well, i dont know the fact.. may be someone more knowledgeble in this topic may post that part.. i will try to post the myth part

i applied for citizenship around may 2003. due to some stupid mistakes by me, my application in still under process. yesterday, one friend of mine gave me a strange suggestion to get my citizenship .. quick!

call the call centre, ask about the status of my application. as a routine they would say its under process. then she adviced me to start screaming on the officer, threaten to cancel my application. then.. she says they will send the test date within a week!

is it true? she says that trick worked for her and one of her friends!!!

amusing.. isnt it?

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I am not Bossy! I just have better ideas!!

I don't know if what are you suggesting will work. I look at it this way. What would I do if I was on the other end of line to a screaming caller with no valid reason?

I most probably will take the file and queue it at the bottom! Take your chances.

Your citizenship application is only 7 months in the process. Some of my friends who applied in Jan 2003 received the citizenship test date in Nov. and Oath in Dec. 2003. Have patience you number will come.

You may have valid reason to scream once the normal processing time passes.

Surayu,

AnilKG is right. This really is not the right way to get the things done. It spoils our (desis) image. You have to be patient as it takes around 10-12 months in getting the whole process completed. You have not mentioned about the mistake you committed but I hope you have now rectified that and every thing is fine now and you will get your turn in due course. Further, I do not believe that the call centre people have access to the files, as the files are in the office and call centre people have access to the same information which you can get yourself from their on line at estatus as they update the informtion once in a week.

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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada

no, i am not trying that i just posted a suggestion i received.

mistake i did? be ready to laugh!

***

in the application documentation, you have a small box with measurements printed on both sides to tell us what should be the length and width of the photos we attest with our application.

i went to the photo studio, told the lady there i need for citizenship. so, she cut them to the correct size and gave me my prints. being over-cautious (not trusting that lady's measuring abilities ) i put those prints on the box given in the documentation.

i found the prints are slightly (2-3 cms) bigger than the box printed there. so, i took a scissors, cut these prints according to that box size and sent my application!

next time when i was printing something, i had to do some settings change while printing. in that i read, when we print documents, according to paper size, printers resize the document to fit the paper it is printing. as a result, chances are that, the box given in the documentation i printed could be some shrinked one!

so, what is there in few cms? here is the catch.. according to the documentation, phots sizes should exactly match the specifications given in the application. if they are smaller, they will stop processing till we send exact size prints.

in the mean-time i changed house. applied for my change of address for driver's licence, health card. i got my health card within 10 days but did not get my driver's licence. after i got my health card, i got intimation from the ministry about my mistake and in addition they wanted me to send 2 proofs of my address (photo-IDs)

now i need to send my drivers licence and health card copies. but problem is .. i changed my address. so, i have health card with new address.. drivers licence with old address. i waited till i get my driver's licence. then, since i have new address on my photo-ids, i changed my address for the application (earlier, i thought i will keep that old address to quicken the process)

i changed my address on application, sent photo-ids and photos after i got my new driver's licence.

*****

i strongly suspect i confused you by now.. in a nutshell its like cinema kashtalu (an expression in my mother tongue telugu which means.. i got all the difficulties of a typical movie character! everything inter-linked)

now, i am waiting for my exam date.. i am prepared to wait.. let them take their sweet own time!

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I am not Bossy! I just have better ideas!!

Surayu,

It really takes guts to admit mistake and you have explained it thoroughly. No, I am not confused, but your candid admission could prove helpful to some one else by helping them not commit the same mistake again. You are right; these citizenship people are very particular with the size of the photograph. So much so, that they want even the face size on the photo should be between 25 mm to 35 mm only. No less and no more. And once they find any problem with your application, then again you are put on the back of the lot. However, you would still be able to get your oath ceremony letter befor June 2004.

Good luck

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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada

Some really good admission and good advice.

Is it that suddenly we have found new people or is the first meeting bearing its fruits??!!

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Chandresh

Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!

You are right Chandresh. The first ever meeting has really borne fruits. The credit goes to you, Rashmi and other senior members like Jacob and Massood for organizing the same and encouraging most of us to write more and more with the intent of helping our ever growing Desi Community. And you know what, it seems this is contagious and more and more people are coming out with the ideas and even more and more people are joing the fourm. I am noticing on average one new member by the hour. That means we will cross 3000 mark much before the month ends.

I would request everyone to keep up the good work for the betterment of our Desi Community.

Good Luck

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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada