Hello,
I'm PR who want to apply for Canadian Citizenship and i corssed those two questions regarding the number of Physical Presence Calculator and number of days, i hope you someone will be able to answer.
- Does implied status can count as "Canadian temporary resident status"? At that time prior my PR, I had a visitor visa and applied for a renewal before it expired, the proccesing time took several months and during that time i was consider as implied status, i was allowed to stay in Candada, does this time consider as "Canadian temporary resident status"? can i use my implied status as "resident status"?
- When completing the "Physical Presence Calculator" and question "Did you leave Canada between...." so, I had a period (in the period prior apply for the PR) that i had no status in Canada (No VISA) and i was not even lived in Canada, should i report the time i stayed outside Canada even if i had no status?
Thank you for you time reading and answering.
If question 2 is about a period of time prior to coming to Canada but still within the eligibility period, I think the answer to that is easy but I have not reviewed that for a long while; I was hoping others who have done the online presence calculation more recently would have answered this. I think there are different approaches that will work, and the main thing is to identify periods of time IN Canada (with status of course), and be sure that however you fill in the first entry and exit information, the calculator does not show or count days in Canada prior to your actual arrival in Canada.
Question 1 is more complicated. It is more complicated in part because there is no definite answer and how it works for one person can be different than how it works for another. This is in large part due to two things: implied status is not always documented in the individual's GCMS records and the burden of proof is on the applicant.
First a reminder about waiting to apply with a good buffer: It is always better, if practically possible in an individual's particular situation, to WAIT to apply with a good, comfortable buffer of credit for days in Canada MORE than the requirement. Many in this forum suggest a week to ten days. The more cautious approach would be to WAIT and apply with a buffer of at least a month, recognizing that is a safe
minimum and some individuals should wait longer (I personally waited a lot, lot longer) and have a bigger margin. Bigger than a month. Those who are relying on any period of implied status are among those who should very seriously consider applying with an even bigger buffer.
The SAFE approach:
Forget what should count. Do drafts of the physical presence calculation NOT including any days for periods in Canada with implied status. When the total credit for days in Canada adds up to 1095 (counting pre-PR days with documented status as half-day credits), WAIT an additional MONTH, and then apply. Include the implied credit days in the physical presence calculation in the final draft that is submitted with the application.
That way you will have a buffer over the minimum equal to a month PLUS the number of days credit (in the final draft) for time periods in Canada with implied status.
Example: if the total number of days with implied status is 124 days, that is worth 62 days credit. SAFE approach is to wait to apply when the applicant has a buffer of 92 days more than the minimum (30 as the minimum safe buffer plus 62 to cover the implied status credit). That probably seems like a lot. Many will not want to wait that long and will not wait that long.
But that eliminates any risk the IRCC personnel conducting the preliminary completeness screening will return the application as incomplete, for falling short of the actual physical presence requirement on its face, if they cannot readily verify the implied status.
It eliminates a risk of falling short of the minimum physical presence requirement if IRCC concludes there is insufficient proof of status for that period (based on absence of documentation of the status in the client's GCMS records).
It gives processing agents and citizenship officers a margin of comfort concluding there is little or no need to question the applicant's physical presence more closely given the amount of the buffer. (This can make the difference between a smooth-sailing routine application versus RQ-related non-routine procedures which can cause serious delays in processing.) This is particular true if it turns out the period of implied status is readily documented in GCMS so there is no question about that time counting, that means the applicant who waited this amount of time longer has a really solid, substantial buffer.
Many do not buy it. Quite a few are adamant if it counts it counts, and meeting the minimum is all that is needed. No need to wait. But a lot of those will end up waiting and waiting longer and longer. And come here to sing songs of woe, and wail and whine about how incompetent IRCC is.
To be clear: many times an immigrant can actually take the oath significantly sooner by waiting longer to apply. There is no shortage of forum participants, among many, many others, who rushed it and ended up on the longer slower side of the processing equation.
Beyond That; Will it Count:
If you are confident that YOUR GCMS records document a period of implied status, it may be safe to rely on getting the credit, and thus not wait the additional time to make the application. This is an individual, personal judgment call.
Burden of Proof: The burden of proof is on the applicant. Even as to having temporary resident status that qualifies for credit when applying for citizenship. This hardly seems fair, some may think, because IRCC has the records which will document status and the relevant dates. Shouldn't the burden of proof be on IRCC?
I do not wrestle much with what's fair or not. I focus on how things actually work. When it comes to establishing the applicant's pre-PR temporary resident status, the main thing, and perhaps the only thing, is what the client's GCMS records document. When the applicant accurately reports what status they had, and the relevant dates, and IRCC can verify the grant of status and the dates in GCMS, that seals that part of the deal. That element of the requirements is met.
The thing is, sometimes (only sometimes) a period of implied status may be readily documented in the GCMS records, but other times it is not. Sorting out when implied status is explicitly documented in the immigrant's IRCC client records versus when it is simply a period of time between documented grants of status during which the individual would not be subject to removal proceedings can be complicated. And figuring out if and when the personnel at IRCC conducting the preliminary "completeness" screening will be able to confirm the individual's implied status is near impossible.
Final note: many BELIEVE they had implied status for this or that period of time, but they might not have actually qualified for or have been allowed implied status. Just because an individual has been, as some might say "
allowed to stay" in Canada does not necessarily mean they actually had implied status . . . it might only mean that IRCC and CBSA were not pursuing removal. Remember, Canada does not penalize an overstay (staying in Canada without status), and if the individual later acquires status any previous overstay is effectively cured. That does not mean they had implied status during that time.
