After being international student, how many years out of how many years I need to stay in Canada to qualify

[Keyjoe23]

Hi there,

I came as an international student in Canada September 2015 and graduated in September 2017. Got my PWGP for 3 years, applied for the PR and got my PR November 2019.


I was told that the years I stayed in Canada as international student count as 1 year. So now I have to stay 2 more years in Canada to qualify for the citizenship.

BUT, some people say 2 more years out of 3, and other says 2 more years out of 5..

Could someone please clarifies? I'm very confused as I have to leave Canada for a couple of months and don't want to do any mistake..

Thank you

 

[Das67]

use the below link to calculate when you will be eligible.

https://eservices.cic.gc.ca/rescalc/resCalcStartNew.do

 

[scylla]

Hi there,

I came as an international student in Canada September 2015 and graduated in September 2017. Got my PWGP for 3 years, applied for the PR and got my PR November 2019.


I was told that the years I stayed in Canada as international student count as 1 year. So now I have to stay 2 more years in Canada to qualify for the citizenship.

BUT, some people say 2 more years out of 3, and other says 2 more years out of 5..

Could someone please clarifies? I'm very confused as I have to leave Canada for a couple of months and don't want to do any mistake..

Thank you

You are confusing two different things. The residency requirement for PR and the residency requirement for citizenship are two different things.

To keep your PR status, you must live in Canada for 2 out of every five years. You cannot count any pre-PR time towards this residency requirement.

For citizenship, you must live in Canada for 3 out of the last 5 years to qualify. You can count up to 1 year pre-PR towards this residency requirement. However the time before PR only counts as half days. Meaning you need to have 2 years of pre-PR time which you can then count as 1 year towards the citizenship residency requirement.

 

[smash1984]

Hi there,

I came as an international student in Canada September 2015 and graduated in September 2017. Got my PWGP for 3 years, applied for the PR and got my PR November 2019.


I was told that the years I stayed in Canada as international student count as 1 year. So now I have to stay 2 more years in Canada to qualify for the citizenship.

BUT, some people say 2 more years out of 3, and other says 2 more years out of 5..

Could someone please clarifies? I'm very confused as I have to leave Canada for a couple of months and don't want to do any mistake..

Thank you

In your particular case you should complete 2 years of PR in Nov 2021 (assuming no days spent outside of Canada) and you can count 1 year from your previous stay in Canada to become eligible for citizenship.

 

[Keyjoe23]

@smash1984 Oh wait.


So basically if 5 years passes without me staying 3 years in Canada, then i will need to count 3 new years in the next 5 years?

In other words, does the years you stayed in Canada get reset if 5 years pass and you didn't stay for 3 years?

From your words, I understood the following:-

1) If I was temporary from Sept 2017 to Nov 2019, that counts as 1 year.
2) Now from Sept 2017 to Sept 2022 that's 5 years.
3) If I stay November 2019 to November 2021 that's 2 years (with PR) Now I can apply.



So long story short in order to avoid that my time before PR doesn't get reset, I need to apply before September 2022.

 

[harirajmohan]

@smash1984 Oh wait.
So basically if 5 years passes without me staying 3 years in Canada, then i will need to count 3 new years in the next 5 years?

In other words, does the years you stayed in Canada get reset if 5 years pass and you didn't stay for 3 years?

From your words, I understood the following:-

1) If I was temporary from Sept 2017 to Nov 2019, that counts as 1 year.
2) Now from Sept 2017 to Sept 2022 that's 5 years.
3) If I stay November 2019 to November 2021 that's 2 years (with PR) Now I can apply.

So long story short in order to avoid that my time before PR doesn't get reset, I need to apply before September 2022.

Citizenship:
For example, if you complete 2 years of PR residency in Nov 2021 then your 2 years of PR + 1 year of pre-PR(before landing date of Nov 2019) is counted as qualifying period for residency to apply citizenship.
So you will have to consider previous 5 years from the date you apply for citizenship as a qualifying period to prove your residency. So from 2021 to 2016 you need to consider the PR days as well as pre-PR days as qualifying days of residence to apply citizenship. As others mentioned you can show credit of max 1 year during Pre-PR days. So try to accumulate 2 years in the next 2-3 years and you will be qualified to apply.

As others suggested, use the residency calculator and it will tell the number of days you qualify based on your future estimated date of application for citizenship.

1. Its not just from your graduation day. its even your study days(visitor/ student /worker) counted as half day from 2016 hence you need to calculate from 2016 Nov for the 5 year period. So it would be of max 1 year credit can be used from Nov 2016 till Nov 2019.
2. No. Nov 2016 to Nov 2021.
3. Yes.

 

[smash1984]

@smash1984 Oh wait.




From your words, I understood the following:-

1) If I was temporary from Sept 2017 to Nov 2019, that counts as 1 year.
2) Now from Sept 2017 to Sept 2022 that's 5 years.
3) If I stay November 2019 to November 2021 that's 2 years (with PR) Now I can apply.



So long story short in order to avoid that my time before PR doesn't get reset, I need to apply before September 2022.

Your understanding in 1, 2, and 3 is correct.

The only thing to note is that there is no "reset". IRCC will only be looking at the last 5 years when you apply for citizenship. You can say that in September 2022 the time before Sep 2017 will be outside the last 5 year window and hence won't be considered by IRCC for the purpose of your citizenship application.

IRCC always looks at the last 5 years from the date of your application signature. They do not consider time in 5 year chunks from the date of your PR card.

 

[Keyjoe23]

Alright I now understand it clearly.
Thanks a lot

 

[Wolfpmd3]

Hi there,

I came as an international student in Canada September 2015 and graduated in September 2017. Got my PWGP for 3 years, applied for the PR and got my PR November 2019.


I was told that the years I stayed in Canada as international student count as 1 year. So now I have to stay 2 more years in Canada to qualify for the citizenship.

BUT, some people say 2 more years out of 3, and other says 2 more years out of 5..

Could someone please clarifies? I'm very confused as I have to leave Canada for a couple of months and don't want to do any mistake..

Thank you

To qualify for citizenship you need 3 years during the past 5 years at any point. This means as of today, say June 29, 2020, you can only go back as far as June 29, 2015 to count if you meet the required time.

In the period June 29, 2015 - June 29, 2020 each day you've spent in Canada as a Temporary Resident (student, worker) counts as 1/2 day. However, you can only add these days up to one year (365 days --> 2 years or 730 days*1/2day= 365 days). Hence, if you've been in Canada for 4 years over the past 5 years you cannot count these 4 years*1/2= as 2 years, you cap at 1 year.

You will need then at least 2 additional years as a PR to meet the 3 years requirement towards obtaining you citizenship. 1 year (2 actual years) as a Student/Worker and 2 years as a PR.

You should be aware that every day that passes your calculations might change. For example. you might have taken a long break/vacation or several outside of Canada while you were a temporary resident or even after becoming a PR. Any time spent outside of Canada and that falls within 5 years back from today cannot be counted towards this time.

• If you haven't left Canada it is just a matter of waiting 2 years since you became a PR.
• If you left Canada for up to 1 year while you were a temporary worker it is also as simple as counting 2 years since you become a PR provided you don't leave Canada after becoming a PR.
• If you leave Canada after becoming a PR you should count 2 years after becoming a PR + any number of days you left Canada during those 2 years.... ETC.
• There are many possible scenarios, every case is different so there can't be a clear answer,

I recommend creating an Excel spreadsheet to make this calculations automatically taking in account to only account for the past 5 years at any given point.

@smash1984 Oh wait.


So basically if 5 years passes without me staying 3 years in Canada, then i will need to count 3 new years in the next 5 years?

In other words, does the years you stayed in Canada get reset if 5 years pass and you didn't stay for 3 years?

From your words, I understood the following:-

1) If I was temporary from Sept 2017 to Nov 2019, that counts as 1 year.
2) Now from Sept 2017 to Sept 2022 that's 5 years.
3) If I stay November 2019 to November 2021 that's 2 years (with PR) Now I can apply.



So long story short in order to avoid that my time before PR doesn't get reset, I need to apply before September 2022.

Time for Citizenship never resets. It just about looking back 5 years at any given point in time.