Citizenship and counting days

[timing]

Is it possible to count days spent outside of Canada completing school as days towards Citizenship requirements? The background is that someone came with landed immigrant status, then left 4 months after to complete one semester of undergrad in the States to fulfill graduation requirements, then returened to Canada.


Thanks

[scylla]

No - the days spent outside of Canada completing school cannot be counted towards citizenship requirements. You must be physically present in Canada for the days to count.

[timing]

No - the days spent outside of Canada completing school cannot be counted towards citizenship requirements. You must be physically present in Canada for the days to count.

Does this mean that the applicant should not apply and risk appearing before a citizenship judge to explain the situation? Because my understanding is that there can be some exceptional circumstances.

[scylla]

You should wait until you have the required number of days in physical presence before you apply. If you don't have sufficient days, this will likely add 1+ years to your processing time and there's no guarantee a judge will approve you in the end.

Exceptions are sometimes made when there are exceptional circumstances and a person is only missing a small number of days in physical presence. Attending school out of the country is generally not regarded as an exceptional circumstance since you could have chosen to attend school in Canada.

If I were in your shoes, I would wait until I qualify to apply.