Extended Absences from Canada - Impact on Citizenship Application?

[Thanh178]

Hi everyone,

I’m preparing my citizenship application and have a concern about my extended absences from Canada. I was outside Canada for significant periods due to family issues. I stayed in Canada continuously from 2019 until October 2022 (I received my PR at the end of 2021). Unfortunately, during the pandemic, I couldn’t go back to Vietnam, and during that time, a lot happened—my dad lost his job, my grandfather got seriously ill, and one of my loved ones passed away.

In October 2022, I left Canada to be with my grandfather, who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. His condition worsened, and he passed away after 4 months. I stayed longer to help with his funeral and related matters. In total, I was away for about 11 months over 2022-2024, including a return trip in 2023 for my mental health and to attend my grandfather’s first memorial, which is culturally significant.

During my absences, I maintained my residence in Canada by subleasing part of my apartment while continuing to pay partial rent to keep my room available for when I returned. I also continued working remotely for a Canadian employer. My company was really nice knowing my situation and they really tried to help me, same with my landlord, so I could for sure prove that.

I plan to apply for citizenship in mid-2025, by which time I will have accumulated around 1,150 days of physical presence in Canada. My concern is whether these absences might lead to closer scrutiny or delays in processing. I do have my grandfather’s death certificate, but I’m unsure how to provide proof for the emotional and personal reasons for my absences since I didn’t see a therapist. Has anyone been in a similar situation, and how did IRCC handle it? I have a year to prepare, so I want to ensure my process isn’t delayed or denied.

Thanks for any advice or experiences you can share!

 

[LargeLanguageModelBot]

Sorry to hear about this. It must be hard to go through the difficulties.
I want to point out that the citizenship application is unrelated to all this background info. When you apply, you need to report your residence within the last 5 years and all the physical absences from Canada. I don't see your case being "leading to scrutiny" as long as 1) your physical presence qualifies; 2) you report everything candidly; 3) you do your tax return every year.
Just don't overthink the whole process. I think what you need by the time you apply, in addition to other applicants, would be just the police certificate from Vietnam covering your long stay there during the 5-year process (which you'll see the request from the application portal for an upload).

 

[Thanh178]

Sorry to hear about this. It must be hard to go through the difficulties.
I want to point out that the citizenship application is unrelated to all this background info. When you apply, you need to report your residence within the last 5 years and all the physical absences from Canada. I don't see your case being "leading to scrutiny" as long as 1) your physical presence qualifies; 2) you report everything candidly; 3) you do your tax return every year.
Just don't overthink the whole process. I think what you need by the time you apply, in addition to other applicants, would be just the police certificate from Vietnam covering your long stay there during the 5-year process (which you'll see the request from the application portal for an upload).

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response and for helping me put things into perspective. I really appreciate your reassurance, especially considering how anxious I've been about this process. It’s comforting to know that as long as I meet the physical presence requirement, report everything accurately, and stay on top of my tax returns, I should be in good shape.

Regarding the additional documentation, I’ve been thorough in gathering everything. I’ve always filed my tax returns without missing a year, and I have all my pay stubs ready. I also plan to include an explanation letter along with my grandfather’s medical record, his death certificate, and a letter from my landlord confirming that I continued paying rent while I was in Vietnam. I’m also considering asking my manager for a letter to confirm that I worked full-time during my stay in Vietnam. I hope this covers all the bases.

I totally understand your point about not overthinking the process, but I couldn’t help but get caught up in rumors about potential delays due to my extended stays abroad. Given everything I’ve gone through, I’ve become quite anxious, so your advice really helped to ease some of that stress. Trying to search the site the whole day to see any cases like me but couldnt find anything

As for the police certificate from Vietnam, I understand why it might be necessary due to my time spent there. I can request it from the Vietnamese embassy, but I’m unsure whether I should do this now or closer to my application date, which is planned for June next year. Do you know if there’s a specific timeframe for when the police certificate needs to be issued relative to the application date? I’m planning to stay in Canada till end of 2025 with no travel, so I’m trying to figure out the best time to request the certificate to ensure it’s valid when I apply.

Thanks again for all your help and advice!

 

[LargeLanguageModelBot]

Don't overthink. It's a straightforward process.

> but I’m unsure whether I should do this now or closer to my application date, which is planned for June next year.
Assuming that you are not going to Vietnam for another half year, I would say just use a police certificate that fully covers your long stay in Vietnam.

 

[Seym]

I also plan to include an explanation letter along with my grandfather’s medical record, his death certificate, and a letter from my landlord confirming that I continued paying rent while I was in Vietnam

No need for this.
In the physical presence tool, each absence has a textbox where you can specify the reason of your travel, you can list your family emergencies there, without need for details.
And the letter from the landlord doesn't matter, IRCC only cares about how many days you spent inside or outside the country, and many people successfully get their citixenship after severing their ties with Canada by moving abroad after their application...
As for whether your application will go swiftly or not, well, it's often a matter of luck. Some people get stuck in security screening for unknown reasons, others' physical presence takes ages to be validated even if they have a good buffer and a precise accounting of entries/exits, or sometimes others with small mistakes in their application still get processed lightning fast. It's a waiting game and you have no real control over it, so better not the stress you can't really do anything about it.
Even if your application gets delayed, chances are it will have nothing to do with your current situation, and you won't really know why...

As @LargeLanguageModelBot said, it's a straightforward process, so just apply and see how it goes.

Good luck, and sorry for your loss.