So, need to be physically present for 1095 days within a five year period to be eligible to apply for citizenship, correct? Apologies I may be asking the same question in a different manner, but just needing clarity.
Assuming the Bill C-6 requirements still apply (the law is always subject to change):
The only days which will count toward the physical presence requirement, once the Bill C-6 3/5 rule takes effect, are days the applicant was
actually physically present in Canada during the five year time period immediately preceding the date the application is made (signed).
The days in Canada do
NOT have to be consecutive. To count, however, they must be within five years of the day the application is signed.
Thus, for example, for an application made on December 21, 2020, the five years within which days can count will be December 21, 2015 to December 20, 2020.
The days in Canada can be consecutive, and a PR could, for example (just one example among many possible variations), land and stay three straight years, and thus become eligible three years and a day after landing.
Thus, for example, a PR who landed on December 19, 2017 and who stays in Canada without leaving, will meet the presence requirement for citizenship (and be eligible so long as all other requirements are met) December 20, 2020. As of December 20, 2020, this individual will have 1095 days in Canada during the relevant five year time period, that is between December 20, 2015 and December 20, 2020.
CAUTION: Best to wait to apply with a margin over the minimum, even for an applicant who never leaves the country.
For clarification; counting days in Canada prior to landing:
The relevant time period during which days count
is still the five years preceding the date the application is made (signed).
That is, for a day to count, the prospective applicant must have been physically present in Canada that day, and
that day must be within the relevant five years, the five years immediately preceding the date the application is signed.
If the prospective applicant is a Permanent Resident on that day, that day counts as a full day.
If the prospective applicant is in Canada prior to becoming a Permanent Resident on that day (that is, it is a day prior to the date the PR landed),
that day counts as a half day. It still must be within five years of the date the application is signed.
The
total of all days that count, the sum of full days as a PR and half-day credits for days in Canada prior to becoming a PR, must add up to a minimum of 1095. Again, a margin over that is highly recommended. Again, all these days must be within five years of the date the application is made.
All this should be easier to calculate once the 3/5 rule comes into force and IRCC provides an online presence calculator. The new calculator is not likely to become available until the day the changes take effect, or perhaps it will be even a day or three later. There is no new news about when this will happen beyond an expected date this FALL.
Reminder: the law is always subject to change. If Andrew Scheer becomes PM in 2019, for example, changes are a real possibility. It is not certain that the Conservatives and Liberals will be playing ping-pong with the path to citizenship, but in some ways and definitely for some immigrants the Bill C-6 changes actually facilitate a faster and easier path to citizenship than the law prior to Harper's Bill C-24 and its severely strict and much longer path. How things are going to go in the coming years is essentially impossible to forecast.
