What is this all about?

This tool automates checking the Canadian citizenship status tracker, as well as shared spreadsheet updates from CanadaVisa forums via a Telegram bot.

Prerequisites

• Node.js v14+

• Chrome/Chromium

• Telegram account

Getting started

• Clone the repository

• Run npm install or yarn

• Copy .env.example to .env

• Configure (see below)

• Run: node index.js

  • Extra memory might help as spreadsheet is huge: --max_old_space_size=4096
  • You can use pm2 or other similar tool to run as daemon

Configuration

TELEGRAM_TOKEN

Contact @BotFather on Telegram and run /newbot.

TELEGRAM_USERID

Contact @userinfobot on Telegram to get your ID.

UCI / PWD

Use the credentials from Citizenship Status Tracker.
These will be used to login to portal on your behalf via headless instance of Chrome and scrape the application status from the page.

If left blank, the application status update logic will be disabled.

SHEETS_API_KEY

Follow API Key instructions.
If left blank, the forum updates logic will be disabled.

List of tracked cities

Update the desiredLocations constant in forum.js (defaults to Vancouver only).

Spreadsheet info

Update the sheetId constant in forum.js (defaults to 2020 spreadsheet).

Note that you might also need to update validSheetNames and cols accordingly depending on the structure of the spreadsheet you've supplied.

Update times

Update the statusUpdateHours and sheetsUpdateHours constants in index.js.

By default:

• Application status updates at 08:00, 14:00, 20:00.

• Forum spreadsheet updates every 2 hours from 07:00 to 23:00 (inclusive).

Usage

• You will get application status messages automatically (or /get for manual):

  Oath: Not started
  Last updated: Sep 1 2021

• You will get forum update messages automatically (or /diff for manual):

  Forum updates:

  username (10 Jan 2020)
  From: DM (1 Oct 2021)
  To: Oath (1 Dec 2021)
  

• Use /latest to get last 10 forum updates sorted by descending dates:

  username1 (10 Jan 2020) - Oath (1 Dec 2021)
  username2 (5 Feb 2020) - DM (15 Nov 2021)
  username3 (1 Apr 2020) - In process (1 Sep 2021)
  ...

• Use /hist {username} to get the full spreadsheet row for a forum member:

  username (Vancouver / Single)

  Sent: 1 Apr 2020
  Received: 7 Apr 2020
  AOR: 1 Oct 2020
  In Process: 1 Dec 2020
  Test Invite: 1 Aug 2021
  Test: 7 Aug 2021
  DM: 1 Nov 2021
  Oath Invite: N/A
  Oath: N/A

Disclaimer

This code is provided as-is and I will hold no liability for any issues that arise as the results of running these scripts. Be sure to always double-check everything you're trusting with your credentials, especially as sensitive as these.

This project is not endorsed by and not associated in any way with Citizenship and Immigration Canada or any other government entity.