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RO cutting it close - question about filling travel history

laurals

Newbie
Jun 27, 2021
5
2
Hi forum, I've browsed a few threads in the forum but can't seem to find someone with exactly the same situations.
I soft landed in July 2016, stayed in Canada for 2 weeks.
Also came back to Canada briefly in 2018 for 1 week.

In June 2019 I came back to Canada and never left. Up till now I have completed 730 days even without counting the 2+1 weeks in 2016 and 2018.
I understand that I'm still 'cutting it close', so I plan to wait for 2 more months buffer time to make it more than 800 days, as often suggested in the forum.

Now that I have a stable job since early 2020 and pretty settled down, I don't think my application is going to cause any issues, but still I have questions about filling in 5444E.

1. When providing address history, if I apply in Sept 2021, do I only need to count back 5 years to Sept 2016, thus my address history will start from outside Canada?

2. Between 2018 and 2019, I spent nearly a year travelling around the world. Some travels are within the EU, so I don't get a stamp on passport, but I also went to some other countries that left stamp on my passport.
In the travel history, will I need to report ALL of the trips?
Or only the ones that involve entry/exit to Canada?
Or only the trips that have left stamp on my passport?

Thank you so much for your help!
 
Last edited:

Wilton

Member
Mar 11, 2007
18
3
The 5 year period counts backwards from when an IRCC officer looks at your case and evaluates it.
It is as such not related to the validity or expiry of the PR card itself.

For your 'travel history' it only matters for when you are in Canada versus outside of Canada (not really for what you did outside of Canada).
Neither IRCC nor CSBA actually 'know' when you leave/left Canada for trips, they only know when you enter Canada as Canada does not (unlike say the European Union for example) have or performs exit controls.

If you apply for your PR renewal while you are in Canada, and you have comfortably fulfilled your 730 day RO, then there should not be any issues.
It obviously helps if you can prove your exact days in case some IRCC officer decides to not believe the data in the form or something else on your file is flagged.