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Leave Canada after 1095 days

Farinexile

Newbie
May 9, 2021
1
0
Hi everyone! I’m new to the forum and nearing 1095 days of staying in Canada. I live here with my children while my husband continued working in Singapore.

I’m planning to apply for citizenship after completion of required stay of 1095 days. My question is if I leave Canada after 1095 days + a buffer of 30 days or so, and continue to live in Singapore when they call for test and interview, will it affect our citizenship application? I understand that I would need to be present in Canada physically for the test and interview which would not be a problem.
Do we need to stay in Canada till the test and interview? Your insights will be highly appreciated.

thank you!
 

thesonicbro

Hero Member
Jul 24, 2016
212
81
You can certainly leave after IRCC receives your application. However, it is recommended to wait until you receive acknowledgement of receipt since your application may get returned as incomplete.

Another important factor is that you need to maintain your PR status when invited to take the citizenship knowledge test as well as attending the oath ceremony. You can read more here https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=911&top=5
 

hungkubu

Star Member
Nov 24, 2020
65
3
You can certainly leave after IRCC receives your application. However, it is recommended to wait until you receive acknowledgement of receipt since your application may get returned as incomplete.

Another important factor is that you need to maintain your PR status when invited to take the citizenship knowledge test as well as attending the oath ceremony. You can read more here https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=911&top=5
After we receive the test invite, how many days do we have to complete the test?
 

thesonicbro

Hero Member
Jul 24, 2016
212
81
After we receive the test invite, how many days do we have to complete the test?
Usually it is 21 days starting a few days after you received the invite.

The invitation however should include the details about how long is the window between what dates to take the test.
 

avro1959

Full Member
Sep 13, 2014
49
26
To some of the more experienced members here, is there not a risk of RQs being issued when entries are close to the interview / oath dates?

I could be wrong but I could've sworn I remember reading about such experiences years ago.
 

rajkamalmohanram

VIP Member
Apr 29, 2015
15,802
5,769
"Living" abroad as opposed to "visiting", IMO, might carry a risk of getting asked to complete a Residency Questionnaire. I think @dpenabill has mentioned this on several occasions.

We don't have enough cases to say this with absolute certainty but still... I think there is this RQ risk for people "living" outside Canada after submitting their citizenship application. Doesn't mean they won't be approved but they might have to go through the trouble of collecting a bunch of documentation to prove their physical presence in Canada.
 

dpenabill

VIP Member
Apr 2, 2010
6,270
3,028
Note: for PRs applying for citizenship, and then soon moving abroad, there are logistical and procedural risks. These have been discussed often, in numerous other topics. I will not revisit that here.

I would add that applying very soon after reaching the 1095 day threshold, with little margin over the minimum requirement, also increases the risk of RQ-related non-routine processing.

Recognizing risks does not say what will happen, but is about what can happen.

To some of the more experienced members here, is there not a risk of RQs being issued when entries are close to the interview / oath dates?

I could be wrong but I could've sworn I remember reading about such experiences years ago.
Yes, there WAS, in the past, an explicitly stated reason-to-question-residency based on indications the citizenship applicant has been abroad and returned to Canada shortly before a scheduled event, such as the knowledge-of-Canada test or an interview. This was in an appendix to the Operational Manual CP 5 "Residence." That was replaced in 2012 by OB 407, in which the criteria which triggers RQ, called "triage criteria," was designated confidential and not shared with the public. So it has been, well, a long while. We do not know the current criteria . . . except based on a leaked version of the File Requirements Checklist (which included a checkbox list of the triage criteria) and some internal memos obtained through the ATI process (not the same as the ATIP process, but similar), along with other indirect indicators, we can surmise the criteria remain similar (but no where near as strict as the 2012 version when the Harper government went ballistic and for some periods was issuing RQ to nearly one in three applicants . . . just being self-employed for a time, for example, triggered RQ then). In other topics I have detailed this history in many posts going back to when we first learned about OB 407 replacing CP 5 . . . so yeah, much of that was posted many years ago.

Among reasons why we surmise the criteria remains similar is that what factors indicate ties and activities abroad which could in turn indicate more time spent abroad than reported by the applicant remain mostly the same. For PRs with family living abroad, for example, there is obviously a higher chance they spent more time abroad. Not rocket science. Remember that what amounts to a reason to do more scrutiny, more thorough verification of the applicant's information, is significantly less than what directly evidences where the applicant physically was during the eligibility period.
 

Jojo!86

Star Member
Aug 17, 2018
83
55
It will be nice if someone who has lived outside of canada after applying for citizenship could share their experience. I understand there was an "Intent to reside" requirement in the past after getting citizenship but after 2017 it was revoked.
 

dpenabill

VIP Member
Apr 2, 2010
6,270
3,028
It will be nice if someone who has lived outside of canada after applying for citizenship could share their experience. I understand there was an "Intent to reside" requirement in the past after getting citizenship but after 2017 it was revoked.
Many have shared their experience in various topics here. If you are really interested, there are plenty of topics here for doing the homework.

Overall the results have varied considerably since the particular circumstances vary considerably.

The very briefly applicable "intent to continue residing in Canada" requirement, which only took effect in June 2015 and which was no longer given effect by very early 2016 (even though not formally repealed until October 2017) is not relevant.

The overriding caution is that even though relocating abroad after applying does not directly affect the PR's eligibility for citizenship, unless they remain abroad so long as to breach the PR Residency Obligation, there are logistical and procedural risks typically greater than the risks for applicants who remain in Canada. Again, there are many anecdotal accounts of personal experience reported in numerous topics here, ranging from no issues at all to situations like one of the more recently discussed situations where the PR-applicant missed the first scheduled oath ceremony and then received notice that in effect indicated their application would be deemed abandoned if they failed to appear IN Canada for the rescheduled ceremony, but in the meantime they no longer possessed a valid PR card, did not have status to travel via the U.S., and not enough time to apply for and obtain a PR Travel Document in order to get to Canada in time for the scheduled ceremony.