Overall: this may be of little significance, a
doing-due-diligence-with-no-real-suspicion exercise. Or, it could be that IRCC has serious concerns. If there is nothing which IRCC should be suspicious about, odds are high it is indeed merely a
doing-due-diligence-with-no-real-suspicion exercise and will not pose much of a problem or cause much of a delay.
There should be no reason to worry much UNLESS you know there is a reason to worry.
What this is about: either the interviewer, or the Citizenship Officer responsible for making a decision in your case, has identified what is perceived to be a
reason-to-question-presence.
The burden of proving qualification for citizenship is always on the applicant. However, only a few applicants are required to submit evidence beyond what is provided in the application and in response to questions in the interview. There are, for example, some rather positive inferences typically made in favour of the vast majority of qualified applicants who are processed routinely. A
reason-to-question-presence knocks the application off the routine track and can mean the applicant does not fully benefit from those typical, positive inferences. Instead, the applicant is required to submit additional information and/or documentation to support his or her case.
For example, for the vast majority of applicants IRCC will infer presence in Canada for days in-between a date of entry into Canada and next reported date of exit. When there is a
reason-to-question-presence the applicant may lose some of the benefit from such an inference, and be required to prove actual presence during those in-between days. This can be a rather onerous burden depending on the extent to which IRCC is concerned about some possibility the applicant was outside Canada other than as declared.
At this stage, what triggered the concern, the
reason-to-question-presence, is speculative. What triggered the concern is not all that important UNLESS it is something which involves either a significant discrepancy between the information provided in the application and other information IRCC has, or there is something potentially indicating intentional deception.
The main thing is to send a responsive answer to IRCC within the time instructed, and if that is not possible because you cannot obtain the information or documentation on time, to at least send in what you can together with an explanation of what is not being submitted, and why, and if it is material or documents to be obtained from another source, such as from the U.S. government, to explain that a request for the documents has been made (of course only if this is in fact true, that a request has been made) and the documents will be submitted when received.
Based on what you have so far reported, it is difficult to discern if this is merely an exercise in due diligence, to verify the travel history and presence you reported in the application and presence calculation, or if there is a substantive concern and IRCC is challenging you to definitively prove all the dates you claim to have been present in Canada.
Which brings me to the form of the request you received. This can vary quite a bit. We are not clear about which forms IRCC is currently using.
It would be helpful if you can more particularly describe the form or format of this request. Helpful toward understanding what is involved and what is at stake for your particular case. Helpful toward keeping the forum up-to-date.
There are generally three ways IRCC makes requests for additional proof-of-presence information and documentation, and there is also the PPQ - QAE process as well. Thus, it is likely you received one of the following:
-- correspondence in the form of a letter containing specific requests for this and that documentation, such as the exit/entry records for the U.S.
-- the CIT 0520 form which includes specific requests for documents (this is called RQ - lite)
-- the CIT 0171 form which requires the applicant to provide a lot of information, including information already submitted, such as address, work, and travel history, and which also instructs the applicant to submit certain specific documents; this is typically referred to as "RQ" or "full-blown RQ"
Alternatively, you may have received some version of the PPQ - QAE or at least a PPQ (Physical Presence Questionnaire) including CIT 0205, which is similar to RQ, although the requests for documents are separate and more specific, including in particular a specific request for entry/exit records from countries in which the applicant has lived. This typically includes a request for a Canadian citizen reference, someone to in effect vouch for the applicant's life in Canada.
PLEASE SHARE something about the form of the request you received and, in particular, whether it includes any of these official forms, the CIT 0520, or the CIT 0171, or the CIT 0205 forms, or alternatively if what you received did not include any of these official forms.
As I noted, this information can help put the request you received into context and offer further information which may assist you. And it can also help us, in the forum, to be aware of what approaches IRCC continues to take at this stage of the process.
I cannot ascertain the significance, but just to make note, your earlier reports about IRCC telephoning your employer suggest that perhaps there is something in your case in particular which is raising questions. Something to keep in mind . . . but again, hard to put into context unless you share more about the format of the request you received.
For reference: