Citizenship Form

new2toronto wrote: Does anyone has a copy of a completed citizenship application form. It will be extremely helpful to complete the form if we have a sample to go to.

The application form is mostly straightforward. The content to be filled out by the applicant is personal information, and not relevant, not applicable, for any other applicant. That is, in particular, a sample of someone else's completed application would not be helpful for most prospective applicants and could actually be quite misleading (given how personal the content is, the risk of extrapolating from something out of context is high).

In the meantime, everyone of us who applied for citizenship should, of course, have a completed citizenship application form, our personal copy of what we submitted to CIC. NOT a good idea to share that information generally, let alone on the Internet.

The online CIC guide to the application is the primary source for information and instruction about how to complete the form. For all but a very few of the items, the form and instructions are very simple and straightforward. There are a few topics in the forum where some of those specific items, for which there is sometimes a question, are discussed in particular.

First, another reason why a "sample" completed application would not be of particular assistance is that the application form has been changed numerous times in the last few years, is likely to undergo some additional changes in the near future, and in particular will change significantly if and when Bill C-24 is adopted.

Reminder: always check the CIC website for the most recent version of the application and instructions on the day you are going to actually put the application in the mail. CIC tends to put some changes into effect immediately.

Even this has not always been sufficient. Earlier this year CIC raised the fees and immediately applied the change even to applications which had been mailed prior to the change but not recieved at CIC yet (even overnight mail), thus many applications which had been put in the mail that day or within a few days before, were returned to the applicants, even though the applicants clearly had no notice of the change at the time their applications were sent.

One example where some changes must be in the works is relevant to your question number 5:

new2toronto wrote: 5)Should I provide a copy of Notice of Assessment and T4 as a proof of Canadian work experience?

The instruction in the form currently does not fully comport with the instructions in the guide or with the checklist. (Shake my head; CIC has been remarkably inefficient in the last few years, including in particular transitional phases for its forms.)

The current application form instruction states:

If you answered yes to question A and/or B, list your work and/or education history (inside and outside Canada) in the past four (4) years, including the city and country, statting with your most recent. If you were not employed (i.e. you were unemployed, retired, homemaker, etc.) you must indicate the reason for being unemployed and confirm the dates of your unemployment under "Work/Education" and indicate the time period. Do not exclude any period of time during the past four (4) years. Do not leave this section blank. If you do, your application will be returned to you. If you answered yes, you must provide photocopies of your work and/or education records. (See instruction guide for examples of education records.)

There are no instructions as to what constitutes "work" records. There is no item in the checklist for checking that copy of "work" records were included.

There is no suggestion that T4s or the CRA Notice of Assessment should be included. Actually there is no hint what "work" records means.

Whether or not an applicant should include any documentation in addition to that specifically requested has been an open question discussed here often. Mostly the consensus has been that it most likely does not help. Despite that, I did include copies of my CRA Assessment notices, and it did not hurt (cannot say it helped, but since my timeline from application to oath was barely eight months, it obviously did not hurt). My application form was different than the current form. No mention of work records at all in the version in use when I applied last year.

Given the current instruction, I would lean toward including at least the CRA NoA and T4s.

new2toronto wrote: 1) I have an old passport but it expired 6 years ago. I do not have to attach a copy of it - correct?

Copy of bio pages from any current passport should be included. While some expired passports may be deemed relevant and CIC interested in examining them later, so long as the older passport expired before you applied for PR (and thus clearly expired before you were issued a PR visa), probably of no relevance.   

new2toronto wrote: 2)I completed my education from Ireland, transcript and degree in English should be a sufficient proof of language skills - correct?

I do not know the answer to this. (I was language exempt.) There are one or two topics here specifically about problems some applicants encountered relative to the proof of language. I have the impression that the degree or the transcripts need to show, in some respect, that the language of instruction was English (or French). How this works for courses taken and degrees obtained in schools for which it should be obvious the language of instruction was English, I do not know.

See the instruction in the Guide and read it carefully. If in doubt, perhaps telephone the CIC call centre (inconvenient, difficult to get through sometimes, but better than guessing).

new2toronto wrote: 3)Part 3(B) - should it be N/A if I am not requesting a different name to appear on my certificate?

Correct.

new2toronto wrote: 4)Part 6(F) - before coming to Canada as a PR, I was on a 6 month vacation. Is the below filled correctly. Should I put unemployed under work/education and reason under employer or school attended?

I quoted the instruction from the form itself above. Ironically, the instruction in the form is more detailed than the instruction in the Guide. My reading of the instruction is that in the box for "Work/Education" the applicant should include the "why," thus for example "unemployed - seeking work" or "unemployed - homemaker" or "unemployed - holiday" or "unemployed - traveling" . . . whatever is appropriate to the individual. Note, yes, be sure to cover all four years, including any time prior to becoming a PR which was nonethless within four years prior to applying for citizenship; thus, this includes (for many) time abroad. Same applies for addresses. Reminder: if the box is not big enough, use a separate sheet of paper.

Also note: I agree, it seems intuitive to put the "homemaker" or "vacation" explanation in the next box, the larger box, for "Employer or school attended," but that is not what the instruction states. For a time period prior to landing I doubt it matters much. "Unemployed" in the box for "Work/Education" without explanation probably suffices. I doubt they pay much attention to the information for dates prior to the date of landing, but you do have to include that information for up to four years prior to applying.