Same day citizenship test and oath ceremony in Calgary

[solinga]

Hi I've never posted here before, but I did a bit of reading in this forum hoping to find out what happens when you have a citizenship test/oath all in one day. I couldn't find anything ,so I thought I was post this in case anyone is interested like I was.

I had my citizenship test and oath, today, Feb 5, 2013. For some background, this was the Calgary CIC office and I originally applied for citizenship in June 2011 (or so... I can't quite remember).

I should start by saying I was surprised it was in the same day, since I had a friend who became a citizen and she had 2 months between test and oath through the Calgary office. I called CIC, and they told me that certain offices are starting to do it, so it is like Calgary was starting to do it too.

I was asked to arrive at 10:30am. I arrived at 10:15, and there was already a long line of people. The line was slow. There were 3 civil servants there whose job was to review your documents. I showed my driver's license, my health card, my current passport, all my expired passports, my confirmation of permanent residency form, and my PR card. I was asked how many times I'd left the country since I had applied. They didn't really look through my passports since my trips were almost all to the US, and they don't stamp your passport all the time for that. They were very happy I had made copies of my passports (but they'd asked me to bring copies in their instruction letter, so I was surprised she was so happy I had - as if she wasn't expecting me to have followed instructions.) I didn't get asked many questions, but the lady next to me was asking people about their children, where they lived, where they worked. I got the sense the lady in the next booth liked talking to people, because she sounded so friendly.

Then they let us into a nice bright room (the citizenship test/citizenship ceremony room), with lots of windows, murals of Canadiana, flags, etc. and rows of seats where only every third or fourth seat had a fold up desk (to encourage staggered seating). While we were waiting for everyone to get through the line, there was constantly repeating silent slide presentation explaining how to fill out a multiple choice test. Interestingly, one of the slides said, "If you passed the exam, you will be mailed a letter inviting you back for the oath ceremony, this should take 2-3 months." Obviously, this office hadn't bothered to update the slides they were showing. They passed out the exam, and then had everyone start all at once. This was at 11:15am. One woman was proctoring the exam, another woman was marking the exams as they were being handed in. The first people started handing them in at about 11:20. People were asked to stay seated until after they had turned in their exam. Only 5 minutes after the exam was done (11:50am), the marking was all done and they read a list of names of people who passed, and handed them a printed, personalized invitation to oath ceremony stapled to a form in which you will later sign the oath in writing. (This all must have been pre-printed.) They asked everyone who passed to come back at 1:15pm. So I had about an hour and 20 minutes to go get lunch somewhere.

At 1:15, your guests were allowed to go directly into the testing/citizenship room, and the new citizens had to stand in the same line again, where again there were 3 booths with civil servants. Here, you had to show once again confirmation of PR (or landing document), and turn in your PR card, and sign a few documents in their presence. You were given a few brochures which included coupons for free 1-year pass to museums/parks. Then you needed to go into the room and join your guests. Along the way were a bunch of brochures, one had a poster in it, the words to "O Canada", and a flag you could pick up.

The ceremony started once everyone was in, about 1:45pm. The judge came, and gave a ten minute speech about immigration, citizenship, etc. Then everyone (including the guests if they wished) were asked to stand and take the oath. It was given in English, then in French. Everyone was encouraged to say it in both languages. Then family by family, people were called up to get their certificate, shake hands with the judge and get a Canada pin. Then we sang O Canada. Then the judge left. People were allowed to take photographs throughout, and afterwards the judge stayed an took pictures with anyone who wanted to. The ceremony was over about 2:35 or 2:40.

Interestingly we were told we needed to wait 2 days to apply for a passport, to give them time to update our files electronically.

In all about 25-30 people took the exam. About 75 people were present at the oath ceremony (including children).

I very much liked how efficiently they did this. I hope they do it this more often.

I hope this is useful to people.

 

[justmeinyyc]

Thank you!

This was very helpful, I live in Calgary and I hope I'm lucky enough to have the test and oath on the same day too.
I appreciate you listing the documents needed for both, its nice to know what to expect.

Congratulations on your citizenship!

 

[White Bear]

Congratulations.

 

[mikeathome]

Ty solinga. Very helpful list of documents you listed. I hope one day Ontario adapts this streamlined procedure.
Congrats to your citizenship!

Mike

 

[solinga]

The documents we were supposed to bring was confusing. There was a "generic" list of documents on a CIC form, and another list of documents on another paper which must have been included from the Calgary office specifically. That paper also included info about the oath ceremony telling me to "dress appropriately".

The CIC form said things like, "any documents supporting your original application, for example birth certificate"). I had kept the document checklist from my original application, and I hadn't submitted my birth certificate. So I was confused. There were no additional documents I had submitted. Also I didn't know if "supporting" meant, documents I sent photocopies of, or documents that would prove the things I wrote on my application.

I called CIC, and they said different people may have to bring different documents depending on what they submitted with their application. To add to the confusion, the applications have changed too, requiring additional documentation. You need to go by what YOU PERSONALLY submitted.

Then I realized that the other list of documents to bring must have been included specifically by the Calgary office, and I should follow that one specifically. It was a more specific and easy to understand list, but also included "photocopies of current and expired passports", (another document not required for my original application).

I should mention that you need EITHER your Record of Landing (IMM1000) or your Confirmation of Permanent Resident(IMM5292). As I couldn't find my Record of Landing, I'm glad it was either/or. I had brought my birth certificate, just in case, but they never asked to see it.

 

[mikeathome]

The documents we were supposed to bring was confusing. There was a "generic" list of documents on a CIC form, and another list of documents on another paper which must have been included from the Calgary office specifically. That paper also included info about the oath ceremony telling me to "dress appropriately".

The CIC form said things like, "any documents supporting your original application, for example birth certificate"). I had kept the document checklist from my original application, and I hadn't submitted my birth certificate. So I was confused. There were no additional documents I had submitted. Also I didn't know if "supporting" meant, documents I sent photocopies of, or documents that would prove the things I wrote on my application.

I called CIC, and they said different people may have to bring different documents depending on what they submitted with their application. To add to the confusion, the applications have changed too, requiring additional documentation. You need to go by what YOU PERSONALLY submitted.

Then I realized that the other list of documents to bring must have been included specifically by the Calgary office, and I should follow that one specifically. It was a more specific and easy to understand list, but also included "photocopies of current and expired passports", (another document not required for my original application).

I should mention that you need EITHER your Record of Landing (IMM1000) or your Confirmation of Permanent Resident(IMM5292). As I couldn't find my Record of Landing, I'm glad it was either/or. I had brought my birth certificate, just in case, but they never asked to see it.

I am going to load my truck with my files from the basement . It looks like these requests are functioning as a test about languages skills incl. the skill to read between lines. Prior to 1-11 no proof of languages skills was required.

The question which is not answered yet is: what if you send application of your minor together with your own application. Since the kid is not going to the test but you are, are you supposed to bring the kids supporting documentation to the test as well? I couldn't find any information about this. Well, I'll bring it anyway...

Mike

 

[zaza39]

Thank you Solinga for sharing .YOU GUYS IN CALGARY ARE REALLY LUCKY!!

it is just frustrated and stressful for us in Winnipeg...Just 20 multiple choice takes forever to get the result and you do not know if have passed or not.Calgary is bigger and well organized. I just cannot understand how things work.We follow the same process. Pay the same amount of fee.

 

[nortena]

Hi Solinga, congratulations on your citizenship..!! Thank you for sharing about your test/oath ceremony, it really helped my boyfriend and me better understand the process in Calgary. Please also share your citizenship timeline including the time your application went from in process to when you received your test letter. Also, did the letter tell you the oath ceremony was going to be the same day, or did it give you any clues?

 

[solinga]

Thank you for the kind congratulations! I was skiing at Lake Louise, and someone asked me if I was Canadian, and I said no, then I realized that this was no longer true and said yes. Its the first time I got to answer that question positively. It was kind of nice!

I applied for citizenship in May 2011. I got the letter inviting me to the ceremony first week of January 2013, for a ceremony on Feb 5. The words "same day" never appeared on the test invitation letter. It said the test was at 10:30 am on Feb 5. Elsewhere, it said if you pass the test you will be invited to an oath ceremony at 1:30pm on Feb 5. So you had to pay attention that Feb 5 appears twice. I actually called CIC to verify it, because I thought the second "Feb 5" could have been a typo. They confirmed that some cities are doing the same day thing.

By the way, when I applied for passport, I found it was better to go to the Passport Canada office. If you go to the Service Canada office, they can do it, but you will have to relinquish your citizenship certificate and get it back in the mail 4-6 weeks later with your passport. If you go to Passport Canada, they'll look at it, but you can keep it, and your passport will arrive in 2 weeks.

 

[nortena]

Thank you for your quick reply Solinga . I'm guessing when you answered that question it really sank in that you are now Canadian .
Just another question, how much time elapsed from the time your status changed from "in process" to when you received your letter confirming your test date? My boyfriend is in his final stages of his citizenship process and we are going crazy, we want time to go by faster.

 

[solinga]

I can't remember specifically how long it was "in process". I know it was "in process" for a long long time. At the time I applied, somewhere it said the whole process takes 12 months. So I was really worried when 18 months had gone by. A friend of mine (who became a citizen about 6 months ago), said don't worry, it takes a long long time, longer than what is stated at the time you apply.

 

[McFlyDMC12]

...
I had my citizenship test and oath, today, Feb 5, 2013. For some background, this was the Calgary CIC office and I originally applied for citizenship in June 2011 (or so... I can't quite remember).

I should start by saying I was surprised it was in the same day, since I had a friend who became a citizen and she had 2 months between test and oath through the Calgary office. I called CIC, and they told me that certain offices are starting to do it, so it is like Calgary was starting to do it too.
...

I would like to reply to this posting as my experience was TOTALLY different than the original poster's. My wife and I wrote our citizenship tests yesterday (April 30, 2013). We were told to be at the Calgary CIC office at 8:00am to take the test. This office is located in the downtown core in the Harry Hays building (220 4th Ave S.E.).

What prompted me to respond to this posting was because I was really concerned that we would have our ceremony on the same day as our test, and nowhere in our test invitation letters did it mention anything of the sort. This has been such a long process for us, I would really like my loved ones to be at our ceremony when we do get around to taking the oath of citizenship. I would NOT have been happy had they told me our ceremony would be later on the same day if we passed the test, because that would mean that we would not get the chance to give our loved ones any advance warning of when the ceremony will take place. This would have been especially nasty considering that no such procedure was mentioned in our letters of invitation to write the test.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my experience of writing the test at the above mentioned office, as it clearly differs from the OP's experience. Perhaps CIC handles things differently for couples who apply for citizenship as opposed to people who are single. Although there were quite a number of people in our group who did not arrive with another person.

Here goes:

1. We arrived at CIC Calgary (Harry Hays building) at 7:30. There was already a line-up of people waiting and were were about 15th in line.

2. At about 7:55, a CIC official greeted us and asked us to proceed to the front desk where they would verify our paperwork.

3. The official we saw wanted to see our passports (current and expired), our Alberta government IDs, our PR cards and he wanted copies of our passports (which we made at home according to the instructions we received). The official also asked us if we were working or not (not sure of the relevance of that question, but we answered truthfully).

4. The official then gave us each a sheet of paper on which we would write the test. It is a pretty simple form where you have to encircle either A, B, C or D for each of the 20 questions you get on a separate question paper (that we only got later).

5. The official then told us to proceed down to the end of the hallway, make a right turn and then take a seat in the room. We were not allowed to sit next to each other since my wife and I know each other (pretty obvious deduction!). Cheating is, of course, not allowed.

6. We took our seats in a large and really nice looking room which I assume is also the room where we will get to take the oath eventually, as the front of the room is set up with a microphone, speakers, projectors, some flags and photos of the Queen, our Governor General and the Coat of Arms. The entire front wall has a beautiful mural of the city of Calgary, Lake Louise and a prairie landscape. All very tastefully done.

7. We proceeded to wait until 8:30 for everyone to take their seats. Two CIC officials then came in and handed out our test questions. Before that, the one official explained that we would get a letter from CIC in 1 to 3 months to come and take the oath (if we passed), but if we did NOT pass, we would only get a letter in 12 months to go and see a citizenship judge.

8. We then started the test and I was done in... wait for it... TWO minutes. My wife completed her test in four minutes.

9. I then got up to hand in my test, expecting that it would be marked there and then. This was NOT the case. The official told me that we will hear if we passed or not based on those two letters I mentioned in #7 above. Bummer! I was hoping to know if I passed or not before we left (although I know that I passed as the test was super easy).

10. My wife and I compared notes afterwards and she received a different test to the one I got. Her test was super easy too.

So, that was my account of how things went down for our citizenship test. I hope that it will be of some value to someone also writing theirs in Calgary.

 

[CanuckForEver]

@McFlyDMC12 : Thank you for that narration. That was wonderful . Just a follow up question how long since you applied did you get the notice to take the test. Usually if it is more than 18 months, say closer to 24 months, the same day oath likely would occur due to the delay. Not sure if yours was delayed so much.

 

[McFlyDMC12]

@ McFlyDMC12 : Thank you for that narration. That was wonderful . Just a follow up question how long since you applied did you get the notice to take the test. Usually if it is more than 18 months, say closer to 24 months, the same day oath likely would occur due to the delay. Not sure if yours was delayed so much.

Hi CanuckForEver!

Our timeline was:

Applied for citizenship: December 17, 2011
Received letter to write test: March 26, 2013
Wrote test: April 30, 2013.

So, roughly 15 months from application to getting notified to take the test.

Hope that helps!

 

[CanuckForEver]

Hi CanuckForEver!

Our timeline was:

Applied for citizenship: December 17, 2011
Received letter to write test: March 26, 2013
Wrote test: April 30, 2013.

So, roughly 15 months from application to getting notified to take the test.

Hope that helps!

Well that explains. I will be happy to get my test in 15 months and give or take 2ish months for invitation for oath taking. Ideally 17ish months are what we're looking here given that you have jumped all big guns. Not to be rude, 100s of thousands of people in these forums would die for your timeline, and I don't mean you don't deserve same-day-oath. Hang-in there buddy, you're there.