Is buffer ACTUALLY important?

[lenovo]

A lot of post I've been reading, people are over-emphasizing buffer. But really... was there any empirical evidence that buffer days are ACTUALLY important?

I'd like to hear from people who applied with 1-20 days of buffer (1095-1105 days) and if they actually had any issues with a small buffer. I think waiting for a 60 day buffer is just stupid.

 

[EasyRider]

There are at least 3 aspects to it I can see now, maybe there's more to it:

• you don't want to end up with less than 1095 days in case you forget a trip or not very accurate with dates, for example, you might think you had entered Canada before midnight, but it actually was recorded as after midnight and this comes up upon verification, stuff like that.
• put yourself in the shoes of an agent inspecting your passport during test/interview-- they should be positive you have >1095 days. If you have few or no travels and all stamps in a passport are there, then it's pretty straightforward and couple days buffer would be ok, but if you have lots of travels + missing stamps, for instance, cutting very close to 1095 may tick off a CIC agent into asking for more evidence, since they can use discretion in addition to a set of explicit rules when to issue request for additional info. It's their responsibility to confirm your residence on balance of documents and story provided.
• periods you'd have trouble accounting for in case of RQ/judge hearing-- e.g. was living for a month in a temporary residence, no receipts, didn't work anywhere and don't have papers to confirm that particular period in question. In some cases like that may be worth adding 30 days as you may be asked to prove your residence during entire declared period. If CIC/CJ would have doubts you've lived in Canada for 1095 days because you can't account for a part of it, you can be refused.

60 days would be overkill in the most cases. It depends on your specific context how much days you'd like to have over 1095 considering these aspects.

 

[suenim]

I became PR in 2011. I applied for citizenship. 2 days after meeting the residency requirements. I was sworn in as a Canadian citizen a little over 6 mths of sending in my app. I travelled twice after becoming PR for a total of 23 days. I had no issues at all with my app.

 

[suenim]

It was the day before my citizenship test that I saw that there were no stamps at all in my passport - except for the country that I visited. I brought my boarding passes and travel consents letters with dates (as I had travelled with my child) just in case I was questioned. No questions were asked about my passport.

 

[canadp]

There are at least 3 aspects to it I can see now, maybe there's more to it:

• you don't want to end up with less than 1095 days in case you forget a trip or not very accurate with dates, for example, you might think you had entered Canada before midnight, but it actually was recorded as after midnight and this comes up upon verification, stuff like that.
• put yourself in the shoes of an agent inspecting your passport during test/interview-- they should be positive you have >1095 days. If you have few or no travels and all stamps in a passport are there, then it's pretty straightforward and couple days buffer would be ok, but if you have lots of travels + missing stamps, for instance, cutting very close to 1095 may tick off a CIC agent into asking for more evidence, since they can use discretion in addition to a set of explicit rules when to issue request for additional info. It's their responsibility to confirm your residence on balance of documents and story provided.
• periods you'd have trouble accounting for in case of RQ/judge hearing-- e.g. was living for a month in a temporary residence, no receipts, didn't work anywhere and don't have papers to confirm that particular period in question. In some cases like that may be worth adding 30 days as you may be asked to prove your residence during entire declared period. If CIC/CJ would have doubts you've lived in Canada for 1095 days because you can't account for a part of it, you can be refused.

60 days would be overkill in the most cases. It depends on your specific context how much days you'd like to have over 1095 considering these aspects.

Well said and explained.. Easyrider. I agree.

 

[scylla]

A lot of post I've been reading, people are over-emphasizing buffer. But really... was there any empirical evidence that buffer days are ACTUALLY important?

I'd like to hear from people who applied with 1-20 days of buffer (1095-1105 days) and if they actually had any issues with a small buffer. I think waiting for a 60 day buffer is just stupid.

What EasyRider said.

I think a buffer is extremely important if you are a frequent traveler. My husband applied with a two month buffer because travels a fair amount on business. He kept track of his trips on spreadsheet - so we're pretty sure what we submitted was accurate. But better safe than sorry...

We also did think it would look better from an immigration officer's perspective if he had well more than enough days given his frequent travel.

 

[scylla]

And just to qualify what I mean by "frequent traveler" - my husband had extra pages added to his last passport and still almost ran out of space for visas / stamps. Both this last passport and his current passport cover the period reported for his citizenship residency requirement - and will be reviewed by the VO.

 

[diniga]

Personnally, I think buffer days are just a way to avoid RQ invented by some applicants that are not sure about their travel history and that are afraid of getting RQ.
But legally 1095 days are asked for the period of residency requirement. In all the citizenship documentations that I have read there is no mention of buffer days.
Who can just point me to ONE single official document talking about buffer days.
Thanks.

 

[scylla]

There's no official document mentioning buffer days. It's a personal choice.

My husband is 99% sure of his travel days (but certainly not 100%). Given he holds a US passport, waiting another few months to apply for Canadian citizenship has little impact on our lives. We were originally planning on applying with a month buffer - but got busy and didn't find time to apply until December.

For those who hold non-visa exempt passports - I appreciate the situation is likely quite different and getting a Canadian passport is likely a priority.

 

[links18]

It depends on how sure you are of your travel days. CIC tells you if you make frequent trips to the US, but don't remember the exact dates, then estimate the dates and indicate that on a separate cover letter. These instructions appear on the FAQs for the online residence calculator.

If you do this (and its not really a good idea), then you better make sure you have enough of a buffer that if there are any mistakes you still make the cut off.

Fewer buffer days probably means more scrutiny and a greater chance of an RQ, etc.

 

[lenovo]

I think a buffer is extremely important if you are a frequent traveler. My husband applied with a two month buffer because travels a fair amount on business. He kept track of his trips on spreadsheet - so we're pretty sure what we submitted was accurate.

This is very helpful, thank you. Some follow up questions for you on your husband's example:-

1. Did he have any missing stamps? (e.g. due to NEXUS or entering through a machine). If so, did you mail in copies of tickets/boarding passes? Or did you submit just the bare requirement required by the application?

2. Did you guys get RQ-ed? How did the interview process go??

I travel a lot of business too so I wonder if I should submit boarding passes, etc with my initial application for the travel dates that don't exist in my passport (either because I used NEXUS or used a machine or the guy didn't bother stamping my passport).

 

[scylla]

1. He has had a Nexus card for years. And yes - he had tons of missing stamps. As an American, he wasn't always stamped when entering Canada and doesn't have stamps showing US entries (he had lots of US entries). We did not submit any extra evidence or documentation. We just submitted what was asked for in the guide.

2. Unfortunately I can't tell you that because his file only reached CIC at the very beginning of December (2013) and it's still very early days. Obviously hoping for no RQ and smooth processing...

 

[keesio]

My passport had a lot of stamps on it since I travel a lot. Some of the stamps were blurry or stamped on top of each other, making it hard to make out. The interviewer actually said something like "I can't make out what that last digit is... well you are well over the 1095 days so it should be ok..."