Your Citizenship Test Invitation: What It Tells You

You cannot book the citizenship test yourself. IRCC sends you an invitation, and everything about the test follows from it: when you can take it, how, and how to change it. Here is what IRCC says about the invitation, from its page on waiting for a test invitation, checked on 23 September 2026.

When it arrives

IRCC says most people get the invitation 1 to 3 months after they receive the acknowledgment of receipt (AOR) for their application. It can take longer if your application is non-routine, and it depends on current processing times.

You have to wait for it. IRCC is explicit that you cannot book the test or ask to be sent an invitation.

You can see it coming. In your application status tracker, the Citizenship test section shows In progress once IRCC has scheduled your test and the invitation is on its way. Invitations usually arrive at least 2 to 3 business days before the test start date. If your tracker shows a scheduled online test and nothing has arrived within that time, IRCC gives a specific address to write to: [email protected], with an explanation, your application number and your UCI.

How it arrives

If you gave an email address, the invitation comes by email as a PDF attachment. Check your junk and spam folders, and look for mail from addresses ending in "@cic.gc.ca" or "@canada.ca". If IRCC has no email for you, it will mail the invitation or may call you, so check your voicemail.

What is in it

The invitation should include:

• a test start date and end date, 30 days apart
• a link to the test, or directions for an in-person test
• your application number and your unique client identifier (UCI)
• an email address for contacting IRCC

If the dates are not 30 days apart, IRCC asks you to email it with an explanation, a screenshot of the invitation, your application number and your UCI.

How the window works

For the online test, you can take it any time between the start and end dates, including weekends and holidays. Within that window you have up to three chances to pass. If you fail an attempt, you sign in again and use the next one. You cannot sign in before the window opens, after it closes, or after you have submitted.

If you are invited in person or on Microsoft Teams, the invitation gives a specific time and place instead. If you fail in those formats, you get a new invitation for another time.

If you need a different date

Email the address in the Rescheduling section of the invitation, with a detailed reason, your application number and your UCI. IRCC says rescheduling usually takes 4 to 8 weeks, and can take longer. In an emergency that needs the test sooner, IRCC has an urgent processing route.

Use the time before it

An invitation one to three months after your AOR is study time with a known end. Our test timeline turns a date into a week-by-week plan, and the free practice questions let you check each chapter as you go.