Checking Your Citizenship Application Status

Once your application is in, the citizenship tracker is where everything shows up first. IRCC does not send email updates for most stages, so knowing how to read it saves a lot of worry. This is from IRCC's pages on checking your application status and test results, checked on 23 September 2026.

It starts with the AOR

You can only check your status after you receive your acknowledgment of receipt (AOR). For an online application, the confirmation email you get on submitting is not the AOR. IRCC first checks the application is complete, then sends it.

If the AOR does not arrive, IRCC says the application may be incomplete and on its way back to you, or going through further review.

What you need

To create a tracker account as an applicant:

• your unique client identifier (UCI)
• your application number, which is in your AOR letter or email
• the email address in your application, where IRCC sends a verification code

To sign in afterwards, you need your UCI, or a party ID if you are a representative. IRCC says the tracker needs Chrome, Safari or Firefox. If you have a representative, the code goes to them and they check the status for you.

What the statuses mean

Citizenship test

• In progress means IRCC has scheduled your test and your invitation is coming. Invitations usually arrive at least two to three business days before the test start date.
• The test stays In progress while an online result has not been reviewed, if the test was cancelled and rescheduled, or if the result was invalidated.
• Completed means you received a pass or a fail.

After the test

Once the result is official, your application moves to one of four outcomes:

• a decision made on your application
• an invitation for an interview
• an invitation for a retest
• an invitation for a hearing

Citizenship ceremony

In progress means IRCC is scheduling your ceremony, and will send the invitation at least one week before the date.

What contacting IRCC can and cannot do

IRCC is direct about this: it cannot give you more information than the tracker already shows. Writing to ask where your application is will not produce a more detailed answer. The exceptions are specific situations IRCC names, such as a test invitation that has not arrived in time, or dates that are not 30 days apart.

Use the waiting time

The tracker will not tell you much while you wait, but that wait is study time. Our test timeline turns an expected test date into a plan, and our free practice questions are organised by chapter of Discover Canada.