Citizenship application from a person with PR status but living abroad !!

[Kala]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this forum but not at all new to the topics discussed here. However, I do need some assistance from anyone who could help. I'm a Canadian citizen living and working (private sector) abroad with my spouse accompanying me since the beginning. She got her landed immigrant status and her PR card only a month before we left Canada and we have been living abroad since then, 3 years now.
I've been trying to find out more information on whether she can apply for citizenship or not given the fact that she is accompanying Canadian citizen spouse (and Canadian citizen child by the way) and her stay abroad is counted towards her in-Canada residence.
Can anyone share (FROM EXPERIENCE) if we have a case or not? The Canadian embassies/consulates I contacted were all unable to give me definitive answer. They all directed me to CIC... I also contacted an immigration law firm, which asked for 500 CAD for the advice, but I would think the answer should be pretty straight forward, shouldn't it?
We have prepared ALL the proper documentation, so worst come to worst we submit the application, see what happens and eventually lose 100 bucks off the application fee.
Is anyone going (or have gone) through the SAME thing??

 

[Leon]

Accompanying a Canadian citizen outside Canada will count for her PR status but not for citizenship unless you are military or work for the government.

 

[Kala]

Are you sure, Leon? Is there a reference in the official CIC documentation?

 

[Leon]

Yes, read http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/cp/cp05-eng.pdf on page 5 where it says:

1.7. Spouse of Canadian living abroad
Sub-section 5(1.1) was proclaimed in 1988. It treats residence for an applicant, as described in
that provision, as if the person were in Canada.
1.7.1 Specific periods count as residence
The Citizenship Act was amended in 1988 to allow the spouse of a Canadian citizen residing
outside Canada with that person to count certain specific periods as residence in Canada.
"Spouse" refers to a married person.
Section 5(1.1) applies only where the Canadian citizen spouse is working with the public service
of Canada or a province or for the Canadian armed forces.

If you continue reading, you may see that it is not a concrete requirement when applying for citizenship that a person has 1095 days of physically being in Canada as long as they are a PR for at least 3 years when they apply but in that case they look at the extent of the absences. For example, a person who has strong ties with Canada, whose family lives in Canada but they themselves have a job where they must travel on business to the point that they can not reach 1095 days in 4 years, they might make an exception and give them citizenship anyway. However, such an application will take longer and it is ultimately up to the citizenship judge what they do. Your wife lived in Canada for only a month after getting her PR. She doesn't live in Canada at the moment and hasn't for the past 3 years. I think her odds of being granted citizenship based on that are very very low. However, as her PR is protected for as long as she is living with you, why the rush? When you move back to Canada, she can stay her 3 years and get her citizenship.

 

[Kala]

You're right, I checked the Citizenship Act too:

(1.1) Any day during which an applicant for citizenship resided with the applicant’s spouse who at the time was a Canadian citizen and was employed outside of Canada in or with the Canadian armed forces or the federal public administration or the public service of a province, otherwise than as a locally engaged person, shall be treated as equivalent to one day of residence in Canada for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c) and subsection 11(1).

Yep... It's a no go. We will have to wait until we return to Canada. Thanks anyway, Leon.