Congratulations on getting your citizenship.
If you don't mind me sharing my story... In my case, I'm not as lucky as you. I applied for citizenship with 1095 days. I was invited and passed the test; however, the officer checked my physical presence, and she found I missed one trip to the US. It took them almost 3 years to get back to me with the answer that my application was not approved.
During the waiting period (after the test and knowing that I was short by 3 days), I tried to withdraw the application and didn't hear anything regarding the withdrawal for over 6 months; I then talked to a local immigration officer who suggested I withdraw my withdrawal application. She suggested that with the pandemic, they might be lenient. That wasn't the case for me.
If I were to go back and do it again, I would have withdrawn the application and submitted a new application right away without waiting for the acknowledgment of the withdrawal. I would have probably got citizenship by now if I had done so.
Sorry to hear.
The post from
@Yazzabbazz made it sound its the norm for IRCC to forgive small discrepencies however based on many other posts here that experience is very unique. Also Yazzabbazz chiding others for providing the practical advice just provides false hope to people stuck in similar situations. That must have been a very considerate officer in that case but in most cases IRCC officials just seem to follow a flowchart on the basic requirements just like most government offices anywhere. If the applicant fails a requirement they stop there and refuse or even worse put the application in limbo. The only places it even makes sense *imo* to hope for an alternate outcome are where humaniatarian considerations are involved.
Also if forgiving a few days becomes the norm that information travels so fast the eligibility requirement itself is effectively reduced to 1090 or 1092 days for all practical purposes. I am sure they think about these things.
Hindsight is 20/20 but its easy to get caught up reading the forum, seeing things moving for others and applying with just 1095 days. Applying with 1095 days is fine if you have never taken a trip after becoming PR or you are among those few people that can recall everything exactly (which most of us aren't). IMO i would say others should have a considerable buffer before applying.
Especially after a lot of fraud in physical presence declarations in the second half of 2010's they are going to all sources to make sure the applicant qualifies. That is probably one of the main reasons of them implementing tracking all travlers across all modes (land, air) which came into place by 2019/20.
Quick refusal is one thing, you just lose your fee paid but as
@harirajmohan said above a vast majority of these cases are put in a limbo and after several years returned with a refusal. Thats the most painful outcome. Possibly they are forwarding these cases to a supervisor or someone like that and it gets stuck there for years. They definitely need to improve that process, and make it a quick refusal for cases where it is apparent its a simple mistake and there is no apparent fraud.
Based on much older posts it appears it was once the norm to forgive a few days after a hearing from a judge but it seems to rarely happen these days.
Especially travel to the US appears to be a trap because there typically are no records especially passport stamps.
You have been through a lot. You are probably already preparing to/applied again. If I were you, I would add a letter also stating the situation that because of a mistake you missed a few days in your prev application and you are reapplying because of that just to give the new officer a context. I believe previous refusals are looked at. It generally shouldnt be a problem esp in your case but giving a context never hurts.
Good luck!
