Online citizenship test

[SAM Jani]

By email. Got it around an hour ago. Date before was March 26, 2020, Cancelled on March 14 due to COVID.

Thank, God Bless.

 

[carol90]

April 2019 applicant here. Test Cancelled March 2020. Just received online citizenship test invitations for Feb 19 until March 11. Scarborough Office.

Congratulations

 

[Babyboy_legolas]

Are interviews still being conducted after the online tests.

some of them yes.

 

[Babyboy_legolas]

I am a september-19 applicant, my test was cancelled three days before (I had March 17 th for testing and interview). about a month ago, I received an online interview request, which we did three weeks ago.
We are supposed to received the online invite. I've talked today with IRCC and they basically told me that the queue line for online testing is huge and because the program is still a pilot, they are facing a lot of issues (connectivity, identity, etc). so the invitation are being handled very slowly. No timelines or anything.
We were supposed to have the interview after the testing, but something was flagged in our process (wrong form filled) and for that reason they were confirming before; but in our benefit, after the testing, we should go straight to decision made.

So diligently waiting for test now....

 

[Rondee]

Thanks! I'm guessing you are from the Surrey office right? If yes, I read that they're a bit slower than Vancouver.

I hope you get DM soon though.

Thank you. I have no idea which office is processing my application.

 

[Kartik1979]

Hi all, I appeared for online test on Dec 17 2020, no update till date. Status showing still under processing. What’s the typical time from test to DM? Anyone in the same boat ?

 

[prash42]

Seems like the hoped for ramp up in online tests, post successful pilot, is not really happening? August 2020 applicant here, and wondering if it's pointless to hope for Canadian passports within the next 6-7 months. What are the latest predictions?

My wife's Indian passport expires in September this year, and I was really hoping to avoid applying for a renewal. Entire family's US visas expiring in a few months too. First world problems I suppose, but still annoying.

 

[Flandernss]

August 2019 applicant here waiting for ramp up in online tests...

 

[harirajmohan]

Seems like the hoped for ramp up in online tests, post successful pilot, is not really happening? August 2020 applicant here, and wondering if it's pointless to hope for Canadian passports within the next 6-7 months. What are the latest predictions?

My wife's Indian passport expires in September this year, and I was really hoping to avoid applying for a renewal. Entire family's US visas expiring in a few months too. First world problems I suppose, but still annoying.

Aug2020 cant have much hope for completing the process this year unless they complete all 2019 within 3 months and til jul 2020 in next 3 months. Its just not possible.

Get your passports renewed if you plan on traveling outside. its advisable to have 6 months validity for any international travel.
US visa: its another episode of waiting game till now unless they open regular appointments next month or have to choose request emergency for appointment. Till now they are cancelling regular appointments every month.

So both processes now are on waiting zone.

 

[canvisa13]

Seems like the hoped for ramp up in online tests, post successful pilot, is not really happening? August 2020 applicant here, and wondering if it's pointless to hope for Canadian passports within the next 6-7 months. What are the latest predictions?

My wife's Indian passport expires in September this year, and I was really hoping to avoid applying for a renewal. Entire family's US visas expiring in a few months too. First world problems I suppose, but still annoying.

Aug-2020 is very unlikely this year, but not impossible (unless some miracle makes them to work fast). Based on their snail speed so far, you might get test invite early 2022, and it might take end of spring-2022 to get citizenship certificate. So its better to get passport renewed. Only downside is you have to pay the money for renewal of the passport now, and also again around $500 just to cancel it after few months. Really annoying situation we are all in. Good luck.

 

[prash42]

Thanks, I think you're right. No choice but to make the passport renewal trek. Even if decide to drop international travel plans for a year, need a passport for emergencies.

On a separate note, we've skipped getting Schengen past couple of years saying we have a 10-year multiple entry to the US, so why not wait for visa-free travel to Europe with a Canadian passport. Now if we're forced to anyway get a visa, might as well get a Schengen instead of the US

Aug2020 cant have much hope for completing the process this year unless they complete all 2019 within 3 months and til jul 2020 in next 3 months. Its just not possible.

Get your passports renewed if you plan on traveling outside. its advisable to have 6 months validity for any international travel.
US visa: its another episode of waiting game till now unless they open regular appointments next month or have to choose request emergency for appointment. Till now they are cancelling regular appointments every month.

So both processes now are on waiting zone.

 

[prash42]

Good luck.

August 2019 applicant here waiting for ramp up in online tests...

 

[BOYX]

Seems like the hoped for ramp up in online tests, post successful pilot, is not really happening? August 2020 applicant here, and wondering if it's pointless to hope for Canadian passports within the next 6-7 months. What are the latest predictions?

My wife's Indian passport expires in September this year, and I was really hoping to avoid applying for a renewal. Entire family's US visas expiring in a few months too. First world problems I suppose, but still annoying.

Still waiting on a user to receive IRCC's online tests & oaths data.

If IRCC is able to overcome the issues which are preventing them from achieving their online infrastructure's full potential, then we may potentially have half of the 2020 applicants complete the process by year end. The online platform allows IRCC to forgo physical constraints and enable for larger mass invites than otherwise. Further, with the population-wide vaccine access promised by September, we may see invites ramped up as more and more IRCC workers head back to office.

IRCC has likely already proactively completed the processing stage for Jan 2020 applicants up to around March 2020 (lower end estimate) OR up to around June 2020 (higher end estimate).

What about the numbers?

There are around 300k applicants in all of 2020. Tack on approximately 60k applicants remaining from 2019. Therefore, the total pending applications are around 360k. Further, from Jan 2020 to June 2020, we will have around 150k applicants (I made a whole post previously on where I got these numbers from).

There are also 252 working days this year - removing Jan & Feb, it leaves us with 214 days.

If IRCC averages 1k oath & test invites per working day, they will cover 214k applicants. These applicants include the 60k from 2019 & the remaining 154k from Jan 2020 to June 2020. Now that is 1k test invites per DAY. Prior to COVID, IRCC was averaging half of this with their physical testing and oath set up.

The optimist in me can see IRCC pull off 1k invites per day - potentially even more when workers head back to office. The pessimist in me feels IRCC will be satisfied with the old average and thus we would only barely see any 2020 applicants complete the process by this year. The realist in me awaits hard data, as it is then when we will figure out the serious estimate.

 

[canvisa13]

Still waiting on a user to receive IRCC's online tests & oaths data.

If IRCC is able to overcome the issues which are preventing them from achieving their online infrastructure's full potential, then we may potentially have half of the 2020 applicants complete the process by year end. The online platform allows IRCC to forgo physical constraints and enable for larger mass invites than otherwise. Further, with the population-wide vaccine access promised by September, we may see invites ramped up as more and more IRCC workers head back to office.

IRCC has likely already proactively completed the processing stage for Jan 2020 applicants up to around March 2020 (lower end estimate) OR up to around June 2020 (higher end estimate).

What about the numbers?

There are around 300k applicants in all of 2020. Tack on approximately 60k applicants remaining from 2019. Therefore, the total pending applications are around 360k. Further, from Jan 2020 to June 2020, we will have around 150k applicants (I made a whole post previously on where I got these numbers from).

There are also 252 working days this year - removing Jan & Feb, it leaves us with 214 days.

If IRCC averages 1k oath & test invites per working day, they will cover 214k applicants. These applicants include the 60k from 2019 & the remaining 154k from Jan 2020 to June 2020. Now that is 1k test invites per DAY. Prior to COVID, IRCC was averaging half of this with their physical testing and oath set up.

The optimist in me can see IRCC pull off 1k invites per day - potentially even more when workers head back to office. The pessimist in me feels IRCC will be satisfied with the old average and thus we would only barely see any 2020 applicants complete the process by this year. The realist in me awaits hard data, as it is then when we will figure out the serious estimate.

I guess and speculate that the crux of the problem might be the province level employees either rejecting (or) avoiding the modernization (online) of the system because the online tests and oaths must be on federal servers (common location). If they implement and scale up the online process, successfully, then there is no need of current staff (and most of repeated and redundancy jobs will be eliminated savings lots of money and speeding up the process). So, I guess, most of employees(read union) must not be ok with this change. Again, these are all my guess, and I could be wrong though. So there is a chance that employees might slow down the online process, just to prove that it is not as efficient as in-person things.

One lesson learnt is I will try to find my next job where there is a union

 

[prash42]

Great context and reasonable guesstimates, thank you. Part of me is tempted to just wait it out, if there's a good chance we might get our Canadian passports by Christmas this year. Perhaps wait till July, and decide whether to apply for the Indian passport renewal at that time, based on citizenship application backlog at that time. Not keen to deal with the Indian consulate any more than absolutely essential, lol.

Hopefully in a year all of this will be in the rearview mirror, and all dealings with IRCC / Indian consulate / USCIS / Schengen will be history.

Still waiting on a user to receive IRCC's online tests & oaths data.

If IRCC is able to overcome the issues which are preventing them from achieving their online infrastructure's full potential, then we may potentially have half of the 2020 applicants complete the process by year end. The online platform allows IRCC to forgo physical constraints and enable for larger mass invites than otherwise. Further, with the population-wide vaccine access promised by September, we may see invites ramped up as more and more IRCC workers head back to office.

IRCC has likely already proactively completed the processing stage for Jan 2020 applicants up to around March 2020 (lower end estimate) OR up to around June 2020 (higher end estimate).

What about the numbers?

There are around 300k applicants in all of 2020. Tack on approximately 60k applicants remaining from 2019. Therefore, the total pending applications are around 360k. Further, from Jan 2020 to June 2020, we will have around 150k applicants (I made a whole post previously on where I got these numbers from).

There are also 252 working days this year - removing Jan & Feb, it leaves us with 214 days.

If IRCC averages 1k oath & test invites per working day, they will cover 214k applicants. These applicants include the 60k from 2019 & the remaining 154k from Jan 2020 to June 2020. Now that is 1k test invites per DAY. Prior to COVID, IRCC was averaging half of this with their physical testing and oath set up.

The optimist in me can see IRCC pull off 1k invites per day - potentially even more when workers head back to office. The pessimist in me feels IRCC will be satisfied with the old average and thus we would only barely see any 2020 applicants complete the process by this year. The realist in me awaits hard data, as it is then when we will figure out the serious estimate.