Conditions for citizenship - special circumstances

[Dm05]

Hi everyone,
Can anyone give some advice on this scenario: Let's say I've got my permanent resident visa and I move my family to Canada, but have to remain in Nigeria for a while before joining them in Canada. When I apply for citizenship after 1095 days, will the period for which I'm not with my family count? Will the fact that my wife & kids are resident and my wife working in Canada be sufficient to grant the whole family (including me) the citizenship?
Thanks.

 

[Leon]

If you were all applying for PR together and you are the principal applicant, you have to land with them or before them. You can leave again right away, your PR card will be mailed to them and they can fed-ex it to you so you can use it to travel to Canada.

You have to meet your own residency requirements to keep your PR and to apply for citizenship. You will lose your PR after not being in Canada for 1095 days counted as a total over a 5 year period. They will be able to apply for citizenship if they have lived in Canada for total 1095 days out of the previous 4 years. Your wife can apply to sponsor you for PR when you lose it but if you are not planning to live in Canada, you will just lose it again. The only way you can keep your PR being outside Canada is if you were working for a company in Canada that had transferred you to another country or if your wife had become a Canadian citizen and is living with you where you are at, for at least long enough to keep your residency requirements.

 

[newcomer]

hi,leon,another question from as well , in this regard,ll Dm05 ll be able to apply for citizenship after spending 1095 days with his canadian citizen wife in his home country ,without spending a single day in canada ,or not.And will his absence from Canada for such a long time ll ve any negative effect on his citizenship decision.
Thanks .

 

[Leon]

PR residency requirement and Citizenship application requirement are 2 different things.

To keep his PR, he must not be away from Canada for more than 1095 days total in any 5 year period or has to live in Canada at least 730 days however you want to calculate. Longer absences are only forgiven if he is away from Canada with a Canadian citizen spouse, if he is a child and is away with a Canadian citizen parent, if he was working for a Canadian company and was transferred by them to a foreign country or if he was away from Canada with a Canadian PR spouse who was working for a Canadian company and was transferred to a foreign country. If he stays in Nigeria the whole time, he will lose his PR after 3 years. If he is going back and forth, he will lose it whenever he reaches 1095 days away unless his wife has become citizen first and joins him in Nigeria, then he can keep his PR because time away from Canada with a Canadian citizen spouse is forgiven.

Citizenship application requirements is having lived in Canada as a PR for at least 1095 days in the previous 4 years before you apply. You have to have physically lived here. If you were away with your spouse and don't reach the 1095 days, you can not apply for citizenship. Only children are exempt from this but children can not apply for citizenship on their own, they must be applied for by their parent who is a PR and is applying for citizenship at the same time. The parent would have to fulfill the requirements and then the children can join.

Dm05 was thinking that because his family was living in Canada that he would be able to keep his PR without fulfilling the residency requirements and that he could apply for citizenship with them even though he had not lived in Canada himself but it is not so.

 

[BCguy]

That is correct unless He is working for a Canadian Company in Nigeria,He stands to have his PR status revoked and they can confiscate his PR card at the border,You cannot have proxies obtain citizenship for you

 

[Dm05]

Thanks a lot for the info. My situation is such that I work offshore in Nigeria (4 weeks on site, 4 weeks off). By the nature of my job, even when my family has settled in Canada, I will be away for about 6 months each year i.e alternating 1 month on site, 1 month off. I will of course return to Canada to spend my off time and that's 6 months per year. This will continue for about 6 years because this job is such that if I move at the same time with my family, I will not have completed the time required to be pensionable, and after working for a couple of years, it's difficult to just leave with virtually nothing. So, I figured since I'll be spending every other month with my family in Canada, just until I can be pensionable (shouldn't be more than 6 years), I could apply for citizenship under 'exceptional circumstances'. The target is to join my family after 6 years without losing all that I've worked for prior to getting the PR.

 

[Leon]

If you are in Canada for 6 months a year, you will keep your PR but you could have problems getting citizenship. I have never heard of exceptional circumstances for getting citizenship but you can give it a try. At worst you can just stay PR until your job is finished and you can move to Canada permanently and get the residency time required to apply again.

 

[ahmad27]

Hi DMo5

Did you got citizenship? after using exceptional laws, I am same situation, please waiting ur reply,