In Question 1 below: Has 6 years been replaced by 5 years?
In Questions 13 and 14 below: Has 4 years been replaced by 3 years?
Foremost, as always, applicants should follow the instructions they personally receive, either in communications from IRCC or in-person at the interview, test, or oath ceremony. There are variations in these depending on when the application was made. So it is what IRCC applies to the particular applicant that controls. What the applicant gets will almost certainly mirror the prohibitions item in the version of the application submitted by the applicant.
In Question 1 below: Has 6 years been replaced by 5 years?
Are you now, or have you ever been [on probation or incarcerated] in the last 6 years?
The applicable time period for which probation or incarceration is relevant DEPENDS on the date the application was made. It can be FOUR, or SIX, or FIVE years.
I do not recall the specifics in the form to be signed at the interview and/or oath (depending on local office practices),
BUT the applicable prohibitions and other related restrictions are the SAME as those in the application form itself. See the comparable item in the application form the particular individual submitted, and those will be the same the applicant generally MUST affirm at the interview and again at the oath (either explicitly as asked, verbally or by signature, AND otherwise disclosed even if NOT asked if any of the items applies).
Only being on probation or in jail NOW constitutes a prohibition.
Otherwise, different time periods apply for this item DEPENDING on the date the application was made. Time on probation or in jail during the relevant period for calculating physical presence does not constitute a prohibition BUT those days are excluded, that is treated as days ABSENT from CANADA. So the relevant time period for a person who applied before June 11, 2015 is FOUR years; for those who applied between June 11, 2015 and October 10, 2017, it is SIX years, and for those who applied since October 11, 2017, the relevant period is FIVE years. Date of interview or oath is NOT relevant for this. Date of application determines the applicable time period since the date of application determines which presence requirement applies.
However, it warrants noting that current applications (since October 11, 2017) deal with this differently than previously; that is, the approach for applications made after October 11, 2017 deals with probation and jail time differently than previous applications. It is
the online presence calculator that asks about any probation or jail time during the eligibility period, during the FIVE years period prior to applying, so that those days will NOT be counted toward meeting the presence requirement. In the prohibitions item in the application form itself, regarding probation or incarceration, the prohibitions section specifically asks about being on probation or incarcerated
NOW, without reference to any previous period of time.
In contrast, the section of the form in the application prior to October 11, 2017 addressed the probation or jail question in the prohibitions sections, covering "now" as well as going back SIX years (see 10-2016 version of the application for example), similar to how this item is phrased in your query and in the copy-image of the CIT 0039 version posted by
@qorax.
In Questions 13 and 14 below: Has 4 years been replaced by 3 years?
13. In the past 4 years, have you been convicted of an indictable offence under any Act of Parliament or an offence under the Citizenship Act?
14. In the past 4 years, have you been convicted of an offence outside Canada, regardless of whether you were pardoned or otherwise granted amnesty for the offence?
NO. The applicable period of prohibition for convictions has remained the same since May 2015 (first reflected in the June 2015 application along with the changes that took effect June 11, 2015).
Four years. (For some reason many seem to think these prohibitions are connected to the presence requirement, and so the four year time period should have been reduced to three, but the statutory provisions prescribing these prohibitions have NO connection to the presence requirement, and again, these provisions remain the same.)
Note, if there are any applicants who applied prior to late May 2015 still in process, I do not recall the transitional provisions governing how the prohibition for convictions will apply to such applications; and thus without revisiting both the Harper era Bill C-24 and the more recent Bill C-6, I am not sure whether the prohibition remained a THREE year period for those applicants or the increased time period apply to them. And I am not sure number 14 applies at all (prior to May 2015 there was NO prohibition for foreign convictions).
But for all those who applied since May 2015, for sure, both these (Canadian and foreign convictions) constitute a prohibition for FOUR years (nothing about this was changed by Bill C-6).
Item 14 also illustrates a situation in which a "yes" answer might NOT constitute a prohibition. Remember, if IRCC asks, the question must be answered and answered truthfully. There are various situations in which a person might be convicted of an "offence" in a foreign country BUT that conviction would not meet the criteria of an offence which prohibits the grant of citizenship. For example, in some countries a person may be convicted of theft for failing to pay a debt, but the guilty acts would NOT constitute a crime in Canada, so such a conviction is not a prohibition . . . but that is for IRCC to assess, so the conviction needs to be disclosed and IRCC will determine its effect.
