1 day short of physical presence

[andriy155]

I might be wrong, but I think I have read somewhere that CIC won't calculate the 1 additional day on leap years, but their online calculator does ...

Called the call centre. They told me that the residence calculator does not take February 29th into account either.
Again, let's encourage people to apply with a little more than 1095 days of physical presence but let's not create panic among people who applied on their 1096th day unnecessarily!

ps. Also just created a mock case on the residence calculator. Said that I arrived to Canada on Feb 28, 2012 and want to sign my form on March 1, 2012. The system obviously complained by told me that I had only 1 day of presence. It also told me that the earliest I would be able to apply is 2015-02-28, which is exactly the 1096th day. Hopefully, this ends this discussion.

 

[Soopergal]

I didn't do any day trips to the US. I've taken many business trips to the US and have recorded them correctly to my knowledge.

I just checked the application form again, I applied on the day that I met 1095 days of physical presence. Because the calculator said I'm eligible. Big mistake. According to CIC, now I am one day short. Totally ridiculous.

 

[Soopergal]

What is also silly is that if they thought I didn't have enough days to apply, they should have sent it back because I don't meet the basic requirement. Instead they kept processing it with RQ and judges etc. creating a backlog everyone else. I was thinking of cancelling the application but it seems I may get a RQ again because I pulled out.

 

[andriy155]

Soopergal,

Just to be completely sure, did you apply on the 1095th day of your physical presence or on the 1096th day?

If you applied on the 1095th day, then technically you have not completed 1095 days. But then I am really surprised that the calculator told you you are eligible. I've tried setting up a similar scenario and the calculator was not allowing me to apply on the 1095th day.

If, however, you applied on the 1096th day, then you have accumulated 1095 days and are eligible for citizenship. This was confirmed by three different call centre agents.

andriy

 

[Soopergal]

The calculator said I have 1095 days. It said "According to the information you provided, you meet the residence requirement." So regardless which day I sent the application, as long as the calculator said I meet the residence requirement, I am qualified to apply, IMO.

 

[andriy155]

I think, you are right. I would ask for the clarification from CIC if I were you. Either they have a bug in the online residence calculator or they have entered your info incorrectly into their system.

 

[andrewka]

ps. Also just created a mock case on the residence calculator. Said that I arrived to Canada on Feb 28, 2012 and want to sign my form on March 1, 2012. The system obviously complained by told me that I had only 1 day of presence. It also told me that the earliest I would be able to apply is 2015-02-28, which is exactly the 1096th day. Hopefully, this ends this discussion.

You are testing the wrong thing. Discrepancy shows up when permanent resident was outside of Canada on Feb 29.
Online calculator does not include Feb 29 in any bucket (presence/absence), so in this scenario (being out on Feb 29th), where online calculator will show 100 days presence (just an example), GCMS - where they key in your absences when creating your file - will calculate 99 days of presence only (same if you were to tally up your days using Excel).

 

[andriy155]

You are testing the wrong thing. Discrepancy shows up when permanent resident was outside of Canada on Feb 29.
Online calculator does not include Feb 29 in any bucket (presence/absence), so in this scenario (being out on Feb 29th), where online calculator will show 100 days presence (just an example), GCMS - where they key in your absences when creating your file - will calculate 99 days of presence only (same if you were to tally up your days using Excel).

Gotcha!

 

[Suin]

I understand it's maybe not my business, but why not to wait a couple of days longer and do not worry then? Just my 2 cents.

 

[andriy155]

I understand it's maybe not my business, but why not to wait a couple of days longer and do not worry then? Just my 2 cents.

In my case, one of my IDs was expiring two days later. I did not want to get new IDs since it was a guaranteed way to get an RQ. The option of waiting 3 months was not looking particularly appealing. Hence I applied on the first day when I became eligible last month.