Work in Michigan and weekends in Windsor - does physical presence in Canada count?

[PR1609]

Hello everyone,

I am not sure if a similar topic has been posted before, apologies if this is a duplicate.

I am an Indian citizen, and got my PR through my husband who is a Canadian citizen, in September 2017. However, I also used to visit Toronto from Detroit as a temporary resident almost every weekend to visit friends and family since February 2017. I moved to Windsor in July 2017, and then lived there until July 2018. I work in Michigan, and my visa status in the US requires me to live in the US to be able to work there. I moved back to Michigan with my husband 2 weeks ago.

1. Right now, I have residency in the US, and visit Windsor across the land border every weekend.
2. I have a home that I purchased early this year in Windsor.

I have a few questions that pertain to my citizenship application when the time comes, and hope I get some clarity with this thread here:

1. The most important question - can I count the days I visit Windsor now, as a US resident and a Canadian PR, for my citizenship? Does having a home in Windsor add to my application as an advantage at all, to prove that my life is centred in Canada, and I'm in the US primarily for work? Is it physical presence or residency that matters for citizenship?

2. I recently realized that my short visits to Canada as a temporary resident would give me 0.5 day credit for every day I spent here. Since I didn't know of this back then, I have no personal records on how many days I was possibly present in Canada. Can I get this information if I request for my travel history of entry and exit records from CBSA using the 'Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Online Request'?

3. To be able to count my days spent in Canada since February 2017 (on the temporary visa), is it enough that I apply for citizenship by Jan/ Feb 2022?

Thank you everyone for their amazing advice and help here. I've received great help on this forum during my PR application process as well, and hope that this forum continues to flourish this way!

Thanks a lot,

Deepthi

 

[itsmyid]

Hello everyone,

I am not sure if a similar topic has been posted before, apologies if this is a duplicate.

I am an Indian citizen, and got my PR through my husband who is a Canadian citizen, in September 2017. However, I also used to visit Toronto from Detroit as a temporary resident almost every weekend to visit friends and family since February 2017. I moved to Windsor in July 2017, and then lived there until July 2018. I work in Michigan, and my visa status in the US requires me to live in the US to be able to work there. I moved back to Michigan with my husband 2 weeks ago.

1. Right now, I have residency in the US, and visit Windsor across the land border every weekend.
2. I have a home that I purchased early this year in Windsor.

I have a few questions that pertain to my citizenship application when the time comes, and hope I get some clarity with this thread here:

1. The most important question - can I count the days I visit Windsor now, as a US resident and a Canadian PR, for my citizenship? Does having a home in Windsor add to my application as an advantage at all, to prove that my life is centred in Canada, and I'm in the US primarily for work? Is it physical presence or residency that matters for citizenship?

2. I recently realized that my short visits to Canada as a temporary resident would give me 0.5 day credit for every day I spent here. Since I didn't know of this back then, I have no personal records on how many days I was possibly present in Canada. Can I get this information if I request for my travel history of entry and exit records from CBSA using the 'Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Online Request'?

3. To be able to count my days spent in Canada since February 2017 (on the temporary visa), is it enough that I apply for citizenship by Jan/ Feb 2022?

Thank you everyone for their amazing advice and help here. I've received great help on this forum during my PR application process as well, and hope that this forum continues to flourish this way!

Thanks a lot,

Deepthi

Two days a week in Windsor will never get you enough days for you to qualify, having a house in Windsor won’t help , unless you live in there for the next 2-3 years on a daily basis

 

[PR1609]

Two days a week in Windsor will never get you enough days for you to qualify, having a house in Windsor won’t help , unless you live in there for the next 2-3 years on a daily basis

Thank you so much for your reply! Does it mean that physical presence counts? I hope my situation changes soon so I can come back to Windsor to live here, but I was wondering if these days as a US resident and a frequent visitor to Canada count or not. Like one tiny part (that should have been in uppercase I guess) of my super-long question stated, what counts - residency or physical presence?

 

[zardoz]

Hello everyone,

I am not sure if a similar topic has been posted before, apologies if this is a duplicate.

I am an Indian citizen, and got my PR through my husband who is a Canadian citizen, in September 2017. However, I also used to visit Toronto from Detroit as a temporary resident almost every weekend to visit friends and family since February 2017. I moved to Windsor in July 2017, and then lived there until July 2018. I work in Michigan, and my visa status in the US requires me to live in the US to be able to work there. I moved back to Michigan with my husband 2 weeks ago.

1. Right now, I have residency in the US, and visit Windsor across the land border every weekend.
2. I have a home that I purchased early this year in Windsor.

I have a few questions that pertain to my citizenship application when the time comes, and hope I get some clarity with this thread here:

1. The most important question - can I count the days I visit Windsor now, as a US resident and a Canadian PR, for my citizenship? Does having a home in Windsor add to my application as an advantage at all, to prove that my life is centred in Canada, and I'm in the US primarily for work? Is it physical presence or residency that matters for citizenship?

2. I recently realized that my short visits to Canada as a temporary resident would give me 0.5 day credit for every day I spent here. Since I didn't know of this back then, I have no personal records on how many days I was possibly present in Canada. Can I get this information if I request for my travel history of entry and exit records from CBSA using the 'Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Online Request'?

3. To be able to count my days spent in Canada since February 2017 (on the temporary visa), is it enough that I apply for citizenship by Jan/ Feb 2022?

Thank you everyone for their amazing advice and help here. I've received great help on this forum during my PR application process as well, and hope that this forum continues to flourish this way!

Thanks a lot,

Deepthi

Only physical presence in Canada is counted. You will need to run the dates through the physical presence calculator to determine when or even if you you might become eligible to apply for citizenship. It's your responsibility to ensure that you keep accurate records of your presence in Canada. CBSA records will help but are not conclusive. You are probably looking at a residency questionnaire with your current activities.

 

[itsmyid]

Thank you so much for your reply! Does it mean that physical presence counts? I hope my situation changes soon so I can come back to Windsor to live here, but I was wondering if these days as a US resident and a frequent visitor to Canada count or not. Like one tiny part (that should have been in uppercase I guess) of my super-long question stated, what counts - residency or physical presence?

The only thing that counts is the physical presence - only the days going back 5 years from the day you apply for citizenship would count

 

[Bs65]

As Zardoz says have a play with the physical presence calculator to see how that plays out with dates. Just for info the day you leave Canada and the day you come back count as full days in the country.

What this means in theory if you spend weekends in Canada that if you cross from the US into Canada before midnight even at 2359 on a Friday and leave even at 1 minute past midnight Sunday/Monday that counts as 4 whole days in Canada. The physical presence calculator should take this into account but ultimately you would still need at some point to resettle in Canada on a more permanent basis given weekends only even if claiming 3/4 days would not meet the 3 out of 5 years requirement. Plus keeping up the Sunday/Monday probably is not sustainable .

 

[PR1609]

Thanks everyone - really appreciate your advice!