Slightly panicking so if someone has any ideas, would be good to know if there’s anything that can be done about it. Thanks in advance!
Nothing to panic about.
If that is the biggest mistake you made in your application, congratulations, you did an amazing job.
That is, we ALL make mistakes (those who are certain they made no mistakes make the mistake of overlooking the mistakes they have made).
Sure, most probably get the physical presence calculator travel history right, but many do not. Many are off by significantly more than reporting a single precise date.
The odds are very, very good there is NOTHING to WORRY about. Worst case scenario, for almost all applicants making a mistake like this, is the applicant is asked about it in an interview (when interviews resume, which is likely by the time it is your turn, probably close to a year or more from now). But even that is not likely for a single day off.
With some exceptions. Leading to . . .
Can a Single Minor Mistake Influence How It Goes?
Yes.
BUT NOT USUALLY. As noted, there should be NOTHING to worry about because you are one day off in reporting the entry date into Canada. Especially where it does not change the calculation of days IN Canada (assuming you reported what you remembered was a day trip but the return was actually the next calendar day . . . in which event the number of days absent is still zero).
There are some circumstances, however, in which small mistakes can be a factor. These are FEW. It is NOT likely this applies to you. But since you do not specify certain details, like how much of a buffer over the minimum you applied with (how many days more than 1095 you had in your physical presence calculation), to fully cover the possibilities demands recognizing that the details can matter, especially for an applicant who applied with a very small margin over the minimum.
First, if there are other, additional mistakes, the combination of mistakes can give the impression the applicant is not a reliable reporter of facts. The applicant's credibility is among the most important factors influencing how things go. Even then, this is such a minor, very common error, this particular mistake is likely to still have very little or NO negative influence.
The Exception: Not sure why, but some citizenship applicants apply with NO margin over the minimum requirement. Literally, some apply with exactly 1095 days actual physical presence. Any mistakes will loom larger for such applicants. For obvious reasons: if they are off by just one day, they do not meet the requirements and the application must be denied. Likewise for the applicant who applies just barely meeting the physical presence requirement if the mistake changes the number of days.
The latter warrants an example: if instead of a day-trip to the U.S. that merely extended to past midnight (in which event there is still zero days absent for that trip, since the day of exit and the day of entry still count as days IN Canada), the applicant reported going to the U.S. and back over two nights, so there was one day absence, when the return to Canada was actually a day later (because past midnight) and it really counts as two days absent, this will be a real problem for the applicant applying with exactly 1095 days, and could trigger concerns and non-routine processing for the applicant who applied with more than that but only by a couple or four days or so.
Again, OVERALL, it is NOT likely this mistake is any problem at all.
