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September 2017 Citizenship Applications

SJF14

Member
Nov 17, 2016
14
5
Have to approach this all with a laissez-faire attitude... It'll get processed when it gets processed. Service standard for citizenship grants is still 12 months, as listed on the website, so while it's tempting to micro-observe the process (yes, I check every day too! :) ) it's not all that helpful...

Speedy processing to all...

-A.

Hmmmm, what an interesting comment you make aaamr...but then I guess it is always easier to be blasé in a response and have a more "laissez-faire attitude" (as you put it) when YOUR application is already "In Process!!! But what I actually find more interesting and somewhat contradictory is, if you truly are approaching this all with a "laissez-faire attitude" yourself, why would you be micro-observing the process and checking your application every day too, especially when you say "it'll get processed when it gets processed"??

And, while I totally understand the service standard for Citizenship grants is still 12 months, that doesn't mean to say we don't have the right to ask questions when we see that there clearly are inconsistencies in the system!

On a final note, congrats on receiving your "In Process" status.....and best wishes and good luck to everyone else!!
 

New_Citizen

Member
Sep 19, 2017
17
16
My case is "In Process" on November 1.

  1. We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on September 21, 2017.
  2. We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on October 19, 2017.
  3. We started processing your application on November 1, 2017.

Admin, can you update the spreadsheet please?

Thanks!
 

aaamr

Star Member
Oct 14, 2017
107
45
Hmmmm, what an interesting comment you make aaamr...but then I guess it is always easier to be blasé in a response and have a more "laissez-faire attitude" (as you put it) when YOUR application is already "In Process!!! But what I actually find more interesting and somewhat contradictory is, if you truly are approaching this all with a "laissez-faire attitude" yourself, why would you be micro-observing the process and checking your application every day too, especially when you say "it'll get processed when it gets processed"??

And, while I totally understand the service standard for Citizenship grants is still 12 months, that doesn't mean to say we don't have the right to ask questions when we see that there clearly are inconsistencies in the system!

On a final note, congrats on receiving your "In Process" status.....and best wishes and good luck to everyone else!!
Oh don't get me wrong... I was getting just as irritated at the seeming lack of "first in first out" processing. And then I remembered that before we had all these online status capabilities, we would have just sent in the application and waited patiently. So yes, of course I check it daily... part of the morning routine, but I try not to get worried about it.

I'm sure yours will progress soon! Good luck!

-A.
 
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architectcarioca

Full Member
Sep 21, 2010
33
21
So... reading many posts, I came to the conclusion that appearing on the cic website doesn't mean "in process".
The message that is written there is that they received the application and sent a link to study for the test, and that's it.
It's not written "in process", and I guess this is the "key factor" here.
So, I apologize for misunderstanding it and please update my file as "application received".
Thank you and sorry again.
 

Ontarian2017

Star Member
Jun 20, 2017
60
8
Status updated;
  1. We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on September 5, 2017.
  2. We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on October 5, 2017.
  3. We started processing your application on November 2, 2017.
 

architectcarioca

Full Member
Sep 21, 2010
33
21
Wow! Please update the spreadsheet! Thank you!!!
  1. We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on September 15, 2017.
  2. We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on October 17, 2017.
  3. We started processing your application on November 2, 2017.
Good luck to everyone!
 

Pawn

Star Member
Oct 28, 2011
155
7
Category........
Visa Office......
London
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
15-06-2011
AOR Received.
15-08-2011
File Transfer...
Sept, 2011
Med's Request
July, 2012
Med's Done....
July, 2012
Interview........
3rd line "Med Rcvd" 20-08-2012
Passport Req..
PPR 1 by e-mail 03-04-2013
Wow! Please update the spreadsheet! Thank you!!!
  1. We received your application for Canadian citizenship (grant of citizenship) on September 15, 2017.
  2. We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s), and a study book called Discover Canada on October 17, 2017.
  3. We started processing your application on November 2, 2017.
Good luck to everyone!
Congratulations
 
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itsmyid

Champion Member
Jul 26, 2012
2,250
649
Hmmmm, what an interesting comment you make aaamr...but then I guess it is always easier to be blasé in a response and have a more "laissez-faire attitude" (as you put it) when YOUR application is already "In Process!!! But what I actually find more interesting and somewhat contradictory is, if you truly are approaching this all with a "laissez-faire attitude" yourself, why would you be micro-observing the process and checking your application every day too, especially when you say "it'll get processed when it gets processed"??

And, while I totally understand the service standard for Citizenship grants is still 12 months, that doesn't mean to say we don't have the right to ask questions when we see that there clearly are inconsistencies in the system!

On a final note, congrats on receiving your "In Process" status.....and best wishes and good luck to everyone else!!
The appearance of 'inconsistency' is just the result of people's wishful thinking ...

Back in the summer after C-6 passed, many people with just a few months left before reaching 1460 days had expressed in this forum, that they hoped the new rule would start after Oct or Nov, so they could send in their applications and get "faster processing"

That was definitely a possible scenario, since CIC could either
1. focus on finishing all the 4/6 applications first and then take care of the flood of 3/5 applications - sure that will guarantee better FIFO, but that would also mean some level of inefficiency since the entire staff would have to switch to a different set of procedures around the same time and create a big disconnect ... or
2. allocate a large portion of staff and resources to prepare and eventually work on the 3/5 applications, which could potentially be huge and unpredictable numbers, and for at least a few years to come, while leaving a small portion of staff/resources to continue work on remaining 4/6 applications until the last one is done, knowing there will be no more of them coming in after 3/5 started

Which one of the two makes more sense and is more efficient? It is for CIC to determine, and by how the updates from members reporting AOR, it seems like CIC is taking approach 2, which explains why some 3/5 people received AOR after just 2 weeks and some 4/6 people are still waiting after a month and half, and how the speed had slowed down quite a bit for the last few months before Oct, because much fewer people were working on them while the majority were preparing for the new rules

Another observation is: the requirement under the new rule is simpler, the form has reduced from 8 pages to 6, and the number of checks have gone down a lot, for example, the section about whether you had any probation/association with crime or terrorism/ used to have more than a dozen of 'yes' and 'no' checks that you would need to mark one by one, in the new form it is just one check box for all, which also makes checking the form/documents much easier and faster.

CIC is never known for transparency, but many people just convinced themselves that by applying under the 4/6 they would get faster processing - a few months ago I had mentioned the example of parents sponsorship applicants from 2012 were still waiting while many from 2016 already landed, but nobody would consider the possibility of CIC doing something remotely similar again...

It is really just a gamble, like many 3/5 applicants just convinced themselves that the police certificate requirement would change from 4 years to 3 under the new rule, and decided not to get it... until the first day the new forms were published, and they had to start applying for the certificates and wait for a few more months to submit their citizenship application... It is your responsibility to make that decision, and with all those unknown factors, especially with previous experiences dealing with CIC, if you make that decision based on expectations you convinced yourself of, then you would have a bigger chance of getting disappointed by the outcome... If you just think of it like buying lottery, then you would be much less irritated when the results don't turn out to be what you preferred.
 
Last edited:

IvanP

Champion Member
Jul 24, 2012
1,057
31
CA-Montréal
Visa Office......
Montreal-citizenship
App. Filed.......
25-09-2017
It is really just a gamble, like many 3/5 applicants just convinced themselves that the police certificate requirement would change from 4 years to 3 under the new rule, and decided not to get it... until the first day the new forms were published, and they had to start applying for the certificates and wait for a few more months to submit their citizenship application... It is your responsibility to make that decision, and with all those unknown factors, especially with previous experiences dealing with CIC, if you make that decision based on expectations you convinced yourself of, then you would have a bigger chance of getting disappointed by the outcome... If you just think of it like buying lottery, then you would be much less irritated when the results don't turn out to be what you preferred.
You're definitely right that it's a gamble, but if CIC misjudged, expecting an avalanche of applications when 3/5 went back into effect, and allocated a lot of resources to 3/5 applications, with not many resources allocated to 4/6 applications, it still may have been the smart thing to do to apply before 3/5 went into effect, depending how CIC shifts resources around after the change.

Say, for example, that because of a misallocation of resources based on expected application numbers, right now there are 10 applications for every 3/5 officer and 15 applications for every 4/6 officer (assuming that's how CIC allocated the workflow). Each month, the inventory of 4/6 applications will go down, while the inventory of 3/5 applications will go up. So in 6 months there could be only 7 applications for every 4/6 officer, which could lead to the 4/6 pool being depleted faster. CIC could also overcorrect, leading to longer waits for us, or officers could process a mix - we have no idea.

A longer wait really sucks for people whose country-of-origin passports are unrenewable or they need visas to go almost everywhere, but the bottom line is that there was no way to accurately gauge what the best strategy would be. And really nothing we can do to correct the situation if we guessed wrong and picked the longer line. Except to wait and complain, so here we are!
 
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cadguy

Full Member
Jul 19, 2017
26
4
Please update to my application on the excel spreadsheet. I received my in-process on October 30, and my details are below:

Office: Edmonton
Application type: Single
Days: 1530
Application Sent: Sept 09
Application Delivered: Approx. Sept 13
 

SJF14

Member
Nov 17, 2016
14
5
The appearance of 'inconsistency' is just the result of people's wishful thinking ...

Back in the summer after C-6 passed, many people with just a few months left before reaching 1460 days had expressed in this forum, that they hoped the new rule would start after Oct or Nov, so they could send in their applications and get "faster processing"

That was definitely a possible scenario, since CIC could either
1. focus on finishing all the 4/6 applications first and then take care of the flood of 3/5 applications - sure that will guarantee better FIFO, but that would also mean some level of inefficiency since the entire staff would have to switch to a different set of procedures around the same time and create a big disconnect ... or
2. allocate a large portion of staff and resources to prepare and eventually work on the 3/5 applications, which could potentially be huge and unpredictable numbers, and for at least a few years to come, while leaving a small portion of staff/resources to continue work on remaining 4/6 applications until the last one is done, knowing there will be no more of them coming in after 3/5 started

Which one of the two makes more sense and is more efficient? It is for CIC to determine, and by how the updates from members reporting AOR, it seems like CIC is taking approach 2, which explains why some 3/5 people received AOR after just 2 weeks and some 4/6 people are still waiting after a month and half, and how the speed had slowed down quite a bit for the last few months before Oct, because much fewer people were working on them while the majority were preparing for the new rules

Another observation is: the requirement under the new rule is simpler, the form has reduced from 8 pages to 6, and the number of checks have gone down a lot, for example, the section about whether you had any probation/association with crime or terrorism/ used to have more than a dozen of 'yes' and 'no' checks that you would need to mark one by one, in the new form it is just one check box for all, which also makes checking the form/documents much easier and faster.

CIC is never known for transparency, but many people just convinced themselves that by applying under the 4/6 they would get faster processing - a few months ago I had mentioned the example of parents sponsorship applicants from 2012 were still waiting while many from 2016 already landed, but nobody would consider the possibility of CIC doing something remotely similar again...

It is really just a gamble, like many 3/5 applicants just convinced themselves that the police certificate requirement would change from 4 years to 3 under the new rule, and decided not to get it... until the first day the new forms were published, and they had to start applying for the certificates and wait for a few more months to submit their citizenship application... It is your responsibility to make that decision, and with all those unknown factors, especially with previous experiences dealing with CIC, if you make that decision based on expectations you convinced yourself of, then you would have a bigger chance of getting disappointed by the outcome... If you just think of it like buying lottery, then you would be much less irritated when the results don't turn out to be what you preferred.


It has absolutely nothing to do do with "people's wishful thinking" as you put it!!

IRCC clearly state on their website:

"APPLICATIONS ARE PROCESSED IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY ARRIVE"

So, despite your comments re appearances, scenarios, observations, gambles, lottery etc, etc, the fact still remains that IRCC are NOT sticking to the process THEY LEAD US TO BELIEVE IN!
 
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itsmyid

Champion Member
Jul 26, 2012
2,250
649
It has absolutely nothing to do do with "people's wishful thinking" as you put it!!

IRCC clearly state on their website:

"APPLICATIONS ARE PROCESSED IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY ARRIVE"

So, despite your comments re appearances, scenarios, observations, gambles, lottery etc, etc, the fact still remains that IRCC are NOT sticking to the process THEY LEAD US TO BELIEVE IN!
If you really want to pick on the languages of CIC ... they only stated applications will be processed in order in which they arrive , but they never said the process would be COMPLETED in the order in which they arrive - so It is entirely possible they are processed first but it just takes longer, so even though they started early they still end up finishing later, and there is no clear definition of ‘processed’, maybe the action of moving a pile of applications from the mail room or opening the envelope would mean the process is started, but there is no limit on how long it could take to finish — again , with CIC anything is possible and nothing would be for the first time, a few years back they canceled tons of FSW applications just because they felt like it
 
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Pawn

Star Member
Oct 28, 2011
155
7
Category........
Visa Office......
London
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
15-06-2011
AOR Received.
15-08-2011
File Transfer...
Sept, 2011
Med's Request
July, 2012
Med's Done....
July, 2012
Interview........
3rd line "Med Rcvd" 20-08-2012
Passport Req..
PPR 1 by e-mail 03-04-2013
Any updates regarding AORs??
 

mamad2020

Star Member
Oct 14, 2012
109
11
Category........
Visa Office......
Ankara
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
I really wish there was some way that we could find out why some applications move along quicker than others as it is not only confusing why that happens but also very frustrating and worrying for those of us who are still waiting for the next step in the process, despite our applications being received earlier than those that have already progressed to the next step (i.e., from “AOR” to “IN PROCESS”), and it is even more frustrating and worrying when we see that they are from the same location/office (i.e. in my case, Vancouver) and didn’t request expedited processing!! Of course I am very happy for everyone who is progressing through the system as I can only imagine the joy and relief that brings. But for those of us that are “stuck” and still waiting it seems totally unfair and just increases our frustration and anxiety levels……especially when we don’t know why!!

I tried to call IRCC on three separate occasions this week (and at different times of the day) but I just keep getting the message that they are receiving a high number of calls and are unable to transfer me to an agent……and then I get disconnected!!

I checked on ecas this morning but still no change to my status and so I went online to the IRCC website to see if I could find out anymore information about the order that applications are processed and this is what it said on the page I found (see link below)

“Applications are processed in the order in which they arrive.” However, as we all know and have seen happening many times throughout the history of this forum, that is most definitely not the case!!!

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=032&top=3

I will be attending a meeting with my local MP (NDP) next week and so I am hoping that I will get an opportunity at some point to discuss with him my/our concerns on this matter.

In the meantime, good luck to everyone and I wish you all speedy processing!!!!!
At the end of the day, what we are trying to tell you is that Government can do anything they like and you can't do anything about it. Even if you complain to your MP or go to the media, they don't care. You could wait for 12 months and you call them and ask why your application is still not processed and they could tell you it will take another 12 months because they are backlogged and you can't do anything about it. If you don't believe me try CRA, Service Canada, Veterans Affairs and other departments providing public services and you know what I mean.
Some of our friends here could have their citizenships in the next 4 months and some of us could be waiting for another 11 months.
 
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