Filling travel history after getting ITA

[eddie_in_NL]

Hi,

I have a number of questions when filling the travel history after getting the ITA:

1) It asks for travel outside your country of residence or country of origin. Said that, do I need to include travels from my country of residence to my country of origin ? (example, I lived in the Netherlands for many years, and travel to my home country Brazil each of those years for the holidays. Do i need to include these trips ?)

2) Does anyone have any idea on how accurate this has to be ? Living in Europe, I travelled by car and by train accross many countries, I can't possibly figure out which days I spent on each one. I intend to put my best guess and explain in a letter attached.

I have already 40 trips listed in a spreadsheet and might still remember a few more.

Any help here is appreciated.

 

[The Robust]

Hi,

I have a number of questions when filling the travel history after getting the ITA:

1) It asks for travel outside your country of residence or country of origin. Said that, do I need to include travels from my country of residence to my country of origin ? (example, I lived in the Netherlands for many years, and travel to my home country Brazil each of those years for the holidays. Do i need to include these trips ?)

2) Does anyone have any idea on how accurate this has to be ? Living in Europe, I travelled by car and by train accross many countries, I can't possibly figure out which days I spent on each one. I intend to put my best guess and explain in a letter attached.

I have already 40 trips listed in a spreadsheet and might still remember a few more.

Any help here is appreciated.

Only mention those trips in which your passport was stamped for exit or arrival

 

[tomts143]

it's only last five year travel history more then enough

 

[dobes]

As an American who lived in Europe from 2002-2012, I have the same issue. I did not include trips from Europe back to the US, as it said not to include those to my country of origin. I also did not include trips within Slovakia, where I lived in Europe. I did not mention those countries I passed through without getting off a train or out of a car! I felt that that is the same thing as flying over them in an airplane, and you wouldn't count them then.

Otherwise, longer trips that I took within Europe I generally remembered - vacations to Ireland, Denmark, Croatia, or Spain, business trips to Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic. All those are in my calendar and I transferred them to my PR application.

But living in Bratislava, I very often traveled to Vienna - an hour away but in a different country - for shopping, a concert, a museum trip, or even just to get to the airport! These were mostly day trips. I went to Vienna when I just simply had to have a cup of Starbucks coffee! There were day or weekend trips also to Hungary and Czech Republic - both no more than 2 hours away, and not memorable because they were so close. In those cases, I just did the best I could on the application. The application was surely not meant for people who have lived in Europe, where countries are small, close together, and without borders, and travel between them is an everyday thing.

Overall, I am sure I mentioned every country I traveled to within Europe. I just am not sure that I mentioned every TIME I went there. I hope that's enough!

 

[dobes]

Only mention those trips in which your passport was stamped for exit or arrival

I'm not sure that works for EU citizens/residents. No one stamps your passport, ever, and yet I think CIC does want to know what countries you have travelled to within the EU.

 

[lotusEsp]

a few of my thoughts

1) it's 10 year's worth of history you need to provide
2) Definitely include any trip where your passport was stamped (including older passports) as this data will show up in your background check
3) include every trip where your passport was used (but not stamped) within the Schengen area i.e. flights, ferries etc even if you didnt have to show it
4) make sure the data matches the other parts of your application. i.e. if you have a short term job listed in another country yet dont show that you ever traveled there in your history.

For Europeans there has to be an element of 'to the best of my recollection' as there are no borders and you can drive through 11+ countries in one day if you like.

 

[iceberge]

I am in Canada 5 years. within 5 years haven't visited outside of Canada. What travel history should I write in PR application, any response will be highly appreciated .
Thanks in advance.

 

[iceberge]

Well, any places you travelled to outside Canada and outside your country of origin. You have to go back 10 years, not 5.

Thanks for quick reply dan_and. Now my question is within 10 years I came to Canada, so do I have to enter the time when I came to Canada as travel history!!! my current residency is Canada like temporary resident right. I beg your pardon, If I am wrong, "I think I don't need to mention when I cam to Canada" due to I am not visiting here I am staying in Canada since 5 years as temporary resident . I am not clear, if I should mention or not. Please advise.
Thanks.

 

[iceberge]

You don't need to mention it because Canada is your current country of residence.

Thanks again for clearing me the confusion.

 

[Britanno-Columbien]

I have already 40 trips listed in a spreadsheet and might still remember a few more.

Any help here is appreciated.

One thing to bear in mind -- the system didn't let me create more than 30 trip "items" when I tried (which I was annoyed about, considering how much time it took me to piece together 50+ trips from the past decade!). It may have been a fluke, but in case you try to save more than 30 items and it doesn't let you, just know it's not your fault! (FWIW, I chose to remove the earlier ones, so that CIC has access to my most recent trips).

 

[tomts143]

Last 5years travel history it's more then enough (cos travel history exceeds 5years it's automatically deleted from the central database) , In case if you remember past 10 years travel history please provide that too.

 

[lotusEsp]

Last 5years travel history it's more then enough (cos travel history exceeds 5years it's automatically deleted from the central database) , In case if you remember past 10 years travel history please provide that too.

and what about when they do the background check and see loads of undeclared trips against your passport number?

and what 'central database' are you referring to?

 

[hotshot007]

By the way do you need to provide proof of all these trips? I have almost 60-70 trips over the last 10 years and my passport is full of stamps. If I scan all these pages with my biographical data it would definitely be more than the 4 mb upload size.

Any thoughts on need of providing these pages?

 

[lotusEsp]

you absolutely should scan every page which has a stamp - no excuses

If you are worried about file size, have you tried optimizing the pdf file? I had to do that for all my PCCs and also the 24+ A4 payslips for my proof of employment

 

[dukhi]

One thing to bear in mind -- the system didn't let me create more than 30 trip "items" when I tried (which I was annoyed about, considering how much time it took me to piece together 50+ trips from the past decade!). It may have been a fluke, but in case you try to save more than 30 items and it doesn't let you, just know it's not your fault! (FWIW, I chose to remove the earlier ones, so that CIC has access to my most recent trips).

following if the official response from cic

"Due to a space limitation with the online application, it may not be possible to list all of your work and travel experiences or family information. Please note that any additional information can be included in a letter and uploaded to the Letter of Explanation section of your online application’s document checklist. "