@CiaraOD . . . if you are likely to be returning to live in Canada within the year, it appears you will be OK. Whether you apply for citizenship sooner or later.
However, if you do return to Canada within the year, an application AFTER returning has better odds of smoothly going through the process, and doing so faster by enough to make waiting to apply then, after returning, the overall faster way to get to the oath. This is in significant part due to the higher risk of non-routine processing if you make the application while still abroad, which would likely slow down processing by many months if not an extra year or more.
Indeed, if you will be in Canada in June, it is almost a
no-brainer to WAIT and apply after you are resettled back in Canada. A June 2021 application from within Canada is likely to result in taking the oath significantly sooner than an April application made while still abroad . . . and there is a substantial risk the latter could take a lot, lot longer.
The risks of living abroad while a citizenship application is pending are discussed in numerous topics here. The procedural risk for non-routine processing is probably even higher if the applicant was abroad at the time the application is made. If you are seriously considering proceeding with the application from abroad, you may want to read through some of those topics.
OTHERWISE . . . If you are not likely to actually resettle in Canada within this year, as others have tried to explain, there are other risks, and in particular it is not just important but critical that you spend enough time IN Canada to stay in compliance with the PR Residency Obligation . . . for however long it takes to process the application . . . and in particular you need to do that right up to the day you take the oath of citizenship (assuming the process goes well and is successful).
In any event . . . the following observations are offered mostly in the context of remaining outside Canada beyond this year. If you are definitely going to be in Canada by this summer, for example, SKIP the rest of this.
Thanks for the help. I am a PR since 2014. My latest PR card is from 2019 so expires July 2024 so therefor I am still a full resident and will be returning to Canada as soon as I can for work. I just wanted to send my Citizenship application away now to buy some time as I know this process could take up to a year so I would be technically doing my oath April 2022, and still have 2 years to keep my PR card active aswel. Does this make sense or am I still wrong?
You appear to still misunderstand a good deal about what others have offered and about information regarding the process itself.
CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION PROCESSING TIMELINE:
One big misunderstanding it appears you continue to have, just as one example, you state "
. . . as I know this process could take up to a year so I would be technically doing my oath April 2022 . . ."
The process can take up to two, three, four, or more years. There is no requirement that IRCC complete processing citizenship applications within any particular time period. Prior to Covid-19 IRCC set a "standard," which appears to be what you are referencing. That standard is
merely a target for completing 80% of applications within one year. Currently it appears, in the wake of Covid-19, that
most applications are likely to take MORE than a year, and perhaps closer to if not MORE than TWO years. If you apply this month, April 2021, it is very difficult to forecast how long the process will take, but as things are currently, it readily appears the odds are you will NOT be scheduled for the oath by April 2022. Many might reasonably guess that you would be lucky to get scheduled for the oath by fall 2022.
There is also a much bigger caution looming in regards to the timeline: applicants living abroad while the application is pending have an increased risk of non-routine processing which will further delay the process . . . this includes an increased risk of RQ-related non-routine processing (meaning residency-questionnaire procedures, involving further scrutiny of the applicant's residency) which can cause very lengthy delays. Indeed, most of the applications which end up taking three or four or more years are "residency-cases," or "presence-cases," cases in which RQ, which is a "Residency Questionnaire," has been issued and IRCC is investigating the evidence which proves the applicant actually met the requirement. Not all applicants abroad will be subject to RQ but the odds of it are higher for such applicants and the consequences can include a delay in processing for YEARS.
In any event, you appear to be referencing the one-year service standard for processing citizenship applications, which unfortunately offers ZERO assurance the application will be completely processed within that period of time.
So, make no mistake, it could go longer. Probably will go longer. Leading to what many others here have attempted to help you understand about continuing to comply with the PR Residency Obligation. Yes, you need to continue to comply with the PR RO . . . right up to the day you take the oath.
It is not clear you understand what complying with the RO actually means.
Your query . . . .
Where does it state you have to meet Residency obligation? I just talked to an immigration lawyer who confirmed that it's okay. I've been gone from Canada since 2019, I haven't been gone over 4 years. The obligation is to be here 2 of every 5 years and it doesn't matter if that's done 6 months of the year or gone for 3 and back for 2, as long as it's 2 of 5 years.
Your compliance with the PR Residency Obligation (the RO) is based on how many days you have been IN Canada within the previous five years. The date you were issued a new PR card is NOT relevant. The date your PR card expires is NOT relevant.
Thus, for example, if you were to return to Canada tomorrow, April 15, 2021, and the border officials questioned you about your compliance with the RO, they would be counting how many days you have been IN Canada since April 15, 2016. As long as the total number of days IN Canada, as of tomorrow and since April 15, 2016, adds up to 730 or more, you are in compliance.
If you remain abroad and come to Canada later this year, say you arrive November 23, 2021, calculating your compliance will be based on whether you have been IN Canada at least 730 days since November 23, 2016.
It is the last five years that count. Only the last five years.
You have indicated you left Canada October 2019. If you were in Canada every day for the two years prior to the day you left in 2019, then your compliance with the RO is safe until October 2022. Thus, for example, if you do not actually return to Canada until September 29, 2022, what will matter is that the number of days you have been IN Canada between September 29, 2017 and September 29, 2022, adds up to at least 730.
But if that number is less than 730, you would be in BREACH of the RO and "inadmissible," and subject to being issued a Removal Order . . . and if you have not yet taken the oath of citizenship, that would mean you are NO LONGER eligible for a grant of citizenship and your application could be denied.
Again, it does not matter what date you were issued your current PR card or what date it expires.
I recognize you want citations to authority. I can give you some, and will, but frankly what I have just outlined, and as others have likewise explained, is probably easier to understand than sorting your way through the official sources (which do not directly address the situation in which a citizenship applicant is living abroad, let alone has applied from abroad).
So, for reference to sources and some further observations, see the next post.
