The lady who was interviewing said that for the period before I became PR, the entry and exit stamps on my passport are too many for her to count. Strangely she kept saying there are too many stamps and I am not sure you would have enough days to qualify for the citizenship requirement. I suggested she may want to contact the border control and get all the details. She would do that now. So I came out of the interview not knowing what the status would be. Strange experience.
Another thing she asked was for health card. I didn't have it on me as it wasn't in the document checklist. She objected to that as well!
After becoming PR, they are giving me a 887 days as eligible days after deducting the absences. That leaves me with 208 days for the time before becoming PR to meet the 1095 days for citizenship eligibility.
I might have made a mistake while filling the calculator. I noticed I didn't put the absences for the period before PR so they considered all the days as eligible and gave 50% credit so currently I have 365 days before becoming PR. I never travelled out of the country before becoming PR for not more than 60 days in total. They were all a couple of days trips hence so many stamps. So even after they check with border security, I would still be eligible to meet the citizenship requirement.
The only point I am nervous about is whether they would object to the incorrect days before becoming PR and disqualify my application even though I meet the required number of days criterion. Fingers crossed!!
The rather obvious
sore thumb:
"
I might have made a mistake while filling the calculator. I noticed I didn't put the absences for the period before PR . . ."
If indeed your Presence Calculation declarations failed to include numerous absences from Canada during the eligibility period, then obviously
that is an ISSUE and POTENTIALLY a serious problem.
While a substantial margin over the minimum presence requirement, at the least enough of a margin to cover any deduction for previously unreported absences PLUS SOME, may suffice, the best case scenario (next action is being scheduled for the oath) is subject to many other factors and at least somewhat at risk.
In particular, if your case is very strong notwithstanding the omissions, it is still possible that the next thing which happens, in a month or five months, is you are scheduled for the oath.
The most salient risk at this juncture, in contrast, is that you will be sent a request to submit additional information and documentation, which could be RQ-lite (CIT 0520), or full-blown RQ (CIT 0171), or an alternative such as some kind of PPQ (Physical Presence Questionnaire) such as CIT 0205 (something similar to or the same as the PPQ - QAE, which includes CIT 0205 plus a request for other specific documents as well as a Canadian citizen reference and consent for IRCC to obtain travel history records directly from the U.S., and a request for Exit/Entry records from other countries as well).
I do not mean to be too pessimistic, and to be clear, how this will go depends on many factors in addition to those you have reported. BUT assuming you failed to disclose numerous trips which add up to dozens of days absence, unless your case is very strong on its face my guess is the risk of some version of RQ seems likely.
That is, if in the presence calculator you failed to declare a significant number of absences from Canada during the five year eligibility period, there is indeed something to worry about.
Calculation Revisited:
At this juncture, it would be a good idea to reconstruct your presence calculation. The object of this exercise is to determine whether or not you do indeed really have enough days in Canada to meet the minimum, and assuming you do, to get a clear idea of how much of a margin over the minimum you have.
That is, go through the calculation again, this time entering ALL times abroad during your eligibility period, and thereby get a for-sure correct accounting of days present and days absent, and your total credit for days present. IF THE TOTAL IS 1094 DAYS OR LESS, withdraw the application. Perhaps acknowledge the mistakes made and acknowledge upon recalculating taking into account the mistakes, you fall short and are withdrawing. One day short mandates being denied citizenship.
If the total credit for days present is at least 1095, you can either wait to see what happens next or you can prepare to respond to RQ or some RQ-like requests.
If the total credit for days present is at least 1095 but not a whole lot more, better to begin preparing to respond to RQ or some RQ-like requests. My guess is that unless your revised calculation gives you a substantial margin, at least a month over the minimum, the risk of RQ is probably high.
As long as you do still have a margin over the minimum: What To Do Now?
I do not and cannot offer any personal advice. I can offer some observations about the possible directions this can go, and some information respectively which may help you decide what YOU can do next.
As I have already observed, if your case is otherwise a very strong case and there is a good, solid margin of presence over the minimum, you can simply WAIT to see what happens next, hoping to be scheduled for the oath of course.
Alternatively, and particularly so if after deducting the additional absences your total presence credit does not leave you with a substantial margin over the minimum, you might anticipate some version of RQ and thus begin preparing a RQ-like response sooner rather than waiting.
While RQ might not be the same as what is being discussed in the topic "
RQ versus Physical Presence Questionnaires, including CIT 0205" it might be a good idea to review the discussion there about what is requested for the PPQ - QAE and using that as a guide for gathering information and documentation. See the following post, for example, and other discussions on page two of that topic:
The package that i have received includes:
- A covering letter
- Form CIT 0205 (05-2017) E - Physical Presence Questionnaire - Quality Assurance Exercise
- Appendix - Required Documents . . .
[follow link to see full post].
NOTE: it is NOT likely IRCC will use your CBSA travel history to reconstruct a calculation:
IRCC primarily refers to an applicant's CBSA travel history to check the accuracy of the applicant's declarations. Obviously, if you omitted trips during the five year eligibility period, IRCC will discover your Presence Calculation is NOT accurate, that there are omissions.
Again depending on other factors, especially factors relevant to the strength of your case overall, with consideration for the number of apparent omissions and their general impact, perhaps you will be lucky and the local office processing agent will conscientiously review all the information, including passport stamps and CBSA travel history, and precisely deduct absences to determine if, after deducting those absences, you were still present in Canada more than 1095 days (counting full days for days after landing; half credit for days before landing). And assuming that is the conclusion the processing agent reaches, then schedule you for the oath.
That could happen. If the total number of omitted absences is not a particularly large number, there is a fair chance this happens.
However, the more trips that were omitted, or the more days absent omitted, the less likely this happens.
The risk is that IRCC will determine YOUR ACCOUNT OF PRESENCE/ABSENCE IS NOT RELIABLE and if IRCC determines your account of presence is not sufficiently reliable to meet the burden of proving presence, it will give you an opportunity to submit further information and evidence to prove your case. That is what the RQ or PPQ process is about.
There is a significant risk this, that is some version of RQ or PPQ, is what will happen.
Reminder: Applicant's account of travel dates is the best source, so if the applicant's account is determined to be NOT reliable, that can be a real problem.
There appears to be a tendency among a constituency of forum participants to put way too much weight on other sources of information as to an individual's presence calculation, such as the CBSA travel history.
The one best source for this information is the PR himself. He was there. He was there each and every time. He is the ONE PERSON IN THE WORLD, THE ONE BEST SOURCE IN THE WORLD, for this information.
So, if that information turns out to be less than accurate, and particularly if it turns out that the extent of inaccuracy indicates that source does NOT provide a reliable accounting, THAT IS A PROBLEM. Remember: IRCC looks at the CBSA history mostly to see if there is any indication the applicant failed to accurately report all travel. IRCC will not, not usually anyway, go through the CBSA report in an effort to see if the applicant has enough days to meet the requirement. It goes through the CBSA report to see if it can rely on the applicant's accounting of days.
I have discussed issues related to this in depth in multiple threads here.
BOTTOM-LINE:
You can wait to see what happens next. That could be the oath.
If however you deduct the absences you failed to declare, and that leaves you with a fairly small margin over the minimum, probably a good idea to start reading up on what RQ or PPQ involves, and begin gathering information and documentation you can submit to fully make your case that you meet the qualifications for citizenship.
