Questions related to Citizenship Requirements

[M.R.S]

Leon, Matthewc and other seniors for your advice please


I have landed in October 2009 and after spending 40 days returned back. I have some questions if you guys can please clarify.


How many days I have to spend in Canada during 5 years of PR to apply for citizenship?

How long I can stay outside Canada and then return to complete residency requirement.

If I stay for 2 years in Canada and then get the PR renewal how many days further I have to spend to complete citizenship requirements?

What is meant by rolling 5 years

Thanks

 

[Leon]

To apply for citizenship, only the 4 year period before you apply counts. In this period, you need to have at least 1095 days in Canada as a PR or if you were in Canada before becoming PR, that time can count at a 50% discount, for example 60 days in Canada before getting PR would count as 30 towards this requirement.

The residency requirement to keep your PR is that you can not be outside Canada for 1095 days or more during your first 5 years as a PR or any rolling 5 year period after that.

By a rolling 5 year period, they mean at any point the last 5 years. You can not look at the 5 year periods of your PR card expiry as separate entities. Say for example that you spent a year in Canada, then you leave for 3 years, come back for one year, apply for a new PR card and get it because you have 2 years in Canada out of the last 5. What then starts to happen is as time passes, your first year in Canada stops counting any more because it is now more than 5 years ago. You have to be careful that you can always look back at the last 5 years and say you have not been outside Canada for 1095 days or more in that period. If you are just travelling and are maybe outside Canada a little too long, you might get away with it but if you lose your PR card and have to apply for a new one, you will have to fill out where you have been in the previous 5 years so this is important.

If you stay outside Canada for up to 3 years, then come back for 2 and renew your PR, you would have to stay another year in Canada to reach the 1095 days needed to apply for citizenship.

 

[M.R.S]

Thank you Leon, I really appreciate your prompt reply.

Now after completing 1095 days when I apply for citizenship what is the average time taken to complete the citizenship process.

Is there any problem if I leave Canada after filing my case for citizenship.

 

[Leon]

The average time given on the CIC website is 13 to 16 months. I have heard as little as 8 months and up to 2 and a half years.

It is ok to leave Canada after you apply but you must be careful to either give them your address overseas or keep an address in Canada when somebody is checking your mail for you on a regular basis.

When I got my letter to appear for the exam, my exam date was only 2 weeks after I got the letter. Same thing when I got the letter to appear for the oath. I think even less than 2 weeks for the oath.

You have the option of postponing if the date is not good for you but it's not advisable to do that unless you absolutely have to because they will not schedule a new date at your convenience. They may delay you for a year and then give you a new date with short notice again.