Help Needed with Physical Presence Calculator

[Meena MM]

Hi guys just want to check if anyone has been in a similar situation as I am.
So i landed in Canada on feb 4, 2020 and on feb 4 2025 my 5 years will be completed. Until February 4 2025 i will be present in Canada for 1078 days in total but the IRCC online physical presence calculator is showing that I will be eligible to apply for citizenship in January 2026. I am confused that if I apply in March or April that should complete my 1095 days eligibility in 5 years immediately before my application but the calculator is giving me a date in 2026 January. Not sure how its calculating. Hoping someone could please help me understand that if its calculating right? I am very stressed out about this situation

 

[scylla]

Hi guys just want to check if anyone has been in a similar situation as I am.
So i landed in Canada on feb 4, 2020 and on feb 4 2025 my 5 years will be completed. Until February 4 2025 i will be present in Canada for 1078 days in total but the IRCC online physical presence calculator is showing that I will be eligible to apply for citizenship in January 2026. I am confused that if I apply in March or April that should complete my 1095 days eligibility in 5 years immediately before my application but the calculator is giving me a date in 2026 January. Not sure how its calculating. Hoping someone could please help me understand that if its calculating right? I am very stressed out about this situation

You must have at least 1095 days before you can submit the application.

The calculator is almost certainly right and you cannot apply until 2026. Most likely the problem is that you are counting days from Feb 2020 and you lose these days as you move into March 2025. Then as you move into April 2025 you also then lose any days you were counting from March 2020 and so on.

 

[YVR123]

Hi guys just want to check if anyone has been in a similar situation as I am.
So i landed in Canada on feb 4, 2020 and on feb 4 2025 my 5 years will be completed. Until February 4 2025 i will be present in Canada for 1078 days in total but the IRCC online physical presence calculator is showing that I will be eligible to apply for citizenship in January 2026. I am confused that if I apply in March or April that should complete my 1095 days eligibility in 5 years immediately before my application but the calculator is giving me a date in 2026 January. Not sure how its calculating. Hoping someone could please help me understand that if its calculating right? I am very stressed out about this situation

Your 5 years don't "freeze" on the anniversary of your landing.
The physical present days is looking back 5 years from the date of your citizenship application. And that's what the calculator is doing.
If you think that April 2025 is when you completed 1095 days, do you have 1095 days starting to count from April 2020? Your days from Feb 4 , 2020 to April 2020 don't count day more. Since they are out of the rolling 5 years from April 2025.

I am pretty sure that the calculator is correct.

 

[Meena MM]

So that means I have to wait for another year to apply? And my 20 days will be completed in 2026. This is something that is not making sense to me that how just being short on 20 days would extend my eligibility for a year. Also i checked if i step out of Canada it goes further to 2027 i dont know how its calculating

 

[scylla]

So that means I have to wait for another year to apply? And my 20 days will be completed in 2026. This is something that is not making sense to me that how just being short on 20 days would extend my eligibility for a year. Also i checked if i step out of Canada it goes further to 2027 i dont know how its calculating

I think you aren't quite understanding how the residency obligation works. When you apply for citizenship, you must have 1095 residency days within the immediate five years before your application date.

This means that as time passes because you need additional residency days to qualify, you lose residency days from your early days in Canada.

I suspect that you spent quite a bit of time outside of Canada within your first five years (two or more years) which is why you don't qualify to apply until 2026 or even 2027 if you spend more time outside of Canada.

 

[YVR123]

So that means I have to wait for another year to apply? And my 20 days will be completed in 2026. This is something that is not making sense to me that how just being short on 20 days would extend my eligibility for a year. Also i checked if i step out of Canada it goes further to 2027 i dont know how its calculating

What is not clear are the days that you were in Canada.
If your 1078 days are mostly from April 2020, then you are losing a day and adding a day at the same time when you continue to live in Canada after April 2025.
And when you said "step out of Canada" does that mean you only leave for 1 day? I have no idea what you mean here.

 

[Meena MM]

What is not clear are the days that you were in Canada.

If your 1078 days are mostly from April 2020, then you are losing a day and adding a day at the same time when you continue to live in Canada after April 2025.
And when you said "step out of Canada" does that mean you only leave for 1 day? I have no idea what you mean here.

So I landed in Canada as PR on 4th Feb, 2020. Since 4th feb 2020 up to 4th Feb 2025 i have 1078 days in total. To get my citizenship i need 1095 days in 5 years immediately before I apply for citizenship but the calculator is showing I will be eligible on January 29,2026 provided I remain in Canada. I tried checking if I leave canada again in 2025 even for a day and then the calculator is further showing my eligibility to be in 2027. I always thought if I fall short on few days I can apply after completing those missing days like for me e.g I am short on 18 days so I can apply somewhere by Feb 24, 2025 and that would make me eligible since they say I need 1095 in 5 years immediately before application. So not sure what to do now as it does not make sense that I have to now complete a full year that too without going out of Canada at all. I hope I am able to explain in clearly its a complicated situation. Also to give you a bit more context, I was absent from
Canada for 748 days in total between 4th Feb 2020 to 4 feb 2025 ( 5 years since my PR)

 

[Meena MM]

So after 4th Feb,2025 my days are not increasing in the calculator they have stopped at 1078 and they start increasing after Jan 2026

 

[scylla]

So after 4th Feb,2025 my days are not increasing in the calculator they have stopped at 1078 and they start increasing after Jan 2026

Right. That's because the five years for qualifying for citizenship is calculated on a rolling basis. You are losing the days you were in Canada in early 2020 as time moves forward.

 

[scylla]

So I landed in Canada as PR on 4th Feb, 2020. Since 4th feb 2020 up to 4th Feb 2025 i have 1078 days in total. To get my citizenship i need 1095 days in 5 years immediately before I apply for citizenship but the calculator is showing I will be eligible on January 29,2026 provided I remain in Canada. I tried checking if I leave canada again in 2025 even for a day and then the calculator is further showing my eligibility to be in 2027. I always thought if I fall short on few days I can apply after completing those missing days like for me e.g I am short on 18 days so I can apply somewhere by Feb 24, 2025 and that would make me eligible since they say I need 1095 in 5 years immediately before application. So not sure what to do now as it does not make sense that I have to now complete a full year that too without going out of Canada at all. I hope I am able to explain in clearly its a complicated situation. Also to give you a bit more context, I was absent from
Canada for 748 days in total between 4th Feb 2020 to 4 feb 2025 ( 5 years since my PR)

I think you are still not understanding how the residency days for citizenship are calculated. You need to give us the exact dates you were in Canada and then we can try to explain to you more clearly.

Think of it this way. Yes, technically you only need another 18 days or so to qualify. However if you wait until Feb 24 2025 to apply, then you are now losing the residency days from Feb 4 2020 to Feb 24 2020 because this period of time is now more than five years ago. You were outside of Canada for too long within the last five years and this is why you have to wait until 2026 to qualify.

Again, if you give us the exact dates for when you arrived in Canada and left Canada over the last year, we can try to explain more clearly.

 

[YVR123]

So I landed in Canada as PR on 4th Feb, 2020. Since 4th feb 2020 up to 4th Feb 2025 i have 1078 days in total. To get my citizenship i need 1095 days in 5 years immediately before I apply for citizenship but the calculator is showing I will be eligible on January 29,2026 provided I remain in Canada. I tried checking if I leave canada again in 2025 even for a day and then the calculator is further showing my eligibility to be in 2027. I always thought if I fall short on few days I can apply after completing those missing days like for me e.g I am short on 18 days so I can apply somewhere by Feb 24, 2025 and that would make me eligible since they say I need 1095 in 5 years immediately before application. So not sure what to do now as it does not make sense that I have to now complete a full year that too without going out of Canada at all. I hope I am able to explain in clearly its a complicated situation. Also to give you a bit more context, I was absent from
Canada for 748 days in total between 4th Feb 2020 to 4 feb 2025 ( 5 years since my PR)

We need your exact days inside and outside Canada to help you to understand the calculation.
As you said your days stay at 1078 days and stays the same from Feb 4 2025
Because if you count day 5 years from let's say March 1 2025, days from Feb 4, 2020 to March 1, 2020 DO NOT count any more.
Your days added = your days lost. So the number of days stayed at 1078.
And depending on when you were away for the 748 days, if the 5 rolling years start to begin on your absent days, then you will need 3 full years after you return.
I think until you give us the days that you were absent, it's hard to explain.

 

[Meena MM]

Thank you so much for taking out time to answer my question. Its just a shocker for me that how they calculate and that I am now stuck for another year here and cannot travel at all else my time would keep increasing. I noticed my time starts rolling again from the date I first travelled outside of Canada after becoming a PR. Here are my exact absences from Canada (these are the dates I was absent from Canada from feb 2020)

9th January 2021 - 15 Feb 2021
31 January 2022 - 30 March 2022
6th Sept 2022 - 15 May 2023
3 August 2023 - 7 March 2024
16 March 2024 - 22 Sept 2024

 

[scylla]

Thank you so much for taking out time to answer my question. Its just a shocker for me that how they calculate and that I am now stuck for another year here and cannot travel at all else my time would keep increasing. I noticed my time starts rolling again from the date I first travelled outside of Canada after becoming a PR. Here are my exact absences from Canada (these are the dates I was absent from Canada from feb 2020)

9th January 2021 - 15 Feb 2021
31 January 2022 - 30 March 2022
6th Sept 2022 - 15 May 2023
3 August 2023 - 7 March 2024
16 March 2024 - 22 Sept 2024

The calculator is correct. There is no error on how much longer you must remain in Canada to qualify for citizenship.

The citizenship requirement is that you must have at least three years of physically residency in Canada in the five years immediately before you submit your application. That calculation is honestly pretty straightforward.

Because you were outside of Canada for more than two years and because of the timing of your absences, it's going to take you longer to qualify.

Again, the citizenship requirement is the previous five years from the time you submit your application. So I'm sure you are seeing what is happening and that as time rolls forward after Feb next year, you start losing residency days you accumulated in 2020 because they no longer fall within the previous five year period.

 

[Meena MM]

The calculator is correct. There is no error on how much longer you must remain in Canada to qualify for citizenship.

The citizenship requirement is that you must have at least three years of physically residency in Canada in the five years immediately before you submit your application. That calculation is honestly pretty straightforward.

Because you were outside of Canada for more than two years and because of the timing of your absences, it's going to take you longer to qualify.

Again, the citizenship requirement is the previous five years from the time you submit your application. So I'm sure you are seeing what is happening and that as time rolls forward after Feb next year, you start losing residency days you accumulated in 2020 because they no longer fall within the previous five year period.

Thank you so much i think it makes sense now. Wish i would have known this before!