Long Delay in Citizenship Processing

In a recent article, Metro News http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1249955/new-canadian-questions-reasons-for-long-delay-in-getting-citizenship/, questions the reasons for the long delay in citizenship applications.

We know the answer.

The answer is found (in large part) in an Operational Bulletin which was released by Citizenship and Immigration in May, 2012. Operational Bulletin 407, directs CIC to send out a second Residency Questionnaires to persons applying for Citizenship and to request more supporting documents to substantiate the claimed periods of residency in Canada. This bulletin can now be found on the internet, http://residencequestionnaire.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/atip-op407.pdf , but it was not posted for public viewing on the CIC website. This Residency Questionnaire was sent out to so many applicants, that it inevitably slowed down the overall processing of the applications since that time, and created a backlog of cases. In addition, there were many investigations, not only in regard to citizenship requirements but also in many cases, to whether the people applying for citizenship met their Permanent Resident residency requirements.

Clearly, going forward, with the many upcoming Citizenship changes, which we will discuss in our future blogs, we can say that residency questionnaires and investigations into applicants permanent residency requirements, foreshadowed the reality of how Citizenship applications will be treated and processed under the new Citizenship law. It should be of great concern to those who are thinking of applying for citizenship.

The only thing that we can say is that if you are thinking of applying for citizenship you should apply now before the new law comes in effect at the end of May, 2015, because it will not get better, or least it does not appear to be so.