Preparing for Citizenship Application

[PHCA]

Hello, opening a new thread for anyone who is preparing to apply for their citizenship - like me. Lol. Hope we can all help each other here!

May 2011 - Became PR
July 2011 - Left Canada
Oct 2015 - Returned to Canada and never left since then, not even a single day outside of CA
Dec 2016 - PR expired
May 2018 - Passport will expire
Oct 2018 - Will achieve the 1095 physical presence in Canada

Questions:
1. How much buffer do I need before submitting application? I am thinking 15 or 30 days buffer, will that be good enough for CIC?

2. What are my chances of getting RQ? Worried about this due to the fact that I was away for 4 years but immigration office never said anything when I returned in Oct 2015. Just checked the letter from embassy and said I am good to go. It was because of school, btw.

3. I lived in U.S. for my school internship in July 2013-July 2014. How do I get police clearance from U.S.?

I really hope someone can help and people post here. Thank you!

 

[Seym]

1) Up to you. It's only a matter of :
- making sure a complete stranger is 100% sure you spent your 1095 days in Canada.
- making sure you actually spent those 1095 days here, no holidays forgotten... Easy in your case.
15 days should be good !

2) Don't think about it until it happens if it must happen. Most people don't get RQ, no reason to worry !

3) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/medical-police/police-certificates/how/united-states.html
AFAIK, it takes a few months. Better ask for it soon if you need it.
That being said, if you apply in october or november 2018, you only need a police certificate for countries where you've been 6 months+ in the last 4 years, starting oct/nov 2014, so...

Good luck !

 

[PHCA]

1) Up to you. It's only a matter of :
- making sure a complete stranger is 100% sure you spent your 1095 days in Canada.
- making sure you actually spent those 1095 days here, no holidays forgotten... Easy in your case.
15 days should be good !

2) Don't think about it until it happens if it must happen. Most people don't get RQ, no reason to worry !

3) https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/medical-police/police-certificates/how/united-states.html
AFAIK, it takes a few months. Better ask for it soon if you need it.
That being said, if you apply in october or november 2018, you only need a police certificate for countries where you've been 6 months+ in the last 4 years, starting oct/nov 2014, so...

Good luck !

Thank you so much, @Seym!

Yes, I am 100% sure that since I came back last Oct 2015, I have never set foot out of the country. I'm just worried that I will get RQ due to the fact that I was away for 4 years after becoming a PR in 2011. But if they look just in the past 5 years, they will see I've been inside the country living and working here.

Also, not sure why you said in the 4 years? I thought you need police clearance for countries where you live 6+ months in the last 5 years?

By the way, my passport is expiring next month and I don't plan on renewing it as I don't have any travel plans soon - at least not until I finish my application will this affect the processing when I apply? I know it is not a requirement but just want to make sure that it won't have any negative effect if I don't have valid passport..

 

[spyfy]

Thank you so much, @Seym!

Yes, I am 100% sure that since I came back last Oct 2015, I have never set foot out of the country. I'm just worried that I will get RQ due to the fact that I was away for 4 years after becoming a PR in 2011. But if they look just in the past 5 years, they will see I've been inside the country living and working here.

Also, not sure why you said in the 4 years? I thought you need police clearance for countries where you live 6+ months in the last 5 years?

By the way, my passport is expiring next month and I don't plan on renewing it as I don't have any travel plans soon - at least not until I finish my application will this affect the processing when I apply? I know it is not a requirement but just want to make sure that it won't have any negative effect if I don't have valid passport..

Police certificate is only for the last four years. See application guide.

I would encourage you to renew your passport BEFORE the old one expires. Not having held a passport for part of the last five years might in fact cause issues. You are not required to have a passport. But as soon as you have gaps in your passports, you are basically asking to be scrutinized more than usual. The effort of renewing your passport is definitely smaller than the additional effort you will have with your citizenship application if there is a passport gap.

In fact, this is even more important in your case since you are claiming that you never left the country. I believe you, of course. But CIC might not. Saying "I never left the country and I also don't have a passport" sounds to them like "I left the country but want to hide that fact so I am pretending I don't have a passport so you can't track my exits"

 

[PHCA]

Police certificate is only for the last four years. See application guide.

I would encourage you to renew your passport BEFORE the old one expires. Not having held a passport for part of the last five years might in fact cause issues. You are not required to have a passport. But as soon as you have gaps in your passports, you are basically asking to be scrutinized more than usual. The effort of renewing your passport is definitely smaller than the additional effort you will have with your citizenship application if there is a passport gap.

In fact, this is even more important in your case since you are claiming that you never left the country. I believe you, of course. But CIC might not. Saying "I never left the country and I also don't have a passport" sounds to them like "I left the country but want to hide that fact so I am pretending I don't have a passport so you can't track my exits"

Then on that note, if I do apply this Nov 2018.. then I won't need police clearance from U.S. since I returned to MNL in July 2014? So I guess just a police clearance from Manila then? I stayed in Manila before returning to CA from July 2014 to Oct 2015.

Oh no! My current passport is about to expire on May 18th! I was so sure about not renewing it because I don't need it anyway I have no plans to travel outside anytime soon, and it said a valid passport is not required when applying for citizenship. But what you said just totally makes sense! Would it help if I tell you that my PR card also expired last Dec2016 and I never renewed it because first, being away for 4 years since 2011.. I had to do my 2yrs Residency Obligation and second, I thought I'll just go straight for citizenship.

I checked and it would take a while to renew passport esp that I don't have a valid PR card. I need to prove to the consulate general that I am not a Canadian citizen and I know there is a document for it but I think it takes months to get it... Now I don't know what to do even more..

PLS HELP!!!

 

[zeste]

Police certificate is only for the last four years. See application guide.

I would encourage you to renew your passport BEFORE the old one expires. Not having held a passport for part of the last five years might in fact cause issues. You are not required to have a passport. But as soon as you have gaps in your passports, you are basically asking to be scrutinized more than usual. The effort of renewing your passport is definitely smaller than the additional effort you will have with your citizenship application if there is a passport gap.

In fact, this is even more important in your case since you are claiming that you never left the country. I believe you, of course. But CIC might not. Saying "I never left the country and I also don't have a passport" sounds to them like "I left the country but want to hide that fact so I am pretending I don't have a passport so you can't track my exits"

Cancelled passports are perforated, If you hold a passport that is not perforated by the authority when you renewed it, it means you didn't renew it.
Just my opinion...

 

[PHCA]

Cancelled passports are perforated, If you hold a passport that is not perforated by the authority when you renewed it, it means you didn't renew it.
Just my opinion...

Makes sense.. Plus my PR Card expired last Dec2016, idk if that matters or helps?

 

[zeste]

Makes sense.. Plus my PR Card expired last Dec2016, idk if that matters or helps?

Last Dec was Dec2017 not Dec2016. Anyway, I think that if you can prove that you still maintain your PR status (physical presence) the fact that your card expired won't affect your application. Again, I'm not an expert that's just my opinion...

 

[zeste]

As far as I know, to maintain PR status you have to be in Canada for at least 3 years for the 5 following years after you become a PR. According to the timeline you posted at the beginning of this thread you left Canada on July 2011 and returned on October 2015. That is 4 years and 3 months absence.

 

[spyfy]

Cancelled passports are perforated, If you hold a passport that is not perforated by the authority when you renewed it, it means you didn't renew it.
Just my opinion...

It's not that easy.

Cancelled passports are only perforated if you still have them. The following is a realistic scenario of someone who wants to commit immigration fraud:

• Moves to Canada on a particular passport
• Renews his passport but claims to have lost it, so the embassy can't invalidate the old one
• Travel on the renewed passport
• Show the old passsport to IRCC claiming they never traveled

I am, again, not saying that the people posting above do that. But this is exactly why passport gaps are a big deal and often trigger residency questionnaires and such.

 

[spyfy]

As far as I know, to maintain PR status you have to be in Canada for at least 3 years for the 5 following years after you become a PR. According to the timeline you posted at the beginning of this thread you left Canada on July 2011 and returned on October 2015. That is 4 years and 3 months absence.

That doesn't matter because the 2 of 5 rule is a revolving requirement. IRCC only looks at the previous five years at the moment of evaluation. If you were not caught on earlier breaches of the RO, they don't care. It says so directly in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Section 28(2)(b)(ii).

 

[spyfy]

I checked and it would take a while to renew passport esp that I don't have a valid PR card. I need to prove to the consulate general that I am not a Canadian citizen and I know there is a document for it but I think it takes months to get it... Now I don't know what to do even more..

PLS HELP!!!

If renewing your passport is not an option due to time constraints then you can of course apply without a current passport. But don't be surprised if you will have to answer some extra questions or will be asked for additional documents.

To clarify: There is nothing wrong about applying without a current passport. It's just more of a hassle as many people report.

Also, by the way: Most consulates accept a valid PR card as proof that you are not a citizen (instead of the search of citizenship records which indeed takes forever). Doesn't really help you since your PR card is also not valid anymore, I guess...

 

[PHCA]

That doesn't matter because the 2 of 5 rule is a revolving requirement. IRCC only looks at the previous five years at the moment of evaluation. If you were not caught on earlier breaches of the RO, they don't care. It says so directly in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Section 28(2)(b)(ii).

Yes, I also did check with a lawyer and consultant back in July2016 since I knew my PR card was bout to expire in Dec2016. I wrote a letter to the Canadian Embassy before coming back here asking for permission if I can still return as PR and their answer was very general that as long as I have valid PR card I can return, then I showed the same letter to the immigration office when I landed in Vancouver and he gave me the OK.

You said "If you were not caught on earlier breaches of the RO, they don't care." Is this really true? I have yet to check that Protection Act you mentioned but is it for real that they don't care? Bcos sometimes I think that if they see that I was in breach before, they might return my citizenship application and give me removal order.. Lol thinking too much I know but I just think about any possible thing that might happen..

 

[spyfy]

Yes, I also did check with a lawyer and consultant back in July2016 since I knew my PR card was bout to expire in Dec2016. I wrote a letter to the Canadian Embassy before coming back here asking for permission if I can still return as PR and their answer was very general that as long as I have valid PR card I can return, then I showed the same letter to the immigration office when I landed in Vancouver and he gave me the OK.

You said "If you were not caught on earlier breaches of the RO, they don't care." Is this really true? I have yet to check that Protection Act you mentioned but is it for real that they don't care? Bcos sometimes I think that if they see that I was in breach before, they might return my citizenship application and give me removal order.. Lol thinking too much I know but I just think about any possible thing that might happen..

Really just google the IRPA reference I mentioned. It's there in black and white.

 

[PHCA]

If renewing your passport is not an option due to time constraints then you can of course apply without a current passport. But don't be surprised if you will have to answer some extra questions or will be asked for additional documents.

To clarify: There is nothing wrong about applying without a current passport. It's just more of a hassle as many people report.

Also, by the way: Most consulates accept a valid PR card as proof that you are not a citizen (instead of the search of citizenship records which indeed takes forever). Doesn't really help you since your PR card is also not valid anymore, I guess...

If I apply without passport, I will definitely be providing a letter explaining why and I have my expired PR card since Dec2016 and my other passport (the one before my Dec2016 passport) because it was valid until 2013 so it counts in the 5 years they will be looking at. I can also present docs that can prove that I was in CA for the past 3 years such as copies of my pay stubs from Nov 2015 since I came back up to whenever I will submit my application in Nov2018. Credit card statements, what else, I mean anything that can prove that I was here straight esp during that gap from May2018 to Nov2018..

Do you think I should do that - provide unasked docs?