@dpenabill One question:
It seems to take approx 2-3 months from date of delivery to date of AOR.
But for applications being returned (say for missing documents etc etc.) , what is the average timeline ?
It seems abit sooner ? 1.5 months ?
Another question:
I signed & sent out my application on 8 October this year , it was delivered on 10 October.
on 10 October (that same day) , i took a scheduled flight to Cuba for a weekend thanksgiving vacation for a few days.
Is that ok ?
There are others here who follow particular timelines a lot more closely than I do. I tend to follow larger patterns or trends related to the few matters I am following. So others should be able to offer more current information about reported timelines for returned applications.
Similarly, the procedures involved in applications being returned for incompleteness are not something I follow or ordinarily comment about. (In contrast, I sometimes engage in discussions about reasons for applications being deemed in complete.)
For what it is worth, the reports I have seen indicate it can take significantly longer than most anticipate. While I do not know how applications and files are physically handled in the CPC, what sort of internal mail room or transfer system they have for example, it is clear that in most circumstances the very soonest an "incomplete" application can be put into the procedure for returning it is the same schedule complete applications are receiving AOR. That is, I'd expect the timeline from receipt to AOR (which tends to be somewhat consistent for applications received around the same time but vary from month to month) is probably the same timeline from receipt to decision to return the application.
BUT THEN, as bureaucracies are wont to do, and as IRCC in particular tends to do, that probably means the application is put in a queue for someone else to do the physical tasks involved in actually putting the application into the mail stream. Is that a fast or slow process in CPC-Sydney? I do not know. Does it vary much from time to time? I do not know. What is apparent, however, is that some applicants who report having their application returned do not actually receive the returned application for several weeks and sometimes months past the date others, who submitted their application around the same time, were getting AOR.
As for . . .
"I signed & sent out my application on 8 October this year , it was delivered on 10 October.
on 10 October (that same day) , i took a scheduled flight to Cuba for a weekend thanksgiving vacation for a few days.
Is that ok ?"
I am not qualified to give personal advice.
I do not know if you are also an American citizen or not, for example, so maybe it was OK to travel to Cuba or maybe it was not (Americans are still prohibited from traveling to Cuba without special permission or for specified reasons).
I do know that there is NO law, rule, or policy which prohibits a Canadian PR from traveling abroad while the PR has a citizenship application pending. For extended stays abroad there are logistical risks, such as the risk of missing notices, and for especially lengthy stays abroad (like working and living abroad after applying), there may be some risk of triggering elevated scrutiny or questioning the applicant's presence calculation.
OVERALL: if there is something wrong with your application and it is returned, no big deal, fix it and resubmit it. Make sure to read and carefully follow the instructions, and as others have suggested to you, include what is requested as detailed in the checklist and minimize any extra documents unless there is a clear reason (for example, some applicants have complicated situations which warrant including a supplemental page explaining certain details; I was self-employed providing services to clients outside Canada, so I included copies of Notices of Assessment, which probably was totally unnecessary but that was a personal decision I made). Qualified applicants who follow the instructions can RELAX and prepare for the knowledge of Canada test and otherwise the main challenge is patience.
