POLICAP said:
Hi All,
My family came to Canada in August, 2010 as a visitor . they applied for PR in 2011 and got landed in Nov. 2014.
Since they have lived in Canada for more than 3 years before they landed as PR, should this be counted towards their qualification for Citizenship? Please advise when they should apply for Citizenship.
Thanks,
POLICAP
Short answer under current law: Not until November 2018 at the soonest.
Short answer if proposed changes become law: As soon as the proposed 3/5 rule comes into force. (My guess, not before summer 2017.)
Longer explanation:
Under current law, minimum physical presence is
4 years and only time after landing, after formally becoming a PR, counts. For a PR who landed in November 2014, the very soonest he or she will be eligible for citizenship will thus be November 2018; longer if there has been any travel outside Canada.
There is legislation pending, Bill C-6, which proposes to reduce the minimum physical presence requirement to three years within five, and to also restore giving half-day credits toward the presence requirement for days in Canada as a temporary resident. If your family has not traveled outside Canada at all for the last five years, it looks like they will meet the physical presence requirement as soon as the 3/5 rule takes effect. But that is
NOT going to happen anytime real soon, and cannot happen until Bill C-6 actually becomes law (it is currently bogged down in the Senate), and even then not until some time after that when the Governor in Council issues an order setting the date the provision prescribing the 3/5 rule will take effect.
Bill C-6 still seems likely to become law, but there is no guarantee it will. It will probably become law before the end of this year but there is a significant chance this will not happen until sometime next year.
Additionally, the change to the 3/5 rule will be implemented sometime
after Bill C-6 becomes law. There is no credible estimation, yet, as to when the 3/5 rule might actually be in effect. Best guess is that it will not happen before spring but actually it seems likely that it will take longer than that.
Any PR planning to apply for citizenship should be preparing all along, such as gathering and keeping good records, including precise records of any travel abroad, good records to document where the PR is living in Canada, working, going to school, and so on.
Otherwise, for the purpose of planning to actually make the application, there is no rush. They need to wait to see what happens with Bill C-6 and how long after it actually becomes law it will take for the new 3/5 rule to take effect. This is not going to happen before spring 2017. My guess is that it will be next summer
at the soonest. Some are already speculating it will be 2018 before the change is actually in effect.
