Received Residence Questionnaire after leaving country

[ontariomaple]

I've spent more than 1095 days (around 1120) in a 4 year period, sent Citizenship application form in June 2012 and left Canada due to business purposes (I'm running Canadian small company but need to work on opportunities abroad at this time) in June 2012
In December 2012 I've received an RQ.
- Do I need to be physically in Canada to send a filled out RQ and a bunch of copies of supported documents or I can ask relatives to mail me an RQ by Express Mail, fill it out & sign and send it back to relatives so that they send it instead of me. Or I need to be physically in Canada so that when the time for Citizenship test comes up, then can see it in my passport that I was in Canada at the time I've filled in and signed RQ.

Appreciate if senior members can share their opinion, i.e. Leon

 

[Leon]

I don't see why you'd have to be in Canada to send them documents. As long as you met the 1095 days when you applied and still meet the 730 days in the past 5 years to keep your PR. You don't have to be in Canada when they call you for your test but it would be advisable to go back and take it when you are called. If you postpone, it can really delay your application.

 

[Msafiri]

AFAIK nothing in the Citizenship Act or Regulations state that you have to be in Canada to respond to a RQ. Self employment with travel is one of the flags for RQ.

You have 45 business days to respond to the RQ so the click is ticking for you. This is the downside of being abroad as paperwork has to be sent back and forth using up the 45 day timeline.

The crucial evidence to submit for RQ is records of your entries/ exits to and from Canada. You need to send an ATIP request to CBSA for your Canadian entries...due to increased RQ issuance this is taking 60 days. You also need to request records of movements from other countries you have entered/ exited if this is not shown conclusively with a trail of passport stamps. Other evidence would be a record of health visits - check how to obtain this from your provincial health ministry e.g OHIP. Notices of Tax assessments are also useful. Less useful are passive indicators of residence such as bank statements because CIC can and do take the approach that you may have given someone else your bank/credit cards.

Submit what you can within 45 business days with a letter that additonal documents will be mailed in.

Being given an RQ removes your file from the routine processsing timeline currently quoted as 21 months for 80% of applications. An RQ can add 12-18 months to this processing time and even longer if you have to see a Citizenship Judge. As per Leon watch your absences from Canada during this citizenship application...you have to be a PR at oath date!

 

[EasyRider]

CIC incorporated CBSA consent checkbox both to current RQ and citizenship application forms, so seems requesting CBSA for the purpose RQ response is not necessary anymore. You'd probably still need CBSA report for personal records, it may also reveal errors.

 

[Msafiri]

1. Incorporation is effective for CIT application forms versions from September 2012...earlier applicants have to do an ATIP request to CBSA.

2. Its useful to get CBSA for your own records to ensure no entries are missing especially if you use Nexus.

 

[EasyRider]

1. Incorporation is effective for CIT application forms versions from September 2012...earlier applicants have to do an ATIP request to CBSA.

It's also in current RQ forms.

 

[WonderfulRemark]

My RQ form just says tick this box if you wish to share yoru CBSA info to CIC.

I thought i'd share that..