arrival date in Canada or the last 4 years on RQ

[Uone]

hi,

I just got my RQ, at the beginning of the form, it says "Unless otherwise noted, the documents you must provide should cover the 4 year period immediately before having submitted your application".
my arrival date is in 2001, and the four year period is from 2009 to 2013.
in all the questions, it says" since your arrival date in Canada".

so should I fill in the info since 2001 or 2009?

thanks in advance.

 

[FL1040]

Unless otherwise noted, the documents you must provide should cover the 4 year period immediately before having submitted your application".

2009

 

[rayman_m]

When did you apply? any clue or reason which might triggered RQ ?

 

[Uone]

I applied in Nov 2013, and I don't know what's the trigger, but to be honest, I don't know what to look for either.

 

[eileenf]

hi,

I just got my RQ, at the beginning of the form, it says "Unless otherwise noted, the documents you must provide should cover the 4 year period immediately before having submitted your application".
my arrival date is in 2001, and the four year period is from 2009 to 2013.
in all the questions, it says" since your arrival date in Canada".

so should I fill in the info since 2001 or 2009?

I'm sorry to hear that you got the RQ. It sounds like you got CIT 0171 09-2012. I too received this version of the RQ. My personal approach was to fill in all information from time of arrival (2004 for me), trying to be honest regarding some dates which were necessarily approximate (did I go back to USA for Christmas holidays on the third Tuesday or the Wednesday of December in 2004? Not sure.)
However, my documentation focused on the 4 year period.

The caveat would be if you came to Canada as a refugee and if you traveled back to your home country at any point, even for a quick visit. If that is that case, please contact a settlement worker or refugee lawyer, neighbourhood legal clinic, etc. before returning the RQ. It's very important because there is a risk that reports of travel back to home country could result in cessation proceedings for refugees (i.e. loss of status in Canada).

 

[Uone]

I'm sorry to hear that you got the RQ. It sounds like you got CIT 0171 09-2012. I too received this version of the RQ. My personal approach was to fill in all information from time of arrival (2004 for me), trying to be honest regarding some dates which were necessarily approximate (did I go back to USA for Christmas holidays on the third Tuesday or the Wednesday of December in 2004? Not sure.)
However, my documentation focused on the 4 year period.

The caveat would be if you came to Canada as a refugee and if you traveled back to your home country at any point, even for a quick visit. If that is that case, please contact a settlement worker or refugee lawyer, neighbourhood legal clinic, etc. before returning the RQ. It's very important because there is a risk that reports of travel back to home country could result in cessation proceedings for refugees (i.e. loss of status in Canada).

thanks for the reply. CIT 0171 (09-2012) is exactly what I got.
so what you are saying is I should fill in the form from 2001 to now, but only provide the supporting documents from 2009 to 2013, did I understand you correctly?

 

[eileenf]

thanks for the reply. CIT 0171 (09-2012) is exactly what I got.
so what you are saying is I should fill in the form from 2001 to now, but only provide the supporting documents from 2009 to 2013, did I understand you correctly?

That was my personal choice, but it is absolutely up to you how you would like to proceed with your application. I'm not a lawyer or a settlement worker and you know your case far better than I or anyone else on here, so I'm hesitant to tell you what you should do.

The purpose of asking for documents going back to arrival in Canada is to pass on info to the citizenship judge in regards to the "Koo test", which is where the applicant does not meet the 1095 day qualification, but has continuing and meaningful ties to Canada which qualify them for citizenship.

Personally, I choose to focus my energies on putting together a higher quality RQ response which covered the 4 years (thereby, hopefully, negating the need for the always dicey "Koo test"), rather than spreading myself too thin or overwhelming them with irrelevant documents covering the full 9 years. I did provide a few documents outside of the relevant period (a grad school transcript, old passport, my landing papers, OHIP personal Claim History, a lease) but I choose not to provide bank statements, credit card statements, bills, etc outside of the 4 year qualifying period. I did this because these are not primary proofs, it is very expensive to pay a bank or utility to provide old copies of this stuff ($40/hr to comb their archives w/a $80 minimum) but also because most banks and utilities only keep these records for 7 years. It seemed patently ridiculous that I was being asked to provide complete records, with no forewarning or explanation, that banks don't even keep.