NAFTA Professional Applying for PR

[meskal1]

Hi,

I'm sure this has been asked already but I have two questions:

#1 Does any of my time spent on my NAFTA permit count towards the time required to apply for PR and/or Citizenship?
#2 I never got a Record of Landing, only my work permit when I initially crossed into Canada from the US. Do I need to get one before applying for PR?

Thanks!

 

[computergeek]

#1 Does any of my time spent on my NAFTA permit count towards the time required to apply for PR and/or Citizenship?

Each day in Canada prior to obtaining permanent residency counts for 0.5 days towards the Citizenship requirement, up to one year. Thus, if you have been in Canada for two years continuously prior to receiving PR, you may count yourself as having 365 days towards citizenship - this means you can qualify as soon as two years after you receive permanent residency.

You get no credit for permanent residency requirements - you need to be in Canada 730 days in the first five years after you receive PR. You CAN count time in Canada working on a NAFTA work permit for eligibility for some programs. For example, you can count your NAFTA work permit time towards a CEC application.

#2 I never got a Record of Landing, only my work permit when I initially crossed into Canada from the US. Do I need to get one before applying for PR?

Well, you aren't a PR yet, so you cannot have landed, even though you are a temporary resident. Even when you do land, you won't get a separate record of landing, they will simply stamp your Confirmation of Permanent Residency. From what I can tell, they ceased using IMM 1000 ("Record of Landing") on June 28, 2002, even though people still refer to becoming a permanent resident as "landing".

Good luck!