clarity on "3 years out of 5 years" for citizenship eligibility

[patnikrishna]

I became a PR in 2017, but went back to my home country for 1.7 years.
Now moved permanently to Canada.
I have 1-2 week trips from Canada to US, India for work and personal reasons.

My question is :
from 2017 to 2019, I already lost 1.7 years due to staying outside Canada. From 2019 to 2022, as per my calculations, I'll also loose some 3-4 months in all to personal and work trips.

I fear I'll have a neck to neck time to stay 1095 days in Canada till 2022.

What happens after 2022 ?
Will my eligibility for citizenship be onky after next 5 years ? or the day when I complete 1095 days in Canada ?

 

[bellaluna]

The residency obligation to keep your PR status is 720 days in the last 5 years. I won't bother to do the math since I don't know your exact travel records, so I'll assume you'll be able to do that by 2022 (5 years from your PR landing), which is the more pressing obligation for you to fulfill by a certain date.

Citizenship eligibility is different, although they do overlap. It's 1095 days in the last 5 years.

So you can only apply for citizenship when you count the last 5 years on the day you apply and are able to count 1095 days of physical residence in Canada, even if that happens well after 2022. You just may have to wait a little longer until you are eligible, that's all.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/application-canadian-citizenship-adults.html

You can also use this tool together with an online date calculator to estimate the date you'll be able to reach the 1095 days: https://eservices.cic.gc.ca/rescalc/rescalcwizard.do

 

[jc94]

Note that there is a chance the govt. may change the eligibility at any time. While this is very unlikely with our current govt given they lowered in during their first term, we may get a new govt in 2023.

That is to say, while I'd recommend not applying with 1095 days (a few extra is a good idea especially with all your travel) if you can apply before the next election that may be a good idea.

I'd fill in the calculator and save it so that you can keep it updated.

Remember too that if you drop below 720 days residence over any 5 year period that puts you at risk of losing your PR (the best chance of not losing it is not travelling as they are likely to notice on re-entry).