Does IRCC have access to the entry and exit dates to Canada through their system (which would make it easy for them to verify)?
CBSA Travel History and IRCC Assessment of Physical Presence:
"Does IRCC have access to the entry and exit dates to Canada through their system (which would make it easy for them to verify)?"
Overall: in addition to typically being very accurate, government travel history records are increasingly complete. For entry into Canada dates, IRCC can access CBSA travel history entry records and typically, almost always, completely verify a PR's dates of entry. HOWEVER, these records are not guaranteed to be complete. There are, in particular, numerous ways individuals can avoid or manipulate the capture of border entry data. The Canadian border is notoriously porous, a virtual sieve some say. So IRCC does NOT rely on those records to be complete. Accurate, so far as the information included, but NOT necessarily complete.
So IRCC will look to CBSA entry history to corroborate the applicant's accounting of entry dates, to verify the dates, to identify omissions, or to identify discrepancies, inconsistencies, or incongruities. IRCC still relies on the individual to provide this information. And, after all, the individual is the ONE BEST SOURCE of this information, since the individual is the one and only person in the whole world who was FOR SURE there each and every time they entered, and exited, Canada.
To a very significant extent, IRCC looks at other information, including CBSA travel history, to help it determine if it can rely on the ONE BEST SOURCE, the applicant. If the other information, including CBSA travel history, indicates reason to doubt the reliability of the applicant's information, that's where RQ and investigations and the applicant's burden of proof all come into play. If the best source of information is determined to not be reliable, that tends to be a problem.
Travel History Dates versus Days In-between:
In the meantime, travel history itself does NOT prove physical presence. There are many, many more days in-between known dates of entry and exit that need to count in order to meet the presence requirement. For the vast majority of qualified applicants, IRCC readily makes the inference the applicant was IN Canada the day after a date of arrival and the following days until the next reported or known date of exit. That is, the days between a known date of entry and the next reported date of exit are counted as days IN Canada.
This is based on an inference, an inference depending on the assumption there were no other exits and entries between the known date of entry and the next reported date of exit. It is an inference the individual stayed and therefor was in Canada all those in-between days.
The online actual physical presence calculator is designed and calibrated to employ this inference. It automatically counts days between a date of entry and the next reported date of exit as days in Canada.
Applicants generally take this inference for granted. For good reason. Absent mistake or fraud, they were in fact in Canada all those days between a date of entry and the next reported date of exit.
IRCC does not take this inference for granted. In addition to travel history applicants are required to provide detailed address and employment/activity history, even though there is no "residency" requirement, and no employment requirements. This is just the surface level of information analyzed for consistency with the proposition the applicant was in Canada all those days between a date of entry and the next reported date of exit. That is, IRCC cross-references and considers a range of information about the applicant to discern whether it should rely on the applicant's account of presence.
Leading, again, to one of the key factors: the completeness and accuracy of the applicant's travel history. If IRCC finds reason to question the applicant's travel history, to have concern it is not complete or is not accurate, like discrepancies between dates the applicant submits versus dates IRCC finds in CBSA records, the inference of presence between dates of entry and next reported date of exit is weakened and in some cases perhaps thrown out altogether.
So, the question is whether, for example, CBSA information supports the applicant's information, and if not, that's when IRCC (and ultimately a Citizenship Judge) can weigh the evidence well beyond travel history, to ascertain whether the applicant has met the burden of proving presence in Canada IN-BETWEEN dates of entry and next reported exit.
Proving where a person actually was on every given day can be a challenge.
Longer Observations About Travel History Data:
IRCC has some access to CBSA travel history data. A client's travel history is not data captured or maintained by IRCC. For many years now CBSA has been capturing most (and increasingly approaching nearly all) client entry dates. This has long been accessible to CIC/IRCC via
for-cause investigatory referrals, but for many years CIC/IRCC needed the applicant's consent otherwise, and the application form included a box for applicants to give their consent. Not giving consent probably triggered cause enough to justify an investigatory referral to obtain the information anyway. Changes in law governing interagency sharing of personal information have, I believe, made it easier for IRCC to routinely access CBSA travel history as to client entry dates. Current application form does not request applicant's consent for IRCC to obtain CBSA travel history.
The capture and storage of exit data is more complicated; and thus so is access to it. IRCC does NOT have this information. It is not clear to what extent IRCC has access to what exit data CBSA does capture AND maintain. It is not clear what exit data CBSA actually captures as personal information. What we know for sure is that interagency record capturing and data storage has resulted in this information being captured (in one way or another) and there being significantly more access to information about a client's exits from Canada. So, if and when the procedures and protocols for accessing exit information are employed, IRCC should be able to identify and verify most, perhaps nearly all (meaning it will be all for many persons), dates of exit. It is likely this is NOT routine. It is likely a
for-cause investigatory search and data retrieval is involved. "
For-cause" means the agency seeking access to the information needs to specify acceptable reasons for needing it. This would be done on a
case-by-case basis.
Note, for example, many PRs use private land transportation to travel to the U.S., including doing this quite often even if their intended destination is another country altogether. Contrary to some claims, CBSA does NOT capture or maintain records of those exits. So, for example, there is no way for IRCC to access those records directly. And, when a client makes the ATIP request to CBSA for travel history records, ordinarily those records (as to exits via land border to U.S.) will NOT be included. Because CBSA does not have those, so CBSA has no duty or obligation to disclose them, having no duty to disclose records they do not maintain.
But, Canada has a data-sharing program with the U.S. So, CBSA can access U.S. records of entries into the U.S. from Canada, and thereby identify a Canadian's dates of exit from Canada to the U.S. And this information can be shared with IRCC (probably requires a
for-cause request/referral, but I am not sure about this). There is no indication this is routinely done. Which is not to say it is not commonly done. And it is quite likely done for a significant number of applicants, those marked for elevated screening.
Basically, within a high degree of completeness and accuracy, IF and WHEN IRCC sees cause to more thoroughly screen the applicant's travel history information (as provided by the applicant in the presence calculation), IRCC can typically corroborate and confirm accurate and complete accounting of travel history, or conversely identify omissions, discrepancies, and inconsistencies. If what IRCC finds confirms what the applicant reported, good. If, in contrast, what IRCC finds indicates cause to question what the applicant reported, not good.
There is NO indication that IRCC will use its research and investigatory access to information to document the applicant met the presence requirement. That's the applicant's job. Indeed, there have been cases in which inconsistencies in information about an applicant, indicating the applicant was likely PRESENT in Canada during a period of time the applicant reported they were outside Canada, has been part of the reasoning for concluding the applicant's account could not be relied on and thus they failed to meet the burden of proof, application denied, and upheld by the Federal Court.
That is, again, the question is whether, for example, CBSA information supports the applicant's information, and if not, that's when IRCC (and ultimately a Citizenship Judge) can weigh the evidence well beyond travel history, to ascertain whether the applicant has met the burden of proving presence in Canada IN-BETWEEN dates of entry and next reported exit.
