kingadil said:
Hi there;
I have found this link and i don't know if this is true or not as i still have about 50 days to apply but i am not sure if the new law of 4/6 would be implemented before that
"Did you know you can apply for citizenship with less than 1095 days physical presence?"
http://immigrationcanada.pro/canada-citizenship/know-can-apply-citizenship-less-1095-days-physical-presence/
What the lawyer says at that link is all correct. The language there is almost verbatim from case discussions about the
Koo criteria. This is still valid law.
What it leaves out, however, is as important as what it says. The big thing it leaves out is that the primary and presumed valid test for determining residency is the Actual Physical Presence (APP) test and that Citizenship Judges can apply the APP test regardless of how strong a case the applicant makes based on the
Koo criteria. It leaves out that it appears that most CJs are only applying the APP test, and that all CJs are usually if not nearly always applying the APP test, and that CIC appears to be zealously arguing that CJs only apply the APP test . . . so the chances for getting a CJ to apply the
Koo criteria are not at all good.
It leaves out how difficult these cases were to make even three or four years ago . . . and now that the vast majority of Citizenship Judges are Harper appointees, in addition to the overall trend to strictly apply the APP test, in addition to the fact that Parliament has spoken and said that the standard should be actual physical presence (the
SCCA), these days these cases have poor odds at best.
To be clear: no matter how solid a case the
shortfall (or basic residency case) applicant makes, that his or her life was centralized in Canada, a CJ can still apply the APP test and deny the application based solely on the fact the applicant was not actually physically present for at least 1095 days during the four relevant years. And, again, it appears most CJs are
only applying the APP test. And, again, it appears that all CJs are usually if not nearly always applying the APP test.
I concur in the observation made by
Leon and would further note that a recent Federal Court decision did refer to a case in which last year a Citizenship Judge applied the
Koo test to a
shortfall case (but still denied the application, as applicant was in Canada less than half the time). There was a very recent anecdotal report (credibility unknown) in another forum by a
shortfall applicant (70 days short) who is scheduled for the oath soon. So the door on
Koo has not been locked. But as
Leon noted, at best only the most extra-ordinary, exceptional cases are getting through the narrow opening there is these days.
