I am trying to apply for Citizenship for Canada but IRCC says they cannot confirm the time I spent in Canada before becoming a PR. Here is the timeline :
Arrived in Canada - Sept 14, 2019
Got Married - October 5, 2019
Applied for Spousal Application with Work Permit - December 15, 2019
Got Work Permit - June 01, 2020
Work Permit Expire - Dec 01, 2020
Got PR - Dec 07, 2020
Travelled for combined 5 months between 2021 and 2023.
Now, when I put these exact dates in the Physical Presence, it tells me I qualify for Citizenship as I have more than 1095 days in Canada but IRCC keeps sending my application back saying they cannot confirm my time in Canada before becoming PR.
I talked to a lawyer recently and they suggested that because I came here as a Visitor and then got married because of which I got my Work Permit, it cannot be counted as "authentic". Hence, no time will be counted before I became PR. Is this true?
I keep trying to call IRCC but its next to impossible to get connected to someone there.
. . . I travelled for almost 5 months between my PR issuance and now so those days are not counted.
Short Answer:
For expert advice see a lawyer. Apparently you did. Not clear to me precisely what the lawyer said, but if the gist of what the lawyer said was you will not get pre-PR credit for the period of time you were a visitor or otherwise did not have documented status, that is very likely correct.
You should and probably will be given credit for the period of time you had a work permit, that is the period June 01, 2020 to December 01, 2020, which is approximately 183 days, adding up to a total credit of approximately 91 (or 91.5) days.
The lawyer's terminology, saying the period of time in Canada as a visitor time cannot be counted as "
authentic" is a bit odd to me, but I am NOT a Canadian lawyer. The underlying problem is proving you had status during that time when your GCMS records probably do not show a grant of status. See longer explanation below. But, again, apart from the terminology, it probably does come down to NO credit for pre-PR time you had visitor status. Which I suspect is what the lawyer was saying.
Way to approach this:
Wait to apply until you have a total credit of approximately 1125 days, based on 91 days pre-PR credit (work permit period) plus at least 1035 or so days credit after becoming a PR. This gives you a margin over the minimum of around a month (many here suggest less margin, just a week to ten days, but to my view waiting another three weeks or so more than that to apply should give the applicant a comfortable margin significantly improving the odds of the application staying on a non-routine, faster processing track, such that the odds are good that waiting to apply can actually mean taking the oath sooner).
BUT then, when you actually complete the application and physical presence calculation, you can also include those periods of pre-PR time you are confident you actually had visitor status, even if you cannot submit any documents to prove status. As long as you meet the presence requirement without counting these days, the application should not be returned. And this will pad the margin over the minimum even more.
Be sure to ONLY claim credit for days you are sure you had valid status. Leading to . . . a caution . . .
CAUTION: you appear to have tried to count days you may have been overstaying. Unless you were specifically granted visitor status for more than six months, for example, your visitor status (at most) was likely just September 14, 2019 to March 14, 2020; so it appears you were overstaying the period March 15, 2020 to June 01, 2020. I do not know precisely how to account for this in the physical presence calculator, but if you carefully follow the instructions you should be able to navigate this. Note that just because Canada does not generally pursue removal while a spousal sponsorship application is in process does not mean they granted the sponsored spouse Temporary Resident Status . . . until some temporary status is actually granted, like the work permit. And when the work permit expired, it appears you were overstaying those few days between then and the date you became a PR. This is NO big deal. (Did a version of this myself, overstaying the expiration of a Visitor Record until I completed the landing procedure.) NOT a problem . . . EXCEPT you cannot count such periods toward meeting the physical presence requirement because you did not have Temporary Resident Status during those periods.
Further Explanation:
Appears you did not have Temporary Resident Status between December 01, 2020 and December 07, 2020, so the five days in that period will NOT count toward meeting the physical presence requirement.
Assuming you had legal visitor status from your arrival September 14, 2019 until the work permit was issued June 01, 2020, those days
COULD count, but will only count if:
-- your GCMS records verify you had Temporary Resident Status during that period of time, OR
-- YOU can somehow meet the burden of proving you had Temporary Resident Status during that period of time
Absent a formally issued visitor visa, or formally issued Visitor Record, showing the dates you were granted visitor status in Canada, it is likely that GCMS does not verify you had Temporary Resident Status during that period of time. Odds are you otherwise do not have any documents or IRCC notices that show a grant of visitor status for those periods, and at best would have great difficulty proving you had been granted status. So this period of time will likely NOT get any credit toward meeting the presence requirement. Also note, it appears you were overstaying at least the period of time between March 14, 2020 (six months after arrival) and the date you were issued a work permit June 1, 2020.
As discussed above, IRCC probably verifies your Temporary Resident Status for the period June 01, 2020 to December 01, 2020, the period you were a total of approximately 183 days adding up to a total credit of approximately 91 (or 91.5) days.
Further Observations; General Explanation (this is a bit repetitive, largely copied from explanation about this I have previously posted)
:
Generally, when there are questions about pre-PR credit toward meeting the physical presence requirement (to be qualified for a grant of Canadian citizenship), the problem is often (not always) about
the absence of documented status in the client's GCMS records. The most common scenarios in which this arises are either:
-- a period of implied status that is not readily recognized and verified by GCMS records
-- a period of visitor status for which there was no formal grant of that status (no visitor visa issued), typically involving individuals entering Canada with a visa-exempt passport who were not issued a Visitor's Record attendant entry into Canada
The burden of proof that the applicant for citizenship meets the requirements is on the applicant. And this applies to all elements of all the requirements. Including proof of status.
Proving status is ordinarily NO problem. This is because the status of IRCC clients (PRs, citizenship applicants, and any FNs applying for or granted entry into Canada) is recorded in their GCMS records whenever there is a formal grant of status. The applicant's statements in the application specifying status and the dates of that status are, usually, enough; IRCC verifies the applicant's information in their GCMS records. In these circumstances (which apply to the vast majority of applicants), that suffices to meet the applicant's burden of proof as to status.
There are various scenarios in which a FN (Foreign National) might be in Canada with legal status to be in Canada, having Temporary Resident Status, which is not documented in GCMS records. I mentioned two above. Any day in Canada (within the five year eligibility period) that the applicant had status is entitled to credit (half-day credit) toward the physical presence requirement. But if IRCC cannot verify the applicant's Temporary Resident Status for a period of time, that time will NOT count.
Also discussed at some length recently here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/help-ircc-keeps-saying-my-file-is-missing-information.829258/#post-10696459
Note of Appreciation for Noting the Lawyer's Comment: While the terminology the lawyer used is different than what I am familiar with (noting again that I am NOT a Canadian lawyer), it corroborates what is outlined above, so I appreciate your posting what the lawyer said.
