Niette said:
Hi
I have been reading this thread for long time already , but one thing stays unclear for me , can anybody please clarify it.
I've landed and received my PR status on June 2013. Taking in consideration I have not been and will not be out of country even for one day , the date I can send my application for residence is in June 2016.
So in case the new law will be effective from lets say this summer somewhere in June-July 2015 , meaning is I will not be able to send my application next summer , but need to wait now till summer 2017 at least.
From the other hand , I saw lots of posts talking about the immigrants who landed in 2013 the month or before the same month in 2015 when the new law will take effect are safe and can send their applications already this year?
I'm totally confused. And don't understand why the cut off is on 2013 immigrants only and not on all who landed before June 2014 when the new law was approved ?
I am not sure I understand the question, but I can offer the following:
You are correct, if you landed and became a Permanent Resident, say June 19, 2013, under the currently applicable residency requirement you would meet the
basic residency requirement (three years since landing) as of June 19, 2016, and if you never took a trip abroad in those three years, you would also meet the actual physical presence threshold of 1095 days (three years) that same date.
But, sometime this year the
SCCA amendments to section 5(1) of the
Citizenship Act will come into force, and be applicable to
all citizenship applications made that day or after. So, by the time you will meet the minimum requirements under the current law, the new law will apply, and you are correct that under the new law it will be June 19, 2017 before you can possibly be eligible (minimum requirement to be 1460 days, or four years, of
actual presence in Canada; "basic residency" will no longer be a factor, only days actually present in Canada).
Of course there are some PRs who landed and became a PR a month before you, say May 19, 2013. Most of them are in essentially the same position as you, and will have to wait until May 2017 to apply.
However, some of those PRs were already living in Canada, on work permits, or student permits, or a Temporary Resident Visa, or such. Under the current law, someone who has been a PR for at least two years, and who was living in Canada prior to becoming a PR, is entitled to a half-day credit for each day they were living in Canada before becoming a PR. This is limited to days within four years of the day the application is made (and thus the maximum pre-landing credit is one-year).
Thus, for example, if the PR who landed one month before you, say May 19, 2013, never left Canada, and for two years prior to the day he or she became a PR they were living in Canada and never left Canada, he or she will meet the residency qualifications for citizenship as of May 19, 2015, this year.
This goes to one of the aspects of the changes which are so aggravating and disappointing for PRs who were in Canada working for years prior to becoming a PR but who will miss the cutoff to apply before the
SCCA amendments come into force.
For example, consider three PRs who all came to Canada to work more than four years ago with temporary status, and who have mostly been living in Canada ever since, and assume the coming into force date for the amendments is July 1, 2015 (we do not know the actual date as yet):
PR 1 landed July 1, 2013
PR 2 landed June 21, 2013
PR 3 also landed June 21, 2013
And all three have been living and working in Canada since, say, January 2011.
PR 1 will not, cannot, meet the qualifications for citizenship under the current residency requirement before July 1, 2015, and assuming the new law takes effect that day, PR 1 will not meet the new requirements until July 1, 2017. Thus, the soonest PR 1 will be eligible for citizenship is July 1, 2017.
In contrast PR 2, who landed and became a PR just ten days before PR 1, never left Canada at all, PR 1 will meet the current residency requirement on June 21, 2015, based on two years actual presence since landing and becoming a PR, and credit for one year of presence based on the two years living in Canada with temporary status between June 21, 2011 and June 21, 2013.
That is, PR 1 and PR 2 have been in Canada just about an equal amount of time, but because PR 1 landed a mere 10 days later than PR 2, PR 1 will have to wait
two more years before becoming eligible for citizenship.
How aggravating this is for some is further illuminated considering if PR 3, whose time in Canada is almost exactly the same as PR 2, both landing and becoming a PR on June 21, 2013, both having been living and working in Canada since January 2011 . . . but PR 3's father died in the home country the fall of 2013, so PR 3 went to his home country to be with his mother and attend services and such, and was outside Canada for just
ONE week, just 7 days. Because of that one trip, to attend a parent's funeral abroad, PR 3 will not reach the 1095 days of actual physical presence until some time in July 2015 (note that, given the arithmetic for calculating pre-landing credit, it takes two days to make up for each of the days absent), after July 1, 2015, so because of that one trip PR 3 will also have to wait until July 2017 to become eligible for citizenship.
That is, PR 2 will be eligible for citizenship as of June 21, 2015, but PR 3 who went home for just one week for a parent's funeral will not be eligible until July 2017.
And many feel this is especially unfair since there was no notice to PR 3 at the time PR 3 took the one week trip abroad that that would delay his eligibility for citizenship for
two years.
I sympathize with those trapped by this, especially those for whom a lengthy delay in becoming a citizen can mean lost educational, job or other career opportunities. Two additional years can literally have a significant if not major impact on their careers.
But for those for whom it is merely an inconvenience, the difference really is not that important in the course of a lifetime (I personally chose to wait an extra two years plus a bit just to make sure if I got RQ it would nonetheless go smoothly).
And for those who were planning on pursuing opportunities in employment or careers outside Canada, well the Canadian government has been trying to discourage if not preclude their path to citizenship for years anyway, and even if they did not have specific notice of the precise changes coming, the government had been sending strong signals that they were doing what they can even under the current law to make it at least difficult for these individuals to become citizens, including imposing procedural requirements that resulted in very long delays.
