Do you have to fillup this Residence Outside Canada [Form CIT 0177] if you..

[dpenabill]

My post above, and quoted below, was made in March 2017.

It illustrates the importance of looking for CURRENT information.

What I stated in that post is outdated.

In particular, the October 2017 version of the citizenship application INSTRUCTS applicants to submit this form if they were living outside Canada during their eligibility period. The instructions do NOT condition or restrict this to ONLY applicants employed abroad as a Crown servant or accompanying a Canadian so employed.

To date it thus appears applicants who lived abroad during the eligibility period (the five years prior to making the application) should complete and submit this form even though it does NOT actually apply to them. This is awkward, and thus many find it confusing, since this means putting "NOT APPLICABLE" ( or "N/A" or similar) in virtually every field in the form. There are alternative approaches which also appear to work, but this one should for-sure work . . . that is, what should always work is to answer every item in the application directly and truthfully and follow the instructions, even if that means squinting and wincing and wondering why IRCC is asking the applicant to provide strange or obviously not relevant information.

The CIT 01777 form is used only if the applicant for citizenship claims to be eligible for credit toward the physical presence requirement for time spent outside Canada based on either:
-- the PR-applicant was employed abroad as a Crown servant, or
-- the PR-applicant was living with a Canadian (citizen or PR) family member (such as a spouse) who was employed abroad as a Crown servant

Thus, very few Permanent Residents applying for citizenship will submit the CIT 0177 form.

In particular, you do NOT use or submit this form unless you (the PR applying for citizenship) have been employed abroad as a Crown servant, or your spouse is a PR and was employed abroad as a Crown servant.

 

[oomuchi]

I have the same problem. Do you know what should be our home address and mailing address? Can it be in the US? Or should it be in Canada? I would appreciate if you give a response?

please see http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/c-6-citizenship-applications-frequently-asked-questions.522548/

 

[dpenabill]

Sara Sha said:
I have the same problem. Do you know what should be our home address and mailing address? Can it be in the US? Or should it be in Canada? I would appreciate if you give a response?

please see http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/c-6-citizenship-applications-frequently-asked-questions.522548/

@Sara Sha undoubtedly made an application MONTHS ago. And has not been back to the forum in many months either.

Perhaps you meant to reply to @sridhar249 who has more recently reiterated the query about CIT 0177.

As for the response in the link you give, to be clear, however, there have been reports of applicants who not only ran into issues, but actually have had their applications returned as incomplete, if they checked "yes" and did not submit the CIT 0177 form despite including an explanation that they had no claim to Crown servant credit.

Those of you who lived outside of Canada in the eligibility period but were not crown servants, tick “Yes” or “No” but - and this is the important part - add an explanation page to your application saying something like this (use your own words, don't just copy this): “Question 9c: This question is a bit unclear so I want to clarify the situation: Yes, I lived outside Canada during the eligibility period, but No, I do not want to claim residency credit for that time outside of Canada. That rare situation does not apply to me. This is why I did not fill the additional form since there is no residency outside Canada to claim.”

For further clarity, if the applicant did live abroad during the eligibility period, then checking "no" is contrary to the facts. I question the prudence of suggesting any response that is contrary to the facts. For what I think are obvious reasons.

Nonetheless, this appears to work, and is indeed one of the "alternatives" I referenced above. And why it probably works is fairly easy to figure out ASSUMING of course that the applicant has otherwise accurately provided information in the application . . . that is because the applicant has otherwise fully disclosed his or her address abroad and the dates, and has otherwise also disclosed that time abroad in the Presence Calculator printout, so it is clear there is no intent to deceive, no effort to conceal the time living abroad. Moreover, there are some indications IRCC may actually prefer applicants to understand and respond this way.

Nonetheless, there is NO doubt that answering every item in the application directly and truthfully, and following the instructions, is the most prudent approach to completing the application. I tend to think advice to give an untruthful answer (a false answer), no matter the explanation for it, is reckless and irresponsible. Even if it appears to work.

In any event, for those who check "yes," because that is the truthful answer to the question asked, but have no claim to Crown servant credit, I disagree that it would be safe to merely include an explanation as to why CIT 0177 is not submitted. This might work. Probably works. Reports however indicate that perhaps this will NOT always work.

In contrast, for those who check "yes," because that is the truthful answer to the question asked, going ahead and completing and including the CIT 0177 form will definitely work and is definitely OK, even though the form is filled out with NOT APPLICABLE throughout it. And in which case there is no need to add a supplemental explanation. This is the answering-every-item-in-the-application-directly (without second-guessing what IRCC might really want), and answering-truthfully, and following-the-instructions, approach.

I doubt an explanation is necessary, either, if the applicant elects to go with checking "no" (despite that being false), since IRCC undoubtedly sorts it out (again assuming the applicant otherwise discloses the information about living abroad during the eligibility period). BUT many who elect to take this approach (checking "no" even though in fact they did live abroad during the eligibility period) might want to include the supplemental explanation suggested by @spyfy just to be clear why they checked "no" despite having in fact been living abroad during the eligibility period.