question regarding the physical presence calculation, Please help!

[Kiranmayi]

Hi All

We applied for citizenship in 2018 and missed a couple of oath ceremonies because we were stuck in India for almost 2 years due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and some issues. Our old application was Abandoned and have to apply for a new one. Confused with the physical presence calculator: According to the information you provided and assuming nothing else changes, if you remain in Canada, you will meet the requirement of being physically present in Canada for at least 1095 days in the past five years on December 26, 2025.

However, can I apply anyway and refer to my old application in a letter? IRCC knows what our situation was 3 because we informed IRCC why we couldn't attend the oath ceremony etc...

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Not enough time in Canada
You need to have at least 1,095 days of physical presence credits in Canada to apply.

• We’ll return your application if you submit it with insufficient time in Canada.
• Wait until you meet this requirement before applying.

According to the information you provided and assuming nothing else changes, if you remain in Canada, you will meet the requirement of being physically present in Canada for at least 1095 days in the past five years on December 26, 2025.
Your 5 year eligibility period
January 16, 2019 to January 15, 2024
How the calculation works


Permanent resident

Status	Days	Multiplier	Credits
Permanent resident	1826	1	1826
Outside Canada	814	-1	-814
India	54
India	308
India	306
India	146
Total Credits as permanent resident			1012

Total days of physical presence1012

 

[Mitya-kun]

You must have at least 1095 in the last 5 years. This is a very strict rule. If you the Physical presence calculator tells you that you don't have enough days as of today, then you'll have to wait until you get enough days (until at least Dec 26, 2025. There's no point in applying before you're in compliance with this rule. Have a prior application (if it was closed as abandoned) can't help you in any way.

 

[Kiranmayi]

my point is between January 16, 2019, to January 15, 2024, I have already 1012 days, why do I have to wait until 2025 December?

 

[Kiranmayi]

I may be looking at it wrong? can anyone of you please explain me?

 

[forw.jane]

Hi All

We applied for citizenship in 2018 and missed a couple of oath ceremonies because we were stuck in India for almost 2 years due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and some issues. Our old application was Abandoned and have to apply for a new one. Confused with the physical presence calculator: According to the information you provided and assuming nothing else changes, if you remain in Canada, you will meet the requirement of being physically present in Canada for at least 1095 days in the past five years on December 26, 2025.

However, can I apply anyway and refer to my old application in a letter? IRCC knows what our situation was 3 because we informed IRCC why we couldn't attend the oath ceremony etc...

-------------------------------


Not enough time in Canada
You need to have at least 1,095 days of physical presence credits in Canada to apply.

• We’ll return your application if you submit it with insufficient time in Canada.
• Wait until you meet this requirement before applying.

According to the information you provided and assuming nothing else changes, if you remain in Canada, you will meet the requirement of being physically present in Canada for at least 1095 days in the past five years on December 26, 2025.
Your 5 year eligibility period
January 16, 2019 to January 15, 2024
How the calculation works


Permanent resident

Status	Days	Multiplier	Credits
Permanent resident	1826	1	1826
Outside Canada	814	-1	-814
India	54
India	308
India	306
India	146
Total Credits as permanent resident			1012

Total days of physical presence1012

You cannot revive your old application after it was abandoned. Your chances were there till it was active.

I have doubt about the date given by calculator and the table mentioned above. If I go by the table you should be eligible to apply for citizenship in Apr 24.
Something you have mentioned in calculator is missing in the table you mentioned above.

The date coming up in calculator Dec 26, 2025 is still 710 days from today which means from 2019 you collected only 385 days instead of 1012 you mentioned in table.

So please verify.

 

[dpenabill]

If you are asking whether IRCC will make a special case and waive the physical presence requirement (1095 days IN Canada within the five years immediately preceding the date the application is made) because you abandoned a previous application based on a period of time during which you did meet the presence requirement . . . NO.

NO . . . regardless the reasons.

IRCC has NO authority to grant citizenship (under the general adult citizenship grant provisions, that is Section 5(1) in the Citizenship Act) UNLESS the applicant meets the physical presence requirement. Even applications just ONE DAY short must be denied.

Of course you can apply, but the application will be denied UNLESS you meet the actual physical presence requirement based on days IN Canada during the five year "eligibility" period based on the date of the application.

Beyond that I am not clear what your numbers are.

If you were outside Canada for more than two years at one stretch (even if by just one day), you will not be eligible for citizenship again until you have been IN Canada at least three years since your return here . . . no matter how much you were IN Canada before that absence.

my point is between January 16, 2019, to January 15, 2024, I have already 1012 days, why do I have to wait until 2025 December?

Remember, any days IN Canada more than five years prior to the date the application is made do NOT count.

It is likely that days you are here, now, are being offset (lost) since the corresponding dates back in 2019 fall outside what counts as they pass the five year threshold. So, for example, assuming you were here in January 2019, for each day in January 2024 you are here, you add a day, but you also lose the corresponding day back in 2019.

As I noted, if you were outside Canada for more than two years at one stretch (even if by just one day), you will not be eligible for citizenship again until you have been IN Canada at least three years since your return here

Hi All

We applied for citizenship in 2018 and missed a couple of oath ceremonies because we were stuck in India for almost 2 years due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and some issues. Our old application was Abandoned and have to apply for a new one. Confused with the physical presence calculator: According to the information you provided and assuming nothing else changes, if you remain in Canada, you will meet the requirement of being physically present in Canada for at least 1095 days in the past five years on December 26, 2025.

However, can I apply anyway and refer to my old application in a letter? IRCC knows what our situation was 3 because we informed IRCC why we couldn't attend the oath ceremony etc...

-------------------------------


Not enough time in Canada
You need to have at least 1,095 days of physical presence credits in Canada to apply.

• We’ll return your application if you submit it with insufficient time in Canada.
• Wait until you meet this requirement before applying.

According to the information you provided and assuming nothing else changes, if you remain in Canada, you will meet the requirement of being physically present in Canada for at least 1095 days in the past five years on December 26, 2025.
Your 5 year eligibility period
January 16, 2019 to January 15, 2024
How the calculation works


Permanent resident

Status	Days	Multiplier	Credits
Permanent resident	1826	1	1826
Outside Canada	814	-1	-814
India	54
India	308
India	306
India	146
Total Credits as permanent resident			1012

Total days of physical presence1012

 

[Kiranmayi]

If you are asking whether IRCC will make a special case and waive the physical presence requirement (1095 days IN Canada within the five years immediately preceding the date the application is made) because you abandoned a previous application based on a period of time during which you did meet the presence requirement . . . NO.

NO . . . regardless the reasons.

IRCC has NO authority to grant citizenship (under the general adult citizenship grant provisions, that is Section 5(1) in the Citizenship Act) UNLESS the applicant meets the physical presence requirement. Even applications just ONE DAY short must be denied.

Of course you can apply, but the application will be denied UNLESS you meet the actual physical presence requirement based on days IN Canada during the five year "eligibility" period based on the date of the application.

Beyond that I am not clear what your numbers are.

If you were outside Canada for more than two years at one stretch (even if by just one day), you will not be eligible for citizenship again until you have been IN Canada at least three years since your return here . . . no matter how much you were IN Canada before that absence.



Remember, any days IN Canada more than five years prior to the date the application is made do NOT count.

It is likely that days you are here, now, are being offset (lost) since the corresponding dates back in 2019 fall outside what counts as they pass the five year threshold. So, for example, assuming you were here in January 2019, for each day in January 2024 you are here, you add a day, but you also lose the corresponding day back in 2019.

As I noted, if you were outside Canada for more than two years at one stretch (even if by just one day), you will not be eligible for citizenship again until you have been IN Canada at least three years since your return here

Thanks but we were not outside Canada for more than two years at one stretch. We were in Canada 73 days in 2021, 41 days in 2022
2019 (from Jan 16th) 346 days in 2019
274 days in 2020
73 days in 2021
41 days in 2022
278 days in 2023 and until 15th Jan 2024.

 

[dpenabill]

Thanks but we were not outside Canada for more than two years at one stretch. We were in Canada 73 days in 2021, 41 days in 2022
2019 (from Jan 16th) 346 days in 2019
274 days in 2020
73 days in 2021
41 days in 2022
278 days in 2023 and until 15th Jan 2024.

This confirms that the problem, most likely and as I noted, is that "days you are here, now, are being offset (lost) since the corresponding dates back in 2019 fall outside what counts as they pass the five year threshold." Moreover, it appears that this will continue for days corresponding to when you were here during 2020.

The reference to two years at one stretch was intended to illustrate the simplest calculation, to illustrate how being here now is offset by the loss of days here five years ago. The underlying principle remains the same; it just gets more complex when accounting for periods of time coming and going. The underlying principle is that you must be IN Canada at least 1095 days within the preceding five years as of the day you make the application. Days in Canada more than five years previous do NOT count.

For example, since you are short today, in a calculation that includes credit for days here back in 2019, you will continue to be short by the same margin for most of the remainder of 2024, as you lose credit for the corresponding dates back in 2019 when they become more than five years old. Since you were outside Canada some days in 2019, if you are IN Canada those dates this year, that will increase your presence total . . . subject, of course, to any days not in Canada this year.

As @Mitya-kun commented, the physical presence calculator is your best resource for calculating your physical presence, including hypotheticals based on future dates.