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Eligibility for citizenship

quickili29

Member
Nov 1, 2021
11
1
Hi,
My PR expires in July 2025. So far I have exceeded 730 days stay in Canada and eligible for extention.
I might not be able to complete 1095 days before July 2025.
My question is , if I am filing for an extention will all the days from initial PR card stay be counted towards 1095 days? Or it's a fresh start?

For eg, if I complete 1000 days by July 2025. Can I apply for citizenship after staying in Canada for 95 days during the extension?
 

Seym

Champion Member
Nov 6, 2017
1,624
790
Your PR status doesn't expire, only your PR card does, the only days you lose would be the ones spent in Canada outside the 5 years of eligibility, which are the 5 years exactly before signing the citizenship application.
So, if you accumulate 1000 days before renewing your your PR card, all you need is 95 days + compensate any day at the beginning of your PR status you can't fit in the eligibility period anymore.
 

quickili29

Member
Nov 1, 2021
11
1
That's what is confusing to me. If one owns a initial PR from 1st Jan 2020 to 1st Jan 2025, and if I have spent first 2 years in Canada, I won't be increasing my count during my extention until next 2 years, isn't it?
 

dpenabill

VIP Member
Apr 2, 2010
6,376
3,124
Hi,
My PR expires in July 2025. So far I have exceeded 730 days stay in Canada and eligible for extention.
I might not be able to complete 1095 days before July 2025.
My question is , if I am filing for an extention will all the days from initial PR card stay be counted towards 1095 days? Or it's a fresh start?

For eg, if I complete 1000 days by July 2025. Can I apply for citizenship after staying in Canada for 95 days during the extension?
Your PR status doesn't expire, only your PR card does, the only days you lose would be the ones spent in Canada outside the 5 years of eligibility, which are the 5 years exactly before signing the citizenship application.
So, if you accumulate 1000 days before renewing your your PR card, all you need is 95 days + compensate any day at the beginning of your PR status you can't fit in the eligibility period anymore.
That's what is confusing to me. If one owns a initial PR from 1st Jan 2020 to 1st Jan 2025, and if I have spent first 2 years in Canada, I won't be increasing my count during my extention until next 2 years, isn't it?
There is no "initial PR."

While one might refer to the first five years following landing as the "initial" period of PR status, that has little if any real significance relative to the PR's status. See comments about RO calculation below.

And NO, NOT "all the days from initial PR card stay" will "be counted towards 1095 days" physical presence required to qualify for Canadian citizenship if any of those days were more than five years prior to the date the application for citizenship is made. Only days within the five years prior to making the citizenship application are included in the calculation of credits toward this requirement.

Example: if you make an application for citizenship December 17, 2025, only days IN Canada between December 17, 2020 and December 16, 2025 will count toward the physical presence requirement.

While generally a PR must comply with the PR Residency Obligation to avoid becoming inadmissible, which if subject to enforcement procedures would make them ineligible for citizenship, calculating the physical presence required to qualify for citizenship is independent from calculating RO compliance.

Regarding your RO compliance:

Since you have already been in Canada more than 730 days since landing, you will stay in compliance with the PR RO so long as you are not outside Canada more than 1095 days within the previous five years.

Example: if your compliance with the PR RO is questioned August 19, 2025, you will be in compliance if you have not been outside Canada more than 1095 days between August 19, 2020 and that day, August 19, 2025 (if you have not been outside Canada more than 1095 days within the previous five years that necessarily means you have been in Canada at least 730 days during that period of time -- that's just arithmetic).
 

Seym

Champion Member
Nov 6, 2017
1,624
790
That's what is confusing to me. If one owns a initial PR from 1st Jan 2020 to 1st Jan 2025, and if I have spent first 2 years in Canada, I won't be increasing my count during my extention until next 2 years, isn't it?
To add to @dpenabill 's message below regarding the "initial PR" :
If you landed in Canada in January 2020, spent 2 years straight then left in January 2022, every day spent in Canada when you come back in January 2025 will just compensate the days that keep exiting your 5 years eligibility period. So, yep, for 2 years, your physical presence will stay constant...
 
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