Calculation of Residence

[JA]

Hello,

I entered Canada on Dec. 27, 2007 with one year visitor visa accompanying my son for his study and became a permanent resident of Canada on April. 4, 2008. However, I had visited Canada for a week in February 2007.( I can not remember the date exactly since I don't have old previous passport, my current passport was issued on Sep. 27, 2007)

Is it correct if I enter Dec. 27, 2007 as the date when I first came to Canada to live on the residence calculator on CIC web ?

I visited US by land on Oct. 17, 2009 and returned the same day, but my passport does not have the stamp for returning to Canada. will it cause a problem for citizenship application process ?

Thanks you very much
JA

 

[Leon]

You still don't have enough days to apply for citizenship. From April 4, 2008 to today you have 1013 days. Your time in Canada before becoming a PR counts at a 50% discount so the 99 days you spent between Dec. 27 2007 and April 4, 2008 would count as 49.5 days so total you would have only 1062.5 days if you applied today.

You are right though that in the residency calculator, you would write Dec. 27 as the day you came to Canada to live. Your 1 day trip to the US does not count as time spent outside Canada.

You should meet the requirements for citizenship on the day before you sign your application. Better to give it another week just in case.

 

[JA]

Thank you very much , Leon.

I have a friend who visited USA several times(not a one day visit) and she has no return stamps on her passport like as me. At the moment she is not sure how many days she was in USA, is there any way to figure out the days in USA ? Can she visit local visa office to ask about the days out of Canada ?

Cheers.
JA

 

[Leon]

She can try but they may not tell her anything. They do work with the US but I don't know if they have instant access to US information or if they have to ask for it.

It was your friends responsibility to keep track of her travel dates. She has two options now, keep track of her travels for the next few years and apply then or piece together her travel info the best she can and hope that immigration doesn't see anything that is in conflict with their information in which case she would have a problem.

 

[JA]

Hi Leon,

Thanks again.
One more question with me. I remember that I just visited USA and returned to Canada within a day.
When I returned to Canada, the Canadian border office did not give a stamp on my passport to show the date returned. Does a Canadian goverment record my return date ? How can I prove my visit is done within a day without a stamp on my passport ?

Thanks a lot.
JA

 

[Leon]

You don't have to prove you travel dates when you apply. You list what you know. If they don't believe you, they will ask you to prove that you have been living in Canada as much as you said you were and that is when you would have to bring documents to prove that. Then you would bring whatever you have and hope for the best.