I also did the same mistake and tick marked NO as I was outside Canada prior PR status and I landed direct as PR and I was not a crown servant or not having any status in Canada.
Not a problem.
I concur with the essential observation in the response by
@itslawson12 . . .
. . . you don’t have to worry or stress yourself about.
When an applicant actually has lived outside Canada during the eligibility period, there are two ways to respond to this item (item 9.c. in the 10-2017 version of the application) which, so far, appear to work. Both for purposes of the COMPLETENESS check AND for purposes of IRCC's assessment of the citizenship applicant and application overall.
-- Check "yes" and submit the CIT 0177 form with "Not Applicable" (or equivalent) sufficiently entered in the form to make it clear the applicant does not claim Crown Servant related credit (unless of course the applicant does claim some Crown Servant credit).
-- Check "no."
All reports so far indicate EITHER approach will pass the COMPLETENESS screening. Thus, the applicant will see AOR and not have the application returned to him or her (unless, obviously, there is some other reason for failing to pass the COMPLETENESS screening).
From what I have seen, there are NO reports about checking "no," despite having lived outside Canada during the eligibility period, suggesting IRCC has any problem with this later in the process. I do not read every topic here these days, so if others have seen any such reports, please make this more widely known in the forum. My strong sense is this alone is NOT a problem, not at all.
Obviously, when checking "yes" is a truthful answer, and the CIT 0177 form is submitted with the application (albeit populated throughout with "Not Applicable"), there is no basis at all for IRCC to have a problem. And, here too there is NO report indicating otherwise.
WHEN 9.c IS A PROBLEM: Checking "yes" and NOT including CIT 0177 means the application is NOT complete, a necessary form is NOT included. This results in the application being returned. While checking "yes" and submitting a supplemental explanation as to why CIT 0177 SHOULD work to pass the completeness screening, there are some reports the application has been returned in such cases.
Some forum participants suggest checking "yes" and including a clearly marked "Not Applicable" CIT 0177 AND including a supplemental explanation.
In general, better to NOT include something that does NOT need to be included. Total stranger bureaucrats may be very, very smart individuals (and of course some may be not-so-smart at all), but the tasks they are engaged in may be largely mechanical and focused on checklist criteria, and supplemental explanations do not readily fit into the way they process the task. I lean toward minimizing complications or potential diversions. Bureaucrats like all the colouring to be inside the lines. Or, to mix metaphors badly,
wrinkles jam the paper feed.
Sometimes supplemental information or explanations are necessary. Or, at least a good idea. If and when to include a supplemental explanation is a very personal decision to be based on the specific situation. I lean toward avoiding this unless it appears necessary or there is something which is likely to be misconstrued otherwise.
There may be some who suggest checking "no" and including a supplemental explanation. This should guarantee the response cannot be interpreted as misleading let alone misrepresentation, but there is virtually no chance of this anyway . . . unless the applicant has otherwise concealed or failed to disclose information about living outside Canada in other parts of the application, like address and work history, or the presence calculation.
Leading to further observations:
I also did the same mistake and tick marked NO as I was outside Canada prior PR status and I landed direct as PR and I was not a crown servant or not having any status in Canada.
My physical presence calculator counts 1152 days and eligible to apply.
Since now not a single exit from Canada after landing as PR.
So my question is did you submitted an explanation letter after, if yes how?
Did you got AOR before any explanation wit CIC ?
Again, I concur with the essential observation in the response by
@itslawson12 . . .no reason to worry or stress yourself about this.
At least so long as you completed items 10 and 11 for the full five years eligibility period, providing work and address history for the full five year eligibility period. (Even then, for PRs who came to Canada less than five years prior to applying and never left, it is not certain how the failure to provide the pre-landing information will affect processing. But obviously, providing this information looms far, far larger than a "NO" check in response to item 9.c. when in fact the PR had lived outside Canada during the eligibility period of five years.)
A number of forum participants have reported feedback from IRCC suggesting that IRCC actually expects applicants to check "no" for this item, if they have no Crown Servant related credit to claim, despite having lived outside Canada during the eligibility period.
As
@itslawson12 also observes, this particular item is something of an error or glitch or at least poor wording on IRCC's part. As you have observed, the truthful response would be "yes." And a "yes" response triggers the instruction to submit the Crown Servant credit CIT 0177 form. Which for someone like you, when properly completed, would simply be full of "N/A" or "NOT APPLICABLE" or such.
I lean toward the more purist, literal following-instructions approach: answer the questions as honestly and accurately as possible, and then follow the instructions. Which for the applicant who came to came to live less than five years prior to applying, item 9.c. would mean answering "yes" and then submitting the CIT 0177 form filled out with enough "NOT APPLICABLE" to sufficiently make it clear the applicant is not seeking any Crown Servant related credit.
COMPLETENESS SCREENING; AOR; and THE REST OF THE PROCESS:
Applications are returned when they fail to pass the
COMPLETENESS screening. AOR only means the
COMPLETENESS screening has been passed AND if true the information in the application appears to show the applicant is eligible for a grant of citizenship (for example, if the presence calculation shows less than 1095 days credit for presence, the application will be returned). In particular, AOR does NOT mean IRCC has determined the applicant is eligible for citizenship. AOR does NOT mean IRCC has assessed the accuracy of any information or answer in the application.
Reminder: Errors do NOT result in the return of an application. Applications are returned if they fail to pass a
COMPLETENESS screening, and thus are returned when certain parts of the form have not been answered, the fees are not paid, the applicant fails to submit proper photos, the presence calculation is missing required information, required documents are not included, a required signature is missing, or such.
It appears that sometimes a GAP in the information provided can result in the application being returned. BUT reporting has made it obvious that NOT all gaps in information fail the
COMPLETENESS screening.
Inconsistencies in the information provided will NOT, not ordinarily anyway, result in the application being returned.
A common example of the latter is seen in reports from applicants who checked "no" in response to item 10.b. (10-2017 version of application), declaring that no they had not been present in another country for 183 or more days during the FOUR years preceding the application, even though in fact they had and this is readily apparent in the address history, work history, or presence calculation travel history. Checking "no" gets the application past the
COMPLETENESS screening even when it is blatantly, obviously NOT true. BUT of course these applicants are, later in the process, at a high risk for non-routine processing, at the least due to a later request to obtain and submit a proper police clearance certificate from the respective country.
In any event, errors in address history, work history, presence calculation declarations, or many other items in the application, ARE RARELY IDENTIFIED during the
COMPLETENESS screening, and thus will RARELY result in an application being returned. An application full of all sorts of errors can pass a
COMPLETENESS screening and receive AOR. Obviously that does NOT mean that applicant will have smooth sailing after that, or will not be required to submit further information or documents, or even have a successful application.
