Calculator Accuracy

[RajGill]

Will like to get comments on how accurate is this calendar as compared to one on cic.gc which should be updated soon.

http://www.canadavisa.com/citizenship-wizard.html

Additionally, does the calcular counts both days of ur entry or exit? Or its one day either when you enter Canada or leave.

Thanks

 

[dpenabill]

Will like to get comments on how accurate is this calendar as compared to one on cic.gc which should be updated soon.

http://www.canadavisa.com/citizenship-wizard.html

Additionally, does the calcular counts both days of ur entry or exit? Or its one day either when you enter Canada or leave.

Thanks

It is unlikely that IRCC will update its online calculator any time soon. The current IRCC calculator is the one which applies and will continue to apply until the revised presence requirement, the 3/5 rule, takes effect. Contrary to what some participants in this forum appear to anticipate, the application form reflecting the 3/5 rule change and the calculator is NOT likely to be available until the day these particular changes take effect . . . sometime this "fall," which could be any time after Labour Day (many if not most Canadians consider fall to begin after Labour Day, despite the formal seasons) but more likely will be in October or November.

The canadavisa calculator is, of course, not official, not authoritative. You can easily test for yourself how it calculates days by doing a couple hypothetical samples. It should only be used to get a general idea about when you might be eligible to apply.

Ultimately, remember to not apply until you have a good margin over and above the minimum presence requirement. Many feel that a few weeks is enough, but actually this is something which can vary from applicant to applicant, dependent on a range of factors, not the least of which are:
-- frequency and duration of trips abroad
-- employment history in Canada
-- extent of continuing ties abroad in contrast to ties in Canada
-- certainty of accuracy and completeness in reporting travel dates

Among others.

Some applicants should have a larger margin than others. (As a self-employed person, I waited until I had hundreds of days over the minimum.)

Note: there will be a new version of the application form available soon. This, however, is not related to the 3/5 rule changes. Again, not likely the form or calculator will change reflecting the 3/5 rule until the day those changes take effect (or within a day or two of that . . . past revisions of this sort have resulted in no form or calculator being available for more than a day, until the new version was available).

 

[RajGill]

If the calculator is correct and wecan only look back past 5yrs from day of application then no credit of time in 2012 as it will go out of window.

But this calculator shows me eligibility by Aug 2017 so dont know what is correct

 

[dpenabill]

If the calculator is correct and wecan only look back past 5yrs from day of application then no credit of time in 2012 as it will go out of window.

But this calculator shows me eligibility by Aug 2017 so dont know what is correct

Not sure what you are calculating, but make no mistake, only days within the five years immediately preceding the day the application is signed will count.

If the Bill C-6 3/5 rule came into effect August 1, 2017, for example (it is not likely it will, but just by way of a hypothetical example), a person applying August 9, 2017 will be able to count any days present in Canada between August 9, 2012 and August 8, 2017. That would be the relevant five years.

But if the 3/5 rule does not come into effect until December 1, 2017, and someone applied that day, the relevant time period will be from December 1, 2012 until November 30, 2017. That is, any time in Canada prior to December 1, 2012 will not be counted.

Both those are hypothetical. What matters will be the real deal, the date the 3/5 takes effect.

In any case, there is no doubt, none at all, that when the 3/5 rule takes effect, only days in Canada in the five years prior to applying, to the day, will count.

Not sure why there has been a persistent echo to the contrary in this forum, but there really is no doubt about how that will work.

My guess is that the canadvisa calculator might assume the 3/5 rule is in effect. To get a more realistic picture perhaps use a date in December (as in when there is a much better chance the 3/5 rule will be in effect) as the date you intend to sign the application.