Hello experts,
I am helping my mom (elder in her 80's) with her citizenship application. She has submitted it in September 2021. Just today she received a letter indicating a mistake in the physical presence dates. At first it was a shock, however upon close look she had in fact put a wrong return-to-Canada date (of Nov 2020, instead of Jan 2021). We believe the reason is multiple flight changes during the peak of COVID-19 which impacted her actual return date, she probably looked at an old ticket date...
Anyways I don't think IRCC cares about the reason (or do they?!). With the proper date, and they have enclosed a corrected copy of the presence calculator, she now only gets 1052 days, so 43 days short. She has been in Canada since that last arrival date, so of course she has accrued many more days, however I understand what matters is 1095 days on the application date.
Questions: how does she respond to this letter? If she admits to the mistake, would that disqualify her application? Or is there some leniency there because of her age and status of being in Canada since the application?
I was reading some discouraging posts on this forum about having to withdraw the application and re-submit, which will put her right back in the beginning of the queue. Is that the best route, or respond to the letter and see what happens? Or...?
Thank you in advance!
PS: For reference, here's an exceprt of the letter (the critical part of it) :
Based on the information currently available to me, it appears that you may not meet the physical presence requirement. I have noted the following:
- You declared an absence from September 16, 2919 to November 20, 2020 for 430 days. However, the ICES report shows that you entered Canada on January 8, 2021. Therefore, you were outside of Canada from September 16, 2919 to January 8, 2021, for a total of 479 days.
As a result, it appears that you may not meet the requirement under paragraph 5(1)(c) of the Act.
I would like to provide you with the opportunity to respond to this information. You have 30 days from the date of this letter to submit additional information relating to this matter. Please respond using the address at the bottom of this letter and clearly indicate your application number for all correspondence.
I am helping my mom (elder in her 80's) with her citizenship application. She has submitted it in September 2021. Just today she received a letter indicating a mistake in the physical presence dates. At first it was a shock, however upon close look she had in fact put a wrong return-to-Canada date (of Nov 2020, instead of Jan 2021). We believe the reason is multiple flight changes during the peak of COVID-19 which impacted her actual return date, she probably looked at an old ticket date...
Anyways I don't think IRCC cares about the reason (or do they?!). With the proper date, and they have enclosed a corrected copy of the presence calculator, she now only gets 1052 days, so 43 days short. She has been in Canada since that last arrival date, so of course she has accrued many more days, however I understand what matters is 1095 days on the application date.
Questions: how does she respond to this letter? If she admits to the mistake, would that disqualify her application? Or is there some leniency there because of her age and status of being in Canada since the application?
I was reading some discouraging posts on this forum about having to withdraw the application and re-submit, which will put her right back in the beginning of the queue. Is that the best route, or respond to the letter and see what happens? Or...?
Thank you in advance!
PS: For reference, here's an exceprt of the letter (the critical part of it) :
Based on the information currently available to me, it appears that you may not meet the physical presence requirement. I have noted the following:
- You declared an absence from September 16, 2919 to November 20, 2020 for 430 days. However, the ICES report shows that you entered Canada on January 8, 2021. Therefore, you were outside of Canada from September 16, 2919 to January 8, 2021, for a total of 479 days.
As a result, it appears that you may not meet the requirement under paragraph 5(1)(c) of the Act.
I would like to provide you with the opportunity to respond to this information. You have 30 days from the date of this letter to submit additional information relating to this matter. Please respond using the address at the bottom of this letter and clearly indicate your application number for all correspondence.