Physical Presence - Canadian company requested travel to USA

[CanadaItIs]

Hi Everyone,

This forum has been great source of help & information through out my PR application. Now after spending 3 years in this beautiful country - Canada, its time to start Citizenship process.

I need some guidance in checking if I meet 1st requirement of Physical Presence for1095 days:

In Canada, I work for an IT MNC which has offices in Canada, USA and other parts of world. During my employment with the firm in Canada office, they requested me to travel to USA for client work. Company sponsored my L1 Blanket Visa using which I traveled to USA. I made weekly trips to USA for around a year (leaving Canada for USA on Monday and returning on Friday)

Do I need to exclude these days while counting Physical presence? While discussing it with colleagues, some said I might be able to count these days as Physical presence as these days were spent on request of a Canadian company who pays taxes to Canadian Government.

Has anyone come across similar situation?

Thanks!!

 

[dpenabill]

Hi Everyone,

This forum has been great source of help & information through out my PR application. Now after spending 3 years in this beautiful country - Canada, its time to start Citizenship process.

I need some guidance in checking if I meet 1st requirement of Physical Presence for1095 days:

In Canada, I work for an IT MNC which has offices in Canada, USA and other parts of world. During my employment with the firm in Canada office, they requested me to travel to USA for client work. Company sponsored my L1 Blanket Visa using which I traveled to USA. I made weekly trips to USA for around a year (leaving Canada for USA on Monday and returning on Friday)

Do I need to exclude these days while counting Physical presence? While discussing it with colleagues, some said I might be able to count these days as Physical presence as these days were spent on request of a Canadian company who pays taxes to Canadian Government.

Has anyone come across similar situation?

Thanks!!

Since 2015 Canada grant citizenship eligibility requirements have included an ACTUAL PHYSICAL PRESENCE requirement (with very narrow exceptions, such as for individuals serving in the Canadian military). Thus, ONLY DAYS ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY PRESENT in Canada count toward meeting the requirement. Simple. Straight-forward. If in Canada (even briefly) on a given day, that counts as a day in Canada. If not in Canada at all on a given day, that counts as a day absent. The online presence calculator does ALL the math and gets it right so long as the applicant accurately and completely gives details for each and every trip abroad, including day trips to the U.S.

For the weeks you left to work in the U.S., the Monday you left counts as a day in Canada, because you were actually physically present IN Canada that day (even though you left during the day). The Friday you return likewise counts as day in Canada because you were actually physically present IN Canada that day (even though you began the day outside Canada); but of course this means returning, getting through the border control, BEFORE midnight that Friday.

In the online presence calculator you report the Monday as the FROM DATE, for the trip, and FRIDAY as to TO DATE. The calculator automatically counts these days as days present. So, for such a work week you will have three days counting as absent from Canada.

 

[jc94]

Hi Everyone,

This forum has been great source of help & information through out my PR application. Now after spending 3 years in this beautiful country - Canada, its time to start Citizenship process.

I need some guidance in checking if I meet 1st requirement of Physical Presence for1095 days:

In Canada, I work for an IT MNC which has offices in Canada, USA and other parts of world. During my employment with the firm in Canada office, they requested me to travel to USA for client work. Company sponsored my L1 Blanket Visa using which I traveled to USA. I made weekly trips to USA for around a year (leaving Canada for USA on Monday and returning on Friday)

Do I need to exclude these days while counting Physical presence? While discussing it with colleagues, some said I might be able to count these days as Physical presence as these days were spent on request of a Canadian company who pays taxes to Canadian Government.

Has anyone come across similar situation?

Thanks!!

Yes as explained by @dpenabill just working for a Canadian company is not sufficient. Many many thousands of people work for a Canadian company and travel for them and this travel is not valid.

Essentially only travel for the Canadian government counts, as the IRCC website lists:

You can count time spent outside Canada toward the physical presence requirement for citizenship if you:

• were a permanent resident employed in or with the:
  • Canadian Armed Forces
  • federal public administration
  • public service of a province or territory
• lived outside Canada with your Canadian spouse or common-law partner or permanent resident spouse, common-law partner, or parent who was employed in or with the:
  • Canadian Armed Forces
  • federal public administration
  • public service of a province or territory

https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=370&top=5