Some tips for virtual oath ceremony

[James Lyrie-Stewart]

Just attended my virtual oath ceremony earlier this week and I wanted to share a few tips.

1. It’s normal to wait a while before you are admitted into the call after joining. I waited about 20 minutes, and I’ve seen reports of people waiting for 30.
2. In the oath invite, you are asked to put in your seat number when you join. However, if you already have a Zoom account and are signed in, you will not get a chance to put in the seat number when you join. That’s totally okay! You can rename yourself after you are admitted into the call by clicking the “…” in your self-view.
3. Turn off any virtual background, blurring, and “Mirror camera.” Those will interfere when you need to hold up your ID to the webcam for IRCC to verify your identity.
4. If your ceremony is “predominantly in English,” you will still need to read the full oath in French. Even if you don’t speak French, it’s good to at least practice it a few times so you don’t feel completely silly mumbling along while swearing in—note that you are required to repeat the oath in French. They need to see your mouth moving; otherwise, you risk not completing the oath.
5. You will have to sing the bilingual version of the national anthem, the one that starts and ends with English, and French in the middle. Again, practice singing that. I didn’t realize we were doing the bilingual version so I felt real silly mumbling along, which kind of took a bit away from the moment.
6. Get a pen and paper ready to write down the name of the IRCC clerk who checks your ID. You will need to include their name in the email subject line when sending the signed oath form back.
7. Be prepared to be on camera for at least 2 hours—pee before you join, for example. You are required to be on camera at all times. Some reported that their ceremony lasted 3 hours. I guess it just depends on the size of each ceremony.
8. Constantly check that your mic is muted. I only had to unmute myself twice times: once during oath and once for the ID check. Some people forgot to or maybe didn’t know how to mute their mic, and so 100+ people had to listen to them whisper and whatever background noise they had.
9. If you want to take a picture with the judge on the screen, you will need to be able to get behind the screen so be prepped for that. Use an iPad or a laptop to join the call, for example, so you can turn it around and hold it up to take a selfie.

Some personal thoughts on the virtual oath ceremony:

Overall I thought it was very well done and went pretty smoothly. It was cute to see how many people put up a Canadian flag behind them.

I had debated requesting for an in-person one, but I really didn’t want to risk potentially delaying it for several months (as some have reported).

At the end of the day, for me, I know that the more significant moment will be when I hold my Canadian passport in my hands, because that’s the real hallmark of being a Canadian. After all, many Canadians, such as those born in Canada, didn’t need to do an oath ceremony so it’s more of a naturalization formality than a “Canadian experience” IMO. Of course, you are welcome to feel differently

Hope this helps!

 

[armoured]

I had debated requesting for an in-person one, but I really didn’t want to risk potentially delaying it for several months (as some have reported).

We had one family member request in-person after getting the invite for virtual. The switch to in-person was all handled smoothly and was two or three weeks after the original (sorry, I just don't recall). I've no idea how representative that is - it was GTA/Scarborough where there are frequent in-person ceremonies, that may have been a factor.

 

[James Lyrie-Stewart]

We had one family member request in-person after getting the invite for virtual. The switch to in-person was all handled smoothly and was two or three weeks after the original (sorry, I just don't recall). I've no idea how representative that is - it was GTA/Scarborough where there are frequent in-person ceremonies, that may have been a factor.

Yeah I've read some got rescheduled to the week after as well, but that's the thing—you never know with IRCC. It's obviously up to the applicant if they want to take the risk.

 

[MJSPARV]

Just attended my virtual oath ceremony earlier this week and I wanted to share a few tips.

1. It’s normal to wait a while before you are admitted into the call after joining. I waited about 20 minutes, and I’ve seen reports of people waiting for 30.
2. In the oath invite, you are asked to put in your seat number when you join. However, if you already have a Zoom account and are signed in, you will not get a chance to put in the seat number when you join. That’s totally okay! You can rename yourself after you are admitted into the call by clicking the “…” in your self-view.
3. Turn off any virtual background, blurring, and “Mirror camera.” Those will interfere when you need to hold up your ID to the webcam for IRCC to verify your identity.
4. If your ceremony is “predominantly in English,” you will still need to read the full oath in French. Even if you don’t speak French, it’s good to at least practice it a few times so you don’t feel completely silly mumbling along while swearing in—note that you are required to repeat the oath in French. They need to see your mouth moving; otherwise, you risk not completing the oath.
5. You will have to sing the bilingual version of the national anthem, the one that starts and ends with English, and French in the middle. Again, practice singing that. I didn’t realize we were doing the bilingual version so I felt real silly mumbling along, which kind of took a bit away from the moment.
6. Get a pen and paper ready to write down the name of the IRCC clerk who checks your ID. You will need to include their name in the email subject line when sending the signed oath form back.
7. Be prepared to be on camera for at least 2 hours—pee before you join, for example. You are required to be on camera at all times. Some reported that their ceremony lasted 3 hours. I guess it just depends on the size of each ceremony.
8. Constantly check that your mic is muted. I only had to unmute myself twice times: once during oath and once for the ID check. Some people forgot to or maybe didn’t know how to mute their mic, and so 100+ people had to listen to them whisper and whatever background noise they had.
9. If you want to take a picture with the judge on the screen, you will need to be able to get behind the screen so be prepped for that. Use an iPad or a laptop to join the call, for example, so you can turn it around and hold it up to take a selfie.

Some personal thoughts on the virtual oath ceremony:

Overall I thought it was very well done and went pretty smoothly. It was cute to see how many people put up a Canadian flag behind them.

I had debated requesting for an in-person one, but I really didn’t want to risk potentially delaying it for several months (as some have reported).

At the end of the day, for me, I know that the more significant moment will be when I hold my Canadian passport in my hands, because that’s the real hallmark of being a Canadian. After all, many Canadians, such as those born in Canada, didn’t need to do an oath ceremony so it’s more of a naturalization formality than a “Canadian experience” IMO. Of course, you are welcome to feel differently

Hope this helps!

Thanks for all the tips! The having to be on camera at all times is a really good thing to know because I am a stay at home mom to three kids 5 and under so note to self to find someone else to be with them during that time