Bill C-24 dilemma: Applying right after reaching basic residency

[alexkandel]

I am married to a Canadian citizen, and have been a permanent resident of Canada since January 2012. Because my wife has a job in the US, most of the time since I became Canadian permanent resident I have been living in US accompanying my wife. She is a professor at the US university. We would gladly move to Canada, but neither of us can find jobs there.

Will I have a chance to get Canadian citizenship now? I have met basic residence requirement, but not physical presence requirement.

CIC states that residing with your Canadian spouse abroad equals physical presence for maintaining permanent resident status. When it comes to citizenship CIC does not provide a definite answer. It states, that in case of less that 1095 days of physical presence the application will go before the citizenship judge. It does not, specify, however, whether residing with your Canadian citizen spouse abroad, because she has a job, will be taking into consideration as proof of my ties to Canada.

Is anybody in the same situation?

I would appreciate any advice!

Thanks!

 

[thecoolguysam]

I am married to a Canadian citizen, and have been a permanent resident of Canada since January 2012. Because my wife has a job in the US, most of the time since I became Canadian permanent resident I have been living in US accompanying my wife. She is a professor at the US university. We would gladly move to Canada, but neither of us can find jobs there.

Will I have a chance to get Canadian citizenship now? I have met basic residence requirement, but not physical presence requirement.

CIC states that residing with your Canadian spouse abroad equals physical presence for maintaining permanent resident status. When it comes to citizenship CIC does not provide a definite answer. It states, that in case of less that 1095 days of physical presence the application will go before the citizenship judge. It does not, specify, however, whether residing with your Canadian citizen spouse abroad, because she has a job, will be taking into consideration as proof of my ties to Canada.

Is anybody in the same situation?

I would appreciate any advice!

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum!

If you are applying short of 1095 days then most likely you will get residence questionnaire and eventually you will have to meet a judge and it will take years and its highly likely that you would be refused for citizenship.

Its better to come and stay in Canada and once you are eligible then you should apply else you would be wasting your time, money and energy and peace of mind.

The new 4/6 rule would be applicable soon sometime this year during the summer in which you have to reside in canada 4 out of 6 years in order to be eligible for citizenship.

The only exception is the following:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=370&t=5

 

[alexkandel]

Thanks!

 

[alexkandel]

I just wanted to add, that although I became a permanent resident in Jan 2012, we have been married since 2009, and have been living together since 2007 (all the time in the US). I had also spent a couple of months in Canada before I became a permanent resident.

Would that have any positive impact on my application?

 

[dpenabill]

I am married to a Canadian citizen, and have been a permanent resident of Canada since January 2012. Because my wife has a job in the US, most of the time since I became Canadian permanent resident I have been living in US accompanying my wife. She is a professor at the US university. We would gladly move to Canada, but neither of us can find jobs there.

Will I have a chance to get Canadian citizenship now? I have met basic residence requirement, but not physical presence requirement.

CIC states that residing with your Canadian spouse abroad equals physical presence for maintaining permanent resident status. When it comes to citizenship CIC does not provide a definite answer. It states, that in case of less that 1095 days of physical presence the application will go before the citizenship judge. It does not, specify, however, whether residing with your Canadian citizen spouse abroad, because she has a job, will be taking into consideration as proof of my ties to Canada.

Is anybody in the same situation?

I would appreciate any advice!

Thanks!

Actually there was a case very much like this . . . I forget, six or more years ago (same law applies today as did then), and as I recall the CJ granted the applicant citizenship, CIC appealed, and the applicant won the appeal. (At the least, while my memory is imperfect, I am confident the appeal was won . . . whether it was the applicant or CIC who appealed.)

Indeed, in that case the Canadian citizen obtained a temporary position abroad, in the U.S., and was accompanied by the PR spouse, who applied for citizenship quite soon after returning to live in Canada, with a huge shortfall (I forget the numbers, short by several hundred days at the least I believe). But the PR had been living in Canada for years prior to going to the U.S., and years prior to becoming a PR, and the family's life was solidly centralized in Canada.

Probably no chance of repeating that today. Some here will say a refusal is guaranteed. The law still leaves open a chance for the qualitative test, the centralized life in Canada test, to be applied. But on these facts, I'd tend to think the practical odds are so poor that it amounts to a guaranteed refusal.


Note regarding your more recent post referring to the extent of time in the U.S. together: no that will not help, but actually pushes things the other way . . . tending to show that your lives have been centralized in the U.S., not Canada, thus you were not resident-in-Canada.

 

[alexkandel]

Thanks!