Frequent trips to U.S. = RQ?

[paul2587]

Hi all,
I'm new to the citizenship forum, been a long time reader on the PR forum and been living in Canada since 2011 (and as a PR for the last 18 months). I'm a U.S. citizen with a Nexus card and I travel frequently (weekly) to the U.S. to visit family. I work for the Nova Scotia provincial government, my car is registered in NS, NS driver's licence, health card, I file taxes with the CRA, etc.

My concern after reading some of the posts on here is that a lot of people who spend time in the US and use their Nexus cards frequently (like me) are getting RQ'd and sometimes outright rejected, in one case apparently because the citizenship judge was not satisfied that the amount of time in Canada could be proven due to numerous day trips to the U.S...

My question is, has anyone on here actually gotten citizenship after frequent trips to the US and using their Nexus card? I go visit my sick parent about 2 weekends per month in the US and usually either drive across through Maine or take the ferry from Yarmouth NS. I'm thinking that with phase III of the WHTI, US citizen entry/exit is now being shared by CBP and CBSA, so I have no doubt that my citizenship application with CIC will be flagged because of all of the visits I've made to the US. All in all, going every other weekend, my time out of Canada per month only amounts to 4-5 days, but it's a lot of frequent entries and exits using my Nexus card. Has anyone been in a similar situation? I'm expecting to get RQ'd and I'm ok with that. I'm not going to apply early and I'm certainly not going to lie on my application (5 days per month out of Canada = 2 months per year out of country, which under the new rules over four years means I'll have to wait until about 4.5-5 years before I can apply for citizenship), but getting outright rejected simply because I visit my parents on weekends is a terrifying prospect.

 

[dpenabill]

Hi all,
I'm a U.S. citizen with a Nexus card and I travel frequently (weekly) to the U.S. to visit family. I work for the Nova Scotia provincial government, my car is registered in NS, NS driver's licence, health card, I file taxes with the CRA, etc.

My concern after reading some of the posts on here is that a lot of people who spend time in the US and use their Nexus cards frequently (like me) are getting RQ'd and sometimes outright rejected, in one case apparently because the citizenship judge was not satisfied that the amount of time in Canada could be proven due to numerous day trips to the U.S...

My question is, has anyone on here actually gotten citizenship after frequent trips to the US and using their Nexus card?

Unless there is some other reason you are flagged, my sense is that the scenario you describe should not invite CIC's concern.

While it is commonly perceived that frequent travel is a red flag, my sense is that it is not nearly the red flag many think it is. The question is whether or not the nature, duration, and frequency of the trips makes sense for someone actually settled in and residing in Canada, and for the particular circumstances of that individual's life. That is, a pattern of frequent travels might suggest one person is working abroad whereas for another it suggests the individual has an ill family member living close enough in the U.S. to visit regularly. CIC is a lot better sorting through the vagaries of individual circumstances than many give them credit . . . sure, CIC gets things wrong sometimes, and thus for some applicants things can get rather tricky and sticky, and of course those are the instances that tend to garner a lot of attention. But mostly CIC figures things out.

Particularly for someone with a regular full time job in Canada at an easily identified, truly Canadian employer (working for the Province fits that bill I'd say), and whose trips are readily recognized as fitting within a likely schedule for such an individual, all other things being in order, I'd guess good odds for a routine application process . . . that is, smooth sailing.




I made numerous trips to the U.S., but I did not use a Nexus card, and while my trips were numerous (with a lot of day trips), most years my total number of trips were probably half yours and one year I only crossed the border a half dozen times or so. No problems.

I do not keep track of where I see particular anecdotal reports, which forum that is, but in this and other similar forums many Nexus card users have reported applying and being granted citizenship. Sure, some have reported problems related to RQ, including the long-haul version (meaning just those whose process took three plus years). Commuters in particular appear to have been targeted for elevated scrutiny, which, frankly, makes sense (especially in Southern Ontario and GTA to Niagara area, there are many thousands of people who live on one side of the border and work on the other, and this includes a large number of persons living on the side where they have PR status).

The cases I have seen in which day trips became problematic tended to be those where the applicant has ongoing residential or work ties in the U.S., not just incidental familial visitations. That is, those were cases in which there were collateral reasons for CIC to be concerned that the applicant might not be fully reporting all travel.

The day trips typically arise as an issue because the CBSA travel history will indicate an entry and the applicant has not reported a trip corresponding to that entry. This is unfair, in a sense, because applicants are instructed that day trips do not need to be reported in the Residency Calculation. I was going to report my day trips anyway, but when I began to fill out a residency calculation, using the online residency calculator, including the numerous days trips which approximately equaled and in some years exceeded the number of overnight trips, looked like it would be too confusing. What I did instead was I listed one day trip for each calendar year and in the reason box, in addition to noting it was a day trip and the reason (usually had a reason, celebrating a birthday, shopping, or such), for each calendar year I stated something along the lines that this was "one day trip in 2012 out of eight day trips total for 2012." The interviewer acknowledged I had reported day trips (with net zero days absence) but it was not clear that it helped; in any event I had no problems (application to oath barely eight months total).

While what I did probably made no difference in my case, part of why I did it was to establish up front the number of day trips just in case I did get RQ, so it would not look like I was trying to explain additional entries only after CIC had identified entries in the CBSA history for which there was no reported trip. I did this because there were other factors in my case which elevated my risk of RQ (especially so in earlier versions of the triage criteria CIC had been applying). I suspect I was being overly cautious.


The Main Thing: The main thing is to keep meticulous records of all your trips so that you report exactly the date of exit and entry for all trips. Just being off on two trips or for more than a few days can invite CIC to issue RQ, question your credibility, and if there are any other wrinkles it can lead to a difficult case.

Record all trips EXACTLY. And in the Residency Calculation, Report all trips exactly.

Do that, and your odds of smooth sailing are probably high regardless of having spent two dozen or more weekends a year in the U.S.

 

[mono_co]

Just a side question,

in the new regulations, is there an additional requirement of 183 days per year for 4 out 6 years?

 

[paul2587]

Unless there is some other reason you are flagged, my sense is that the scenario you describe should not invite CIC's concern.

While it is commonly perceived that frequent travel is a red flag, my sense is that it is not nearly the red flag many think it is. The question is whether or not the nature, duration, and frequency of the trips makes sense for someone actually settled in and residing in Canada, and for the particular circumstances of that individual's life. That is, a pattern of frequent travels might suggest one person is working abroad whereas for another it suggests the individual has an ill family member living close enough in the U.S. to visit regularly. CIC is a lot better sorting through the vagaries of individual circumstances than many give them credit . . . sure, CIC gets things wrong sometimes, and thus for some applicants things can get rather tricky and sticky, and of course those are the instances that tend to garner a lot of attention. But mostly CIC figures things out.

Particularly for someone with a regular full time job in Canada at an easily identified, truly Canadian employer (working for the Province fits that bill I'd say), and whose trips are readily recognized as fitting within a likely schedule for such an individual, all other things being in order, I'd guess good odds for a routine application process . . . that is, smooth sailing.




I made numerous trips to the U.S., but I did not use a Nexus card, and while my trips were numerous (with a lot of day trips), most years my total number of trips were probably half yours and one year I only crossed the border a half dozen times or so. No problems.

I do not keep track of where I see particular anecdotal reports, which forum that is, but in this and other similar forums many Nexus card users have reported applying and being granted citizenship. Sure, some have reported problems related to RQ, including the long-haul version (meaning just those whose process took three plus years). Commuters in particular appear to have been targeted for elevated scrutiny, which, frankly, makes sense (especially in Southern Ontario and GTA to Niagara area, there are many thousands of people who live on one side of the border and work on the other, and this includes a large number of persons living on the side where they have PR status).

The cases I have seen in which day trips became problematic tended to be those where the applicant has ongoing residential or work ties in the U.S., not just incidental familial visitations. That is, those were cases in which there were collateral reasons for CIC to be concerned that the applicant might not be fully reporting all travel.

The day trips typically arise as an issue because the CBSA travel history will indicate an entry and the applicant has not reported a trip corresponding to that entry. This is unfair, in a sense, because applicants are instructed that day trips do not need to be reported in the Residency Calculation. I was going to report my day trips anyway, but when I began to fill out a residency calculation, using the online residency calculator, including the numerous days trips which approximately equaled and in some years exceeded the number of overnight trips, looked like it would be too confusing. What I did instead was I listed one day trip for each calendar year and in the reason box, in addition to noting it was a day trip and the reason (usually had a reason, celebrating a birthday, shopping, or such), for each calendar year I stated something along the lines that this was "one day trip in 2012 out of eight day trips total for 2012." The interviewer acknowledged I had reported day trips (with net zero days absence) but it was not clear that it helped; in any event I had no problems (application to oath barely eight months total).

While what I did probably made no difference in my case, part of why I did it was to establish up front the number of day trips just in case I did get RQ, so it would not look like I was trying to explain additional entries only after CIC had identified entries in the CBSA history for which there was no reported trip. I did this because there were other factors in my case which elevated my risk of RQ (especially so in earlier versions of the triage criteria CIC had been applying). I suspect I was being overly cautious.


The Main Thing: The main thing is to keep meticulous records of all your trips so that you report exactly the date of exit and entry for all trips. Just being off on two trips or for more than a few days can invite CIC to issue RQ, question your credibility, and if there are any other wrinkles it can lead to a difficult case.

Record all trips EXACTLY. And in the Residency Calculation, Report all trips exactly.

Do that, and your odds of smooth sailing are probably high regardless of having spent two dozen or more weekends a year in the U.S.

Thanks a ton - awesome response, thanks for your time!