Citizenship grant applications. E-applications were implemented in November 2020 in a limited capacity, and other virtual tools have been implemented to move towards virtual processing to the extent possible.



Applications are processed utilizing a first-in first-out processing model, with a small number of the oldest e-applications being processed as well. This ensures that the oldest of paper applications are processed while also allowing the move towards online services. Service delivery and processing times may vary depending on the complexity of each individual case.



The pandemic has had a considerable impact on overall processing times and they may vary from location to location depending on local inventories. IRCC is closely monitoring processing times and is working towards decreasing them as quickly as possible---

Look at the red highlighted part above - does anybody feel that IRCC has now blatantly admitted that they are simultaneously processing online applications as well?

 

[bellaluna]

Look at the red highlighted part above - does anybody feel that IRCC has now blatantly admitted that they are simultaneously processing online applications as well?

Why get worked up over this detail? Would you rather they lied about something that was blatantly happening?

It was obviously a pilot program that they trained a few employees for, and it turned out to be a much faster and efficient workflow. Get mad instead over why they didn’t transition to that much sooner.

 

[ajtoronto]

In the last 6 months, CIC has administered Oaths to over 65,000 people in Canada (all virtually). The Oaths are being held 3 times a day, 6 days a week with on average 35-40 people at each of these sessions.

 

[debjmid]

In the last 6 months, CIC has administered Oaths to over 65,000 people in Canada (all virtually). The Oaths are being held 3 times a day, 6 days a week with on average 35-40 people at each of these sessions.

This sounds like you had your oath ceremony yesterday. Congrats

 

[Macarad]

In the last 6 months, CIC has administered Oaths to over 65,000 people in Canada (all virtually). The Oaths are being held 3 times a day, 6 days a week with on average 35-40 people at each of these sessions.

Hi!

Just a quick question. Would you mind telling me the source of that info?

I've been looking at this link from IRCC
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/9b34e712-513f-44e9-babf-9df4f7256550/resource/0c8bfc6c-9787-41c6-825c-46b9ddf1f4ad

Your data is more optimistic hehe, so I would much rather believe that your figures are correct.

Thanks!

 

[CaBeaver]

In the last 6 months, CIC has administered Oaths to over 65,000 people in Canada (all virtually). The Oaths are being held 3 times a day, 6 days a week with on average 35-40 people at each of these sessions.

40*3*6*4*6=17,280

 

[ajtoronto]

Hi!

Just a quick question. Would you mind telling me the source of that info?

I've been looking at this link from IRCC
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/9b34e712-513f-44e9-babf-9df4f7256550/resource/0c8bfc6c-9787-41c6-825c-46b9ddf1f4ad

Your data is more optimistic hehe, so I would much rather believe that your figures are correct.

Thanks!

This was mentioned during the Oath ceremony.

 

[JuCW]

I just sent an email to our Minister of Immigration. Before I give up this citizenship thing, I had to do it.