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Virtual Citizenship Ceremony Experience in detail!

Adi Malhotra

Newbie
Jul 8, 2021
6
0
VIRTUAL CITIZENSHIP CEREMONY EXPERIENCE
Okay, so as promised, detailed below is my citizenship ceremony experience. I'll post it as three parts because I can't fit everything in one post.

PART 1


Local Office : Mississauga IRCC
Oath Ceremony Date
: August 23rd, 2021
Oath Ceremony Time: 8:30 AM EST
IRCC Crew: 1 Citizenship Judge + 1 Administrator for Zoom + 1 Main Clerk + 3 IRCC officials (referred to as clerks)
Total # of applicants: 44

On the ceremony day

I woke up to my first alarm at 6:45 AM (and then I disabled the 6 other alarms I had created the night before).

Got ready, was browsing the forum for a while until 7:55 AM. I closed other applications, made sure my UPS was correctly working, connected my desktop to my mobile hotspot (if there are issues with the Wi-Fi modem/router), checked camera / microphone and had the Zoom application open.

At 8:00 AM sharp, I keyed in the meeting ID and the password and it said "Please wait for the host to start the meeting". At around 8:15 AM, I saw the message "The meeting host will let you in soon" and also, in the chat window, there was a message asking all of us to "rename" ourselves using the last name. It was that way until 8:25 AM when I was put in a room with the others and the administrator. The administrator was talking to another participant when I joined. I was on mute for about 2 minutes. The administrator then asked me to unmute myself and asked for my last name. I told him and then he gave me a seat # (Seat # is basically the breakout room # that you will be put in).

Breakout Room - Before administering oath ( 43 minutes - From 8:27 AM to 9:10 AM)

I was in the breakout room by 8:27 AM. At 8:28 AM, one of the IRCC officials joined me in the breakout room. This is how the conversation went in the breakout room before proceeding to the main event of the day!

1. I was asked my full name

2. I was told since we are using 3rd party tool, confidentiality cannot be guaranteed during the ceremony

3. I was told if I happened to get disconnected, I can re-join using the same link / meeting ID and password to rejoin.

4. I was told my video froze (I clicked on "Stop Video" and then "Start Video" again to fix it)

5. The officer confirmed that I was physically present in Canada

6. The officer asked me if I was signing the oath form on paper or electronically (I said I'll sign it electronically). The officer asked me if I had a chance to go over the instructions on how to sign the form electronically and I said "Yes" (I already had Adobe Reader DC setup with the signatures). He insisted that he still wants to go over on how to do it and I politely agreed. Basically, he asked that we don't use the mouse to sign. You'd have to sign on a piece of paper, scan it, import it to your computer and then use that image as signature in Adobe Reader. I said "Okay, thank you".

7. The officer reminded me that if the signature doesn't meet the standards, he'll give me a call within 2 business days and ask me to re-sign the form.

8. He then asked me 2 questions - "Are there any situations that may prevent you from becoming a citizen today?" and "In the past 5 years, have you ever been in trouble with the law or immigration". I answered "No" and "No, never" respectively.

9. The officer said my video froze and wanted me to restart it. I did that (same steps as in Step 4).

10. I was asked for my DL and PR card. I showed him the PR card first (front and back) and told him I have a temporary DL as the physical card is yet to come in the mail and I asked him if I can show him my health card instead (I still showed him the license that I had). He agreed and I showed him the health card.

11. He then provided some instructions - To put phone in silent mode, a holy book can be used during oath, you can stay seated and there is no need to standup at any point during the ceremony and not to take pictures or record the ceremony but picture with the judge is allowed after oath ceremony in the breakout room.

12. I was then asked if I had any questions and I told him I need the citizenship certificate urgently. He looked at my file and he told me that since Urgent Processing was approved in my case, the citizenship certificate will be expedited as long as I send the oath form correctly and on time.

13. He then told me he'll give me the contact number for Passport services after the oath ceremony.

14. He then told me if my video were to freeze while taking oath, he'll send me a DM on Zoom and ask me to restart the video.

That's it. The officer left the breakout room at around 8:35 (conversation took around 8 minutes) I was told to wait in the room and I'll be connected to the main room when the oath ceremony begins. I was waiting in the breakout room until 9:10 AM EST.
 

VictorCA

Hero Member
Oct 28, 2015
306
171
Visa Office......
Ottawa, ON
NOC Code......
6314
App. Filed.......
23-Nov-2015
Doc's Request.
09-Mar-2016
AOR Received.
25-Apr-2016
Med's Done....
08-May-2016
Passport Req..
26-Oct-2016
VISA ISSUED...
1-Nov-2016
LANDED..........
January 14, 2017. Praise God!
I am counting down the days until my ceremony on Tuesday! This may have been answered already, but if I want to have loved ones with me during the oath, do they need to be off-camera? Or can they sit next to me?
 

Snowisland

Hero Member
Nov 23, 2014
576
69
Visa Office......
Ottawa
LANDED..........
30-05-2016
I am counting down the days until my ceremony on Tuesday! This may have been answered already, but if I want to have loved ones with me during the oath, do they need to be off-camera? Or can they sit next to me?
Congratulations. I had mine on November 26th.
Your loved ones can sit down next to you. Some people had several people sitting on a couch with them.
 
  • Love
Reactions: VictorCA

syphix

Star Member
Sep 23, 2013
143
40
Hello, how long does it take for status to update to complete for the oath ceremony? I did my oath this monday. It is still in progress.
 

VictorCA

Hero Member
Oct 28, 2015
306
171
Visa Office......
Ottawa, ON
NOC Code......
6314
App. Filed.......
23-Nov-2015
Doc's Request.
09-Mar-2016
AOR Received.
25-Apr-2016
Med's Done....
08-May-2016
Passport Req..
26-Oct-2016
VISA ISSUED...
1-Nov-2016
LANDED..........
January 14, 2017. Praise God!
Congratulations. I had mine on November 26th.
Your loved ones can sit down next to you. Some people had several people sitting on a couch with them.
Perfect, thank you! And congrats to you as well!
 

Snowisland

Hero Member
Nov 23, 2014
576
69
Visa Office......
Ottawa
LANDED..........
30-05-2016
Hello, how long does it take for status to update to complete for the oath ceremony? I did my oath this monday. It is still in progress.
Congratulations. It took mine four weekdays. Mine was in November.
 
Dec 9, 2021
1
0
Hello Rajesh, and thank you for sharing your experience.
About the ceremony, do we need to stay in front of the computer during all the ceremony ?

When you say in the point 5. The officer confirmed that I was physically present in Canada. what do you mean with this ? can you give us some details ? should you be connected at the city from where you applied ? city where you live ? do the officer locate you with his system and then ask you if this place of location is correct or do the officer just ask you, where are you located now during this ceremony ?
This is important as it's not really clear in their documents where the person should be ? can you please tell us the exact question that's you got on that matter.

Congratulations .
thank you
 

ziyoufeixiang

Star Member
Feb 25, 2016
168
45
I just finished my oath ceremony. They didn't put us in any breakout room after the oath, and therefore my COPR wasn't checked. My id was checked before the oath and I was even asked to cut the PR card before. The host kicked us out of the zoom meeting. I tried re-connecting to check if it was by accident, but couldn't join. Is that normal?
exactly the same situation for me.
Did you end up having any issues with getting the certificate? I guess this workflow is OK, like a simplied workflow for oath ceremony.
 

Stuntxd9

Hero Member
May 4, 2015
408
103
Visa Office......
KNGVO
App. Filed.......
April 2016
LANDED..........
Feb 2017
Hello Rajesh, and thank you for sharing your experience.
About the ceremony, do we need to stay in front of the computer during all the ceremony ?

When you say in the point 5. The officer confirmed that I was physically present in Canada. what do you mean with this ? can you give us some details ? should you be connected at the city from where you applied ? city where you live ? do the officer locate you with his system and then ask you if this place of location is correct or do the officer just ask you, where are you located now during this ceremony ?
This is important as it's not really clear in their documents where the person should be ? can you please tell us the exact question that's you got on that matter.

Congratulations .
thank you
You just have to be in Canada. From coast to coast to coast.