keesio said:
Actually it closes the debate. With exit control there will be no "debate" about ones RO. CBSA will have all the records and IRCC can get access to them. No room for debate (and maybe eliminate the need for personal detailed record management for your entry/exits??). If IRCC questions your dates, you can show them all entry/exit records from CBSA... assuming they implement this correctly.
I highly doubt this.
The burden of both presenting travel information and proving residency/presence will almost certainly
still be imposed on PRs, whether for purposes of showing compliance with the PR Residency Obligation, or for the purpose of establishing eligibility for citizenship.
IRCC will use access to border crossing data for
verification purposes, and thus be primarily looking into this data for indications that the applicant's accounting of dates is incomplete or otherwise not accurate.
CBSA will use access to this information for screening purposes, to identify individuals to be examined or investigated, such as PRs at PoE examinations.
Other government agencies will have some access for purposes of identifying and investigating potential instances of fraud, such as individuals utilizing health care benefits for residents when they have not been meeting the residency requirements.
Thus, overall it will significantly impact the opportunity to fudge or engage in fraud, giving the government more tools and information with which to identify misrepresentations as to residency or presence. This should significantly reduce the extent to which there will be lengthy processing times for
residency/presence cases. But again, the applicant will still be required to submit an accurate and complete accounting of all travel abroad, and if challenged, prove this. And it is likely that in some cases IRCC will still doubt or overtly challenge certain PR's claims of presence for the time between last-known-entry and next-known-exit . . . in other words, IRCC will not necessarily conclude the captured exit and entry data will be complete. And can, and sometimes will, require the applicant to prove presence in-between known dates of travel, such as by proof of place of abode and place of employment.