Reminder: I am NOT an expert and NOT qualified to offer personal advice.
Must say, NEVER heard or read that maintaining a foreign bank account would cause the slightest concern for grant citizenship applicants.
I never considered, relative to my application for citizenship, closing any of the multiple foreign accounts I had and still have (I have other reasons for wanting to close one, and ongoing contingencies preventing me from closing it for now, but that is entirely about personal business relationships).
So, as to the specific question whether having a foreign bank account is a "red flag" when applying for citizenship, the answer is an emphatic NO. Not so far as I know or can imagine.
That said . . .
. . . if I may, I would like to take this query as an opportunity to address a tangent, a narrow tangent, about proof of actual physical presence.
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That said . . . probably nothing to worry about at all, but to be clear . . . if and when an applicant may need to submit banking records . . . a very narrow tangent about proof of actual physical presence if and when an applicant gets the full blown RQ . . .
Short Version: If and when an RQ'd applicant submits banking records, the applicant should submit such records for ALL banking accounts, including foreign accounts. AND OF COURSE a Citizenship Officer or a Citizenship Judge might then examine those records in detail looking for transactions or other information that possibly indicates the applicant was NOT IN Canada during a period of time the applicant declared he or she was in Canada.
Longer Explanation:
Again, this is a very narrow tangent and NOT likely to be a concern, none at all.
That said, if and when an applicant for citizenship is subject to what is referred to as a "residency-case," or more to the point now, a "presence-case," in which the applicant is issued full blown RQ (CIT 0171) and subject to a hearing regarding his or her proof of actual physical presence sufficient to meet the eligibility requirement, banking records are among the evidence the applicant may need to submit to IRCC or a Citizenship Judge.
These days it appears very few applicants are issued the full blown version of RQ. Even then, among those who are, it appears only a very, very few are then fully processed as a "residency-case," or a "presence-case." That is, even if IRCC has concerns about the applicant's actual physical presence, there are less intrusive RQ-related requests which resolve a large majority of those cases, and even if full blown RQ is issued, it appears the applicant's submission in response resolves most of those. So only a very, very few applicants end up being fully processed as a "residency-case," or a "presence-case."
So, in any event, the vast majority of qualified applicants need NOT worry much at all about getting bogged down in having to document their history in Canada to the extent they share their banking records.
But some, a small percentage, will.
Which leads to the nature of matters I tend to focus on and follow these days, the more complicated and difficult issues, matters which demand "a longer explanation."
This is UNUSUAL enough I was hesitant to address it. Again, this is a very narrow tangent.
BUT if and when it is relevant, in a particular case, in reference to a particular applicant, it can be a big deal. Moreover, it goes to an aspect of the citizenship application process which comes up almost daily in this forum but rarely is adequately answered: what is PROOF that will meet IRCC standards for proving actual physical presence?
Perhaps the most common version of this arises in the context of an immigrant's early days after coming to Canada to settle, a transitory period in which the new PR may not have had a fixed residential address and was not regularly employed with a readily recognizable employer. For example, "what about proof of rental in an Airbnb?" is a question that is repeatedly posed here.
I have been meaning, if and when I get the time, to start and dedicate a topic specifically about the process of PROVING presence in detail, but that will demand a lot of homework, a lot of time. And it is a subject relevant to only a very, very few . So I cannot come close to addressing this tangent in-depth here and now, and will not try.
Which brings this back to BANKING RECORDS. And IF and WHEN an applicant is entangled in a full blown presence-case.
My sense is that an applicant can choose to NOT include banking records in response to the full-blown RQ (I have not seen the current version of CIT 0171 so I am NOT at all sure of this), but if and when the applicant has banking records which will help document a paper and digital trail of a life lived IN Canada, an applicant can and probably should include those in the documents submitted in response (especially if those records will help fill gaps in other proof, such as to residence or employment).
Which finally brings this around to foreign bank accounts. If in response to the full-blown RQ the applicant submits NO banking records, and otherwise makes no representation about banking records, then not including records for a foreign account should NOT be a problem.
BUT as soon as an applicant submits any banking records, the applicant SHOULD submit ALL banking records for the respective period of time. It is not likely the failure to do so would be prosecuted as a misrepresentation by omission, even if it could be, but it could trigger serious concerns about how honestly and completely the applicant is being. REMEMBER, the applicant's credibility is one of the biggest factors that influences how it goes.
So, if and when an RQ'd applicant submits banking records, the applicant should submit such records for ALL banking accounts, including foreign accounts. AND OF COURSE a Citizenship Officer or a Citizenship Judge might then examine those records in detail looking for transactions or other information that might indicate the applicant was NOT IN Canada during a period of time the applicant declared he or she was in Canada.
