How I Became a Canadian Citizen: Ceremony, Timeline, Passport Application

and in this video I will share all you need to know about the citizenship ceremony and how I got my blue passport if you stick to the end of the video I will share with you the full timeline of how long it took me to get my Canadian citizenship let's go so I'm getting ready for my citizenship ceremony they still do it online virtually when your citizenship ceremony is kep scheduled you will get your email confirmation with the date and details you need to know to prepare for it just so you know there is an option to request having the ceremony in person you can simply reply to the address they provide in the letter to request an in-person ceremony but you will have to wait a few weeks more for it to be arranged I didn't want to wait longer as I'm in between moving to a new house changing addresses and I also have a vacation schedule so I decided to have my ceremony sooner than later even though it will will probably lag the grand feeling of the in-person celebration if my circumstances were different I would totally opt for a few extra weeks to have the ceremony in person regardless I still dressed nicely practiced saying my oath and learn the anthem it's okay if you don't know it by heart you can simply read it off your screen or a piece of paper if your ceremony is in person so let's use the magic of Cinema cut and jump straight to my ceremony the ceremony lasts for 2 hours and starts with you confirming your identity in front of the officer and cutting your PR card yes you destroy your PR card life because you are no longer a permanent resident you are about to become a citizen it's an exciting though a weird moment when you're no longer PR and yet not a citizen just like in that Britney's Pierce song anyways don't forget to bring your PR card and scissors to the ceremony in my case there were about 300 people present on the ceremony the crowd for an inperson ceremony would be smaller so after cut in my PR card I had to Simply sit and wait till all of the participants were finished doing the same procedure this citizenship ceremony is now in session the official part consists of an introduction to your judge and then goes a short video showing you how beautiful Canada is and it reminds participants why they want to be the citizens of Canada this short video also emphasizes that Canadian citizenship is both a privilege and a responsibility being a Canadian means standing up and saying I'm ready to make a difference to help others to respect others and to work with my neighbors to build a better city province and Country the future of Canada depends on all of us together together after this video the judge officially welcomed us to the ceremony and gave a beautiful speech reinforcing the importance of honoring Canadian history culture and diversity this was the moment when the ceremony started feeling much more real and honestly that's where I started getting a little emotional this was finally happening after so many years of hard work Sweat and Tears when it came to saying the oath it was written on the screen and I just read it out loud along with everybody else and everyone was unmuted so it was the whole chorus of different voices with different accents pledging allegiance to the King Charles his heirs and successors hiss and successor it was an interesting experience saying the oath along with hundreds of other people via Zoom call the ceremony ended with congratulatory speech from officials and the judge and then we sang the Canadian Anthem once again it was all together with all participants but for this part you can stay muted if your singing skills are questionable the entire ceremony was held in English language since the ceremony was held in Ontario it was just the anthem that was bilingual so we sang the second verse in French if you are in a frankophone province you can of course request to have a fully bilingual or French ceremony by contacting IRSC the last step in an online ceremony was to sign the confirmation of citizenship paper and send the sign document to my assigned ircc officer via email you can either sign the physical printed version of the document or sign it electronically this document can be found in the end of your ceremony invitation letter so make sure to read the entire email when you receive it if you have questions regarding online ceremony there is 99% chance your question is is covered in that letter so don't skip reading it this last step of signing the document is so simple so make sure you don't forget to do it as soon as the ceremony is over otherwise you will not get your certificate of citizenship the certificate of citizenship will be your first and the most original proof of your Canadian citizenship this is the document not to be taken lightly you will also need it in order to apply for your Canadian passport how are you feeling uh relieved joyful definitely very glad that after all this years I'm finally a Canadian citizen but I feel like it'll really hit me once I get my blue passport let's have a look I think this is it congratulations this is the certificate of Canadian citizenship it arrived just in 10 days now with the citizenship certificate in hand it's time to apply for the passport and there are several options to apply in person or by mail and for either of these options you can choose how soon you need your passport by the end of the next business day 2 to n business days 10 to 20 business days now if you are thinking I can get it tomorrow let me stop you here you will need to provide proof on why you need it so soon for example a plane ticket and an explanation letter describing the need for such an urgency they would also insist that you do not finalize any travel prior to having your passport since there could always be unforeseen delays there will also be an additional fee for Urgent services in my case I went with 10 to 20 business days options now if you would like to apply by mail you will send all your documents by snail mail personally I don't fully trust mail it gets lost delayed so I decided to apply in person for the iners application I booked an appointment at the passport office you can always do a Walkin but then be prepared for a long line and hours of waiting unfortunately for me the closest spot available was in a couple of weeks or so I still think it's better than going to the passport office without an appointment and just waiting in the line so my suggestion for you here is to start booking your slot after your citizenship ceremony even before you get your certificate so by the time you get your certificate it's time to go to the passport office now about the documents for my appointment I filled out the application form got two pictures of my beautiful face found two references for the application form and one guarantor to sign both the pictures and the application form one piece of ID and the citizenship certificate should be included in the application package too your references are essentially people who know you and can confirm that you are you so when the day came I just went to the passport office with all of the documents and a credit card to pay fees and I did my application in May 2023 and it cost me $160 Canadian do the lady accepting my application told me that I would receive the passport in my mail within 10 business days in reality I received a notice in my mailbox saying that I need to come to the post office and collect the envelope and sign for it so after I came back from my vacation in Vancouver I went straight to collect the passport and yes there will be a new video about Vancouver soon so stay tuned you know what happens next with the magic of Cinema cut we can jump to two weeks later and get the passport and the journey is over woohoo and that's it here it is if you are confused about the whole timeline let me show it to you so the whole process from applying to Canadian citizenship to receiving the passport took me 13 months and 11 days if you are like me and you like keeping track of your progress there is a nice tool I'd like to recommend it's called IM tracker some of you probably already heard of it you can track many things there your Visa progress your citizenship application and so on and if I look further back it took me 6 years from applying to Canadian PR through Express entry to getting my Canadian passport and looking even further back it took me more than 7 years from the moment I started thinking about moving to Canada and preparing all the documents to the moment when I hold my Canadian passport in my hands was it worth it absolutely what's next traveling and exploring of course when I got my Canadian citizenship I was given an opportunity to sign in to canoe app which provides one year of free access to Canadian Parks museums and other places of interest so don't forget to use this perk when you get your citizenship I can also travel around the world and make a comparison videos about Canada and different countries what do you think what country should I visit next let me know in the comments below thank you guys for being with me throughout this journey and thank you for watching this video together we experienced this big and significant Milestone and I will remember it forever if you enjoyed my story please click the like button below and subscribe to this channel a huge shout out to our patreon supporters and I will see you in the next video

Channel: Make That Change

Views: 89,362

Keywords: immigration canada, newcomer, canada, new to canada, first year in canada, life in canada, expat life, career growth, иммиграция в канаду, переезд в канаду, moving to canada, canada refugee, canada pr, skilled worker canada, express entry canada, citizenship application canada, citizenship test 2022 canada, canada immigration, citizenship canada, citizenship ceremony, work in canada, citizenship test canada 2023, canadian passport, canadian passport application

Id: S3aQThib5lY

Length: 10min 41sec (641 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 31 2023