Residency Obligation after Citizenship Application

[raj2011]

Hi All, I am very near to the completion of my last year of Citizenship and I am wondering Can I apply for citizenship and go out of Canada? if my Citizenship application takes 2-3 years, do I still need to complete ADDITIONAL 730 days in every 5 years till my citizenship application is finalised.

[Leon]

Hi All, I am very near to the completion of my last year of Citizenship and I am wondering Can I apply for citizenship and go out of Canada? if my Citizenship application takes 2-3 years, do I still need to complete ADDITIONAL 730 days in every 5 years till my citizenship application is finalised.

You must be in Canada when you apply but after that you can leave.  Having applied for citizenship does not somehow make you immune to the PR residency requirements.  If you want to keep your PR, you have to make sure you meet the requirements.  You must be a PR in order to get citizenship so I think if you lose your PR while your citizenship application is being processed, you would also lose your application.

[raj2011]

Hi Leon,

Thank you for your reply...

But does it put negative impact on my application if I leave after Citizenship application?

Also can my Citizenship application be rejected if I have 1095 days completed in last 4 years but I am out of Country say for 2 years after Citizenship Application?

[Leon]

They have no rules stating that you must live in Canada after applying or how long you can be outside (except at least to the point that you are still PR).  I heard of one case where a woman who was living in another country after applying had postponed the citizenship exam twice and then they contacted her to ask her if she was actually still interested but they did not cancel her application.