Vladimir Menkov

Hello,

I received my Canadian citizenship yesterday, about 7 months since
application, or 4 years and 1 day since landing. For those curious
about the details, detailed timeline follows.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian citizenship timeline

Feb 19, 2000. Landed as a permanent resident, in Halifax, NS.

July 25, 2000. Moved to Canada for good, entering via Montreal, QC.

July 26, 2003. Sent the citizenship application from Penticton, BC.
At the time, my application indicated 1016 days of physical presence,
but I believed that the facts presented there made it quite clear
that I had been residing in Canada, in the ordinary meaning of this
word, for the preceding 3 years.

Sep 29, 2003. Called up CIC. They said that the application was
received on 26 August, 2003. No file created yet, so there is no file
number yet. Promised to send me the booklet real soon.

[From eCas:

We started processing your application on November 05, 2003.

Your file was transferred on November 19, 2003 to the Surrey
office for the citizenship testing and taking of the citizenship
oath. The Surrey office will contact you to write the Citizenship
test.]

(In accordance with the standard procedure, at the time when the
application file was transferred to the local office, the Citizenship
Certificate was produced and included with the file).

Feb 2, 2004: Got a surprise phone call from the local CIC office
(Kelowna). Apparently, they are operating, with regard to citizenship
matters, as a sort of satellite office for Citizenship Court in
Surrey. They are asking if I'd like to go for a test on Feb 6 in my
town. I agree; they fax me a Notice to Appear at once, and follow it
up by Canada Post as well.

[From eCas:

We sent you a notice on February 02, 2004 ... to appear and write
the Citizenship test on February 06, 2004 at 10:00am.]

Feb 6, 2003: The citizenship test. There were about 15 people in the
room at the test, and there was another batch of applicants scheduled
to come an hour later. I was told that a citizenship officer comes to
our town almost every month to hold an exam.

Apparently some of the testees filed their applications as late as
last October (4 months ago), others as early as last May (9 months
ago). So my timing (6 month from the application) may have been
somewhat on the shorter side. I was told that some people in our
district have been unlucky enough to wait for their test for an entire
year.

The multiple-choice questions were just like those in the CIC
brochure, or in the sample tests on the web
(e.g. http://www.yourlibrary.ca/citizenship/index.asp); usually, all
but one answers to a question are absurd enough for most people to be
able to eliminate them even without knowing for sure what the correct
answer is.

Half an hour is allocated for the test, but almost everyone finished
within 5-10 minutes. The officer at her desk marked the test papers
as they were handed in to her. She already had a stack of Notices of
Appear for Citizenship Oath, and handed them to the successful
applicants (almost all of those present, I think) once their test
papers had been graded. The oath ceremony was to take place in a
neighboring town in two weeks' time. The Notice of Appear contained a
note indicating that the oath is conditional on the applicant's case
been approved by the Citizenship Judge; but the citizenship officer
indicated that a denial at that stage would be quite unlikely, since
the cases have been vetted by the CIC staff before being transferred
to the judge.

I was told that the local CIC office schedules citizenship ceremonies
in my regional district once every 3-4 months. This means that if I
weren't lucky enough to pick the telephone on Monday, not only would I
have at least a one-month delay of the test, but probably also a 3-4
month delay of the ceremony. However, the test paper contained a
section where an applicant, apparently, could choose a test location
at one of the 6 cities in our part of British Columbia. So perhaps,
if a local-area ceremony was not expected for a few months, an
applicant could still have an opportunity at this stage to request to
attend a ceremony at an earlier date in one of the neighboring
districts, within 100-200 km from this area.

[From eCas:
We sent you a notice on February 05, 2004 to ... to appear and
take the Oath of Citizenship on February 20, 2004 at 12:30pm.]

February 20, 2004: The oath ceremony at a public school in Summerland,
BC. About 65 applicants present, plus guests, schoolchildren, and
assorted dignitaries, including our MP. Speeches, anthem, flags, etc.,
as appropriate for the occasion.

As usual, a fairly varied population of citizenship applicants:
something like 1/4 from Britain and the United States, 1/4 from
Schengen countries, 1/4 from India, 1/4 from everywhere else. One
applicant was an elderly lady born a Canadian citizen, who lost her
Canadian citizenship under the pre-1977 (or maybe even pre-1947? :-)
law, and was now granted a resumption of citizenship. Surprisingly --
and maybe to the disappointment of some of the dignitaries -- nobody
at all from francophone countries (although I have seen a fair number
of French expats/emigrants in BC on other occasions).

From talking to other people, it seemed that I was fairly lucky to
complete the entire process in under 7 months. One person I talked to
had his application in the system for over a year; it was forwarded to
the local office in March 2003, and it was only in February 2004 that
he got his test and oath (all within one week). So the processing
times are not particularly predictable, which, of course, is no
surprise for anybody who's interested enough in the topic to read this
report :-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Observations:

eCas (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-services/index.html) reflected
the completion of the central office processing (when the file was
sent to the local office), as well as the letters sent to me by CIC,
fairly promptly. So it is a useful tool for somebody who is not sure
he receives his mail reliably. But, in some districts at least,
nothing replaces the ability to take your phone calls during business
hours. (Hint to those who use modem dial-up excessively: get ADSL! :-)


--Vladimir

Spongebob

Thanks for the info. We are looking into citizenship soon and will be
applying from Victoria.

Hope we are lucky and takes less than a year.


Is the cost $200 ?











Originally posted by Vladimir
Menkov
    > Hello,
    >
    > I received my Canadian citizenship yesterday,
about 7 months since
    > application, or 4 years and 1 day since landing.
For those curious
    > about the details, detailed timeline follows.
    >
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian citizenship timeline
    >
    > Feb 19, 2000. Landed as a permanent
resident, in Halifax, NS.
    >
    > July 25, 2000. Moved to Canada for good,
entering via Montreal, QC.
    >
    > July 26, 2003. Sent the citizenship
application from Penticton, BC.
    > At the time, my application indicated
1016 days of physical presence,
    > but I believed that the facts
presented there made it quite clear
    > that I had been residing in
Canada, in the ordinary meaning of this
    > word, for the preceding 3
years.
    >
    > Sep 29, 2003. Called up CIC. They said that the application
was
    > received on 26 August, 2003. No file created yet, so there is no
file
    > number yet. Promised to send me the booklet real soon.
    >
[From eCas:
    >
    > We started processing your application on
November 05, 2003.
    >
    > Your file was transferred on November 19,
2003 to the Surrey
    > office for the citizenship testing and taking
of the citizenship
    > oath. The Surrey office will contact you to
write the Citizenship
    > test.]
    >
    > (In accordance with the
standard procedure, at the time when the
    > application file was
transferred to the local office, the Citizenship
    > Certificate was
produced and included with the file).
    >
    > Feb 2, 2004: Got a surprise
phone call from the local CIC office
    > (Kelowna). Apparently, they are
operating, with regard to citizenship
    > matters, as a sort of satellite
office for Citizenship Court in
    > Surrey. They are asking if I'd like
to go for a test on Feb 6 in my
    > town. I agree; they fax me a Notice
to Appear at once, and follow it
    > up by Canada Post as well.
    >
[From eCas:
    >
    > We sent you a notice on February 02, 2004 ... to
appear and write
    > the Citizenship test on February 06, 2004 at
10:00am.]
    >
    > Feb 6, 2003: The citizenship test. There were about 15
people in the
    > room at the test, and there was another batch of
applicants scheduled
    > to come an hour later. I was told that a
citizenship officer comes to
    > our town almost every month to hold an
exam.
    >
    > Apparently some of the testees filed their applications as
late as
    > last October (4 months ago), others as early as last May (9
months
    > ago). So my timing (6 month from the application) may have
been
    > somewhat on the shorter side. I was told that some people in our

    > district have been unlucky enough to wait for their test for an
entire
    > year.
    >
    > The multiple-choice questions were just like those
in the CIC
    > brochure, or in the sample tests on the web
    > (e.g. -
"http://www.yourlibrary.ca/citizenship/index.asp"]http://www.yourlibra-
ry.ca/citizenship/index.asp[/url]); usually, all
    > but one answers to a
question are absurd enough for most people to be
    > able to eliminate
them even without knowing for sure what the correct
    > answer is.
    >
Half an hour is allocated for the test, but almost everyone finished
within 5-10 minutes. The officer at her desk marked the test papers
as they were handed in to her. She already had a stack of Notices of
Appear for Citizenship Oath, and handed them to the successful
applicants (almost all of those present, I think) once their test
papers had been graded. The oath ceremony was to take place in a
neighboring town in two weeks' time. The Notice of Appear contained a
note indicating that the oath is conditional on the applicant's case
been approved by the Citizenship Judge; but the citizenship officer
indicated that a denial at that stage would be quite unlikely, since
the cases have been vetted by the CIC staff before being transferred
to the judge.
    >
    > I was told that the local CIC office schedules
citizenship ceremonies
    > in my regional district once every 3-4 months.
This means that if I
    > weren't lucky enough to pick the telephone on
Monday, not only would I
    > have at least a one-month delay of the test,
but probably also a 3-4
    > month delay of the ceremony. However, the
test paper contained a
    > section where an applicant, apparently, could
choose a test location
    > at one of the 6 cities in our part of British
Columbia. So perhaps,
    > if a local-area ceremony was not expected for
a few months, an
    > applicant could still have an opportunity at this
stage to request to
    > attend a ceremony at an earlier date in one of
the neighboring
    > districts, within 100-200 km from this area.
    >
[From eCas:
    > We sent you a notice on February 05, 2004 to ... to
appear and
    > take the Oath of Citizenship on February 20, 2004 at
12:30pm.]
    >
    > February 20, 2004: The oath ceremony at a public school
in Summerland,
    > BC. About 65 applicants present, plus guests,
schoolchildren, and
    > assorted dignitaries, including our MP. Speeches,
anthem, flags, etc.,
    > as appropriate for the occasion.
    >
    > As usual,
a fairly varied population of citizenship applicants:
    > something like
1/4 from Britain and the United States, 1/4 from
    > Schengen countries,
1/4 from India, 1/4 from everywhere else. One
    > applicant was an
elderly lady born a Canadian citizen, who lost her
    > Canadian
citizenship under the pre-1977 (or maybe even pre-1947? :-)
    > law, and
was now granted a resumption of citizenship. Surprisingly --
    > and
maybe to the disappointment of some of the dignitaries -- nobody
    > at
all from francophone countries (although I have seen a fair number
    > of
French expats/emigrants in BC on other occasions).
    >
    > From talking to
other people, it seemed that I was fairly lucky to
    > complete the
entire process in under 7 months. One person I talked to
    > had his
application in the system for over a year; it was forwarded to
    > the
local office in March 2003, and it was only in February 2004 that
    > he
got his test and oath (all within one week). So the processing
    > times
are not particularly predictable, which, of course, is no
    > surprise
for anybody who's interested enough in the topic to read this
    > report
    :-)
    >
    > -------------------------------------------------------------------

    >
    > Observations:
    >
    > eCas (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-
services/index.html"]http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-
services/index.html[/url]) reflected
    > the completion of the central
office processing (when the file was
    > sent to the local office), as
well as the letters sent to me by CIC,
    > fairly promptly. So it is a
useful tool for somebody who is not sure
    > he receives his mail
reliably. But, in some districts at least,
    > nothing replaces the
ability to take your phone calls during business
    > hours. (Hint to
those who use modem dial-up excessively: get ADSL! :-)
    >
    >
--
Vladimir

Tam

On 22/2/04 4:43, in article c19c26$fjb$, "Vladimir
Menkov" <> wrote:

    > The multiple-choice questions were just like those in the CIC
    > brochure, or in the sample tests on the web
    > (e.g. http://www.yourlibrary.ca/citizenship/index.asp ); usually, all
    > but one answers to a question are absurd enough for most people to be
    > able to eliminate them even without knowing for sure what the correct
    > answer is.

Thanks for that. I took the test and got 9 out of 115. Of course I missed
all the questions about BC: I've never been there.

As a matter of fact, I've scarcely spent much time in Canada at all, and I
live in England. Which should give worried candidates for citizenship some
confidence that they, too, can pass the test. If I'd been more serious
about it and read the questions more carefully I wouldn't have made some of
the dumb mistakes I did.

Vladimir Menkov

In article <> you write:
    >Thanks for the info.

You are welcome.

    > We are looking into citizenship soon and will be
    >applying from Victoria.
    >Hope we are lucky and takes less than a year.

Well, the sooner you start, the soone it will be done (one hopes).

    >Is the cost $200 ?

It was when I applied last summer, and probably still is. If it
changes before you apply, you'll see it reflected in the then-current
application forms at www.cic.gc.ca.


--vld.

Tam

Tam <> wrote in message news:<BC5E6E99.D862%>...
    >
    > Thanks for that. I took the test and got 9 out of 115. Of course I missed
    > all the questions about BC: I've never been there.

Not 9 out of 115. I can't type. 93 out of 115

Kdog

Guys,

What documents (especially identity documents) are required to be
sent with along with the citizenship application form. I have a health
card but do not have a driver license yet.

Please adivse.

Thanks
Kdog

Vladimir Menkov

In article <>,
kdog <member8422@british_expats.com> wrote:

    >What documents (especially identity documents) are required to be
    >sent with along with the citizenship application form. I have a health
    >card but do not have a driver license yet.

Complete instructions come with the application form , available
via the CIC site:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizen/index.html

As to the IDs: copies of 2 IDs are required. If you don't have a
Canadian driver's license, the same office that issues driver's
licences in your province probably issues ID cards as well. In BC, for
example, they are known as BCID, are valid for 5 years, and [used to]
cost $35.

If you have a PR card, it should serve as a satisfactory ID as well.

--vld.

Iaink

Originally posted by kdog
    > Guys,
    >
    > What documents
(especially identity documents) are required to be sent with along with
the citizenship application form. I have a health card but do not have a
driver license yet.
    >
    > Please adivse.
    >
    > Thanks
    > Kdog


CIC website has all the details, but basically:

Copy of Record of
Landing IMM 1000
Photos x 2 (not same size as passport photos) signed at
bottom.
Receipt of Funds form ($200 per person)
Copies of 2 photo IDs,
eg health card, drivers license, passport
Completed forms

I was also
requested to send a copy of every page of my passport after my initial
application was in.

My test is tomorrow, timeline is approx applied in
May, Reciept confirmed August, request for passport copy September, Test
Feb,Ceremony???? This is in Kingston Ont.

Iain