Canada Residency Requirement for Citizenship

[minnesotamrk]

Hello everyone,

This forum has provided me with the most important and valuable information during my entire Canadian Permanent Resident application through Federal Skilled Worker Program of 2014. Today, I received my passports back from Case Processing Center-Ottawa with Canadian Visa and Confirmation of Permanent Residence.

I have been living in the U.S for over 10 years now, working full-time for the last 8. I don't plan to move to Canada right away but would like to understand my options for minimum residency requirement for applying for Canadian Citizenship in the future. I know it seems a little too early to think about it but from what I hear, I need to have at least 2 years of residency out of 5 years to apply for citizenship. The company that I am employed with right now has presence in Canada. Is there any way I can stay where I am (in the US) but still fulfill the 2-year residency status requirement? I read on CIC's website that a Canadian PR can be (working) outside of Canada but can still maintain the status requirement. Does anyone here have experience with that kind of scenario?

Thank you.

 

[scylla]

You don't have the rules right. You are confusing the PR residency requirement with the citizenship residency requirement. They are two very different things.

To keep your PR status, you must live in Canada for 2 out of every 5 rolling years. The only way you could satisfy the PR residency requirement while living in the US is if your spouse/partner is a Canadian citizen and living with you - OR if you were first hired for a permanent role in Canada, worked for at least a number of month physically in Canada, and then your job was transferred at a later date to the US. Your scenario (already working in the US) will NOT allow you to count any of your days outside of Canada towards the PR residency requirement.

To apply for citizenship at this time, you must have physcially lived in Canada for 3 out of the last 4 years before applying. Note that the citizenship residency requirement will be changing to 4 years out of 6 sometime this year. Since you are a new PR, you will fall under the 4 years out of 6 rule. Only time spent physically in Canada can be counted towards citizenship. Time spent outside of Canada does not count.

 

[minnesotamrk]

Thanks for your quick response. It is very helpful.