Physical Presence Calculation for 1 day trips

[simfhs]

Hello,

I have doubts regarding travel history for day trips to US. On two of my day trips, I returned right around ~12 midnight, but do not recall the exact time(the time I arrived at road border officer booth may have been after 12).
Should I enter them as 1 day trips? If I enter these times incorrectly, does it cause any issue?

And is it possible to get CBSA records for entries and exits to clarify the dates?

Thanks

 

[smash1984]

Hello,

I have doubts regarding travel history for day trips to US. On two of my day trips, I returned right around ~12 midnight, but do not recall the exact time(the time I arrived at road border officer booth may have been after 12).
Should I enter them as 1 day trips? If I enter these times incorrectly, does it cause any issue?

And is it possible to get CBSA records for entries and exits to clarify the dates?

Thanks

If you were in Canada even for 10 minutes then that qualifies as day physically present in Canada. So your arrival in Canada after 12 AM will not count if you spent the WHOLE of the previous day (all 24 hours) inside US.

 

[Mexontario]

Hello,

I have doubts regarding travel history for day trips to US. On two of my day trips, I returned right around ~12 midnight, but do not recall the exact time(the time I arrived at road border officer booth may have been after 12).
Should I enter them as 1 day trips? If I enter these times incorrectly, does it cause any issue?

And is it possible to get CBSA records for entries and exits to clarify the dates?

Thanks

Check your i-94 travel history. It can shed some light on the day count. If its posted as a day later than you anticipate, It is the day of your return to Canada. If you left the same day, then both days are counted as present in Canada. If you left a day earlier, then you miss the day in between. Using physical presence calculator is the best way to avoid these kind of miscalculations.

 

[simfhs]

Check your i-94 travel history. It can shed some light on the day count. If its posted as a day later than you anticipate, It is the day of your return to Canada. If you left the same day, then both days are counted as present in Canada. If you left a day earlier, then you miss the day in between. Using physical presence calculator is the best way to avoid these kind of miscalculations.

Thanks. But it does not help, problem is I want to check the entry time/date. I checked online and i-94 does not show my complete history(atleast for days I wanted to check) and moreover, I am not sure if it shows land border departures from US because there are no checks before entry into Canada.

I want to check the exact date of entry into canada, due to confusion with exact time ~12am of entry.
So only option I see it is to get the travel records from CBSA.

 

[simfhs]

If you were in Canada even for 10 minutes then that qualifies as day physically present in Canada. So your arrival in Canada after 12 AM will not count if you spent the WHOLE of the previous day (all 24 hours) inside US.

Yes I understand that. Problem is I do not recall if it was before 12 am or after 12am.
I reached there around 11.45pm but there were lineups ahead and I do not remember what time my turn arrived.

 

[smash1984]

Yes I understand that. Problem is I do not recall if it was before 12 am or after 12am.
I reached there around 11.45pm but there were lineups ahead and I do not remember what time my turn arrived.

I see, how many days like that are there?

Maybe if not too many then you can just count those days as outside of US and move ahead with the ones you are sure about? And write about those days in an explanatory letter with your profile saying that your count of days in Canada is on the conservative side?

 

[Mexontario]

Thanks. But it does not help, problem is I want to check the entry time/date. I checked online and i-94 does not show my complete history(atleast for days I wanted to check) and moreover, I am not sure if it shows land border departures from US because there are no checks before entry into Canada.

I want to check the exact date of entry into canada, due to confusion with exact time ~12am of entry.
So only option I see it is to get the travel records from CBSA.

Your exact days can be shown in i-94, if not, make a privacy act request from CBSA for travel history. I was in your situation and I used to check my departure in i-94 every time I made an entry into Canada. They matched with CBSA travel history. One day, I made it at 12:00:06 (entries from CBSA history) and the day changed, even though entered into the line at 11:50. If you are unsure, assume that you missed the earlier day.

....and Yes, land border entries/exits are recorded in i-94 as well as CBSA history. However, CBSA does not record departure via air at this time.

Hope it helps!

 

[simfhs]

I see, how many days like that are there?

Maybe if not too many then you can just count those days as outside of US and move ahead with the ones you are sure about? And write about those days in an explanatory letter with your profile saying that your count of days in Canada is on the conservative side?

2 days. If I count those days on conservative side, will it not be a miscalculation? as it may/may not match the records.
Will that not cause a problem?

 

[simfhs]

Your exact days can be shown in i-94, if not, make a privacy act request from CBSA for travel history. I was in your situation and I used to check my departure in i-94 every time I made an entry into Canada. They matched with CBSA travel history. One day, I made it at 12:00:06 (entries from CBSA history) and the day changed, even though entered into the line at 11:50. If you are unsure, assume that you missed the earlier day.

....and Yes, land border entries/exits are recorded in i-94 as well as CBSA history. However, CBSA does not record departure via air at this time.

Hope it helps!

Thanks for the help. I had name change few months ago, and maybe that's why the i-94 does not show all the records.

Regarding the time recorded at CBSA, I should follow CBSA records, as I will be in same situation as yours. Will it cause an issue otherwise, if those two day entries I entered are not matching the CBSA records?

To be on safe side I think I will order the travel history. I hope it will have history before my name change.

 

[Mexontario]

Thanks for the help. I had name change few months ago, and maybe that's why the i-94 does not show all the records.

Regarding the time recorded at CBSA, I should follow CBSA records, as I will be in same situation as yours. Will it cause an issue otherwise, if those two day entries I entered are not matching the CBSA records?

To be on safe side I think I will order the travel history. I hope it will have history before my name change.

The CBSA record matches with i-94 history. You may have tried to get i94 data with both ur names, I assume.

No, It will not create any issues as you are not grossly misrepresenting. That is your assumed timing and CBSA will look to match the records. That is why IRCC mentions in the application guide to leave additional days to account for any miscalculations. Yours in this case may not be treated as a misrepresentation, however, a miscalculation.

 

[smash1984]

2 days. If I count those days on conservative side, will it not be a miscalculation? as it may/may not match the records.
Will that not cause a problem?

If you're comfortably above the threshold to qualify, and you mention the reason why those 2 days may be wrong, despite you having records, then it won't really be misrepresentation, nor will it be miscalculation done willfully.

So with a good enough buffer and LOE you should be good. After all, you do qualify for citizenship even without including those days. So you should be good.

 

[simfhs]

The CBSA record matches with i-94 history. You may have tried to get i94 data with both ur names, I assume.

No, It will not create any issues as you are not grossly misrepresenting. That is your assumed timing and CBSA will look to match the records. That is why IRCC mentions in the application guide to leave additional days to account for any miscalculations. Yours in this case may not be treated as a misrepresentation, however, a miscalculation.

I received the CBSA travel records with my names I used for travel.(since I did not have last name before, name was recorded different in USA)

I can match all the travels just except a few exits missing and one day's entry. Another air travel entry shows incorrect entry time adding a day. I wonder if they recorded it incorrectly or missed something, and if I can rely on those entries.

If they did not record the entry into Canada, Now can I enter it as per my best knowledge and assume IRCC will accept it, or I have to add more days till my next entry into Canada. I am confused and wondering what if the cbsa recorded entries incorrectly.

 

[Mexontario]

I received the CBSA travel records with my names I used for travel.(since I did not have last name before, name was recorded different in USA)

I can match all the travels just except a few exits missing and one day's entry. Another air travel entry shows incorrect entry time adding a day. I wonder if they recorded it incorrectly or missed something, and if I can rely on those entries.

If they did not record the entry into Canada, Now can I enter it as per my best knowledge and assume IRCC will accept it, or I have to add more days till my next entry into Canada. I am confused and wondering what if the cbsa recorded entries incorrectly.

CBSA wont make any incorrect entries <Period>

You may have entered the airport earlier day and may not have passed through immigration the next day. CBSA officers wont record an entry. All entries are automatically recorded when a border/immigration officer swipes your PR card/Passport. Leave sufficient days extra and apply.

 

[dpenabill]

Another air travel entry shows incorrect entry time adding a day.

Reminder: date of entry into Canada is NOT the date a person physically arrives but is the date the traveler actually clears border control. A traveler has not actually "entered" Canada until PoE officials actually grant permission to enter Canada.

Discrepancies related to this generally involve arrivals just before midnight when the traveler does not get through the PoE examination until after midnight. (More common error made is in regard to exits, where some rely on a passport stamp showing date of arrival in another country; this is often off by a day for red-eye flights and can be two days off from the actual date of exit for trans-Pacific travel.)

The best the applicant can do is make sure to COMPLETELY and as ACCURATELY as possible report ALL dates of exit and dates of entry, and as @Mexontario suggests, wait to apply with a good margin over the minimum required physical presence.

To the extent an applicant is not certain his or her own records are complete and accurate, the prospective applicant can check and compare information from a variety of sources. But of course the one and only FOR SURE source is the applicant himself or herself. He or she is the only one who was FOR SURE there each and every time.

Of course if the prospective applicant did not keep a COMPLETE and ACCURATE record of every entry and exit, that means the one best source of this information is not an entirely reliable source. How big a mistake this can be varies widely. For many if not most, it is fairly easy to use other sources to help reconstruct and verify travel history, to at least get it close enough that in conjunction with having a decent margin over the minimum, IRCC is not likely to have concerns.

The key is to report dates as COMPLETELY and ACCURATELY as the applicant can. The less certain the applicant is, the longer the applicant should wait to apply in order to have a bigger, more comfortable margin over the minimum.