Listing absences on Citizenship Application

[AmericaninQuebec]

Hi everyone,

I am finally getting around to my citizenship application, and am just now realizing that I made a huge error in not keeping track of my absences from Canada. Most of my absences in the past 4 years have been weekend trips to the US, and the Canadian border guards only stamped my passport on a handful of occassions. In other words, I have no real records of most of my trips. I have a vague idea of dates, and am doing my best to over, rather than underestimate on any periods I am not 100% certain of. I'm just worried that if I mark the wrong dates as being abroad (like if I mark Aug. 9-11, 2013, but I was actually absent on Aug. 16-18, 2013) that it will cause serious issues for my application.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I think the only way I could get an accurate idea is to go back through every single credit card statement over the past few years to see when we paid for gas down in the US. I am so loathe to do that, but if it means an easy application vs. extra paperwork and wait time then I will.

Thanks!

 

[YorkFactory]

You can use freedom-of-information laws in both countries to request your travel records. CBSA usually gets back to you within a month, but CBP's turnaround time is closer to 20 months (at least in my recent experience). Perhaps if you order your CBSA records, then you can figure out when you left Canada based on when you re-entered.

 

[arambi]

Order ATIP from CBSA and see all dates when you came back to CANADA
get I-94 travel history from USA CBP

These two should get you there

You can also look at your credits cards statements ( you may need them anyway in case or RQ) and your cell phone charges details ( they show communication outside and inside canada distinctively )
Good luck

 

[AmericaninQuebec]

Thanks for the tip about CBSA. Not exactly ideal, since I was hoping to get this done and out the door asap. Not looking forward to waiting around for a month to get their response.

I don't think the I-94 travel history tip applies to me. I'm a US citizen, so we aren't issued I-94 documents on the way into the US. Not that it really matters. I can figure out dates I left Canada as long as I have an idea which are the accurate weekends.

Was really hoping to hear though that it was okay if there were some errors in dates as long as I tried my best to be accurate. I suppose that's just wishful thinking though.

 

[YorkFactory]

Yeah, you don't need and can't get an I-94, so that advice is inapplicable.

 

[arambi]

It's ok and risky... Some applicants reported it was in their case... While others reported delays in their application and one guy reported being sent to CJ

 

[keesio]

Was really hoping to hear though that it was okay if there were some errors in dates as long as I tried my best to be accurate. I suppose that's just wishful thinking though.

yeah, it's ok. just over-estimate your dates and you will be fine. Also give a buffer of a few days past the 1095 requirement. I keep very good records but there were a few trips where I forgot to record them. Since I became a NEXUS member, I was missing a lot of stamps in my passport for my US travel so I just did my best for the ones I couldn't recall details for, and gave a buffer of 10 days (applied with 1105 days). And I made A LOT of trips to the US (maybe 60+ trips over 4 years). CIC did not give me a hard time, even for some trips where I entered in the wrong dates for stamps I did have in my passport (interviewer found the errors on test day). But because I overestimated days instead of underestimated, she said it was fine. they mostly care about the number of days out of Canada more than the exact dates. And they definitely give Americans more leeway for frequent trips to the US and do not scrutinize the reason for the trips much.

 

[alphazip]

In my opinion, U.S. citizens who travel frequently to the U.S. should get a copy of their CBSA (Canada) and CBP (U.S.) entry records. Each can be ordered online free of charge (Privacy Act in Canada, FOIA in the U.S.) and takes about a month to receive (by e-mail).

 

[danishsoomro]

I think to request your entry records gonna take a lot of time and I read somewhere in the form to not request your entry/exit record from CBSA.

The easiest way is to check your credit card statment which shows the small things you purchased in USA like coffee or gas transactions, or if you travelled through public transit then you may have etickets. Thats how I figured out my exact dates.

Hope this helps.

 

[eileenf]

I think to request your entry records gonna take a lot of time and I read somewhere in the form to not request your entry/exit record from CBSA.

Canadian residents have every right to request their border records from CBSA. This will not cause any problems for the applicants.

The source of the confusion around this is that, in the past, Residence Questionnaire recipients were obligated to procure their own CBSA records as part of their RQ response. This caused huge backlogs within the CBSA ATIP (Access to Information & Privacy Act) division. So the CIC added a checkbox to the RQ saying that recipients can authorize the CIC to get these records internally. Maybe it's on the regular citizenship application too? I'm not sure, but in any case, it's just an option, it's not an obligation or a prohibition.

Applicants have every right to request their CBSA records whenever they wish to do so.

Also: Hi AmericaninQuebec!

 

[alphazip]

I think to request your entry records gonna take a lot of time and I read somewhere in the form to not request your entry/exit record from CBSA.

The easiest way is to check your credit card statment which shows the small things you purchased in USA like coffee or gas transactions, or if you travelled through public transit then you may have etickets. Thats how I figured out my exact dates.

Hope this helps.

The "easiest" way is to compare CBSA records with CBP records. It's free and take 30 days for both (at least, for a U.S. citizen it takes 30 days for CBP). I've done it.

 

[eileenf]

The "easiest" way is to compare CBSA records with CBP records. It's free and take 30 days for both (at least, for a U.S. citizen it takes 30 days for CBP). I've done it.

Glad things went quickly for you with US CBP! Sadly my CBP FOIA request took 21 months to be processed. Maybe this was related to crossing predominately by land rather than air, or maybe it was just the time period that I applied (requested Dec. 2012, got final report Sept. 2014). Or who knows? However, at the time this was not an unusual timeframe.

There's lots of variation in administrative processing times, but hopefully things are moving more quickly for lots of people with CBP FOIA these days!

 

[Vancouver2014]

I order both records (CANADA and USA) border crossing. Its good to have it for your reference. It took one month to get it. I found it really helpful having it on hand. Instead of guessing all the dates, I just have to cross reference it. I am like you; I crossed the border so many times. It's better to have all the details accurate (just my two cents).

Good luck!

Cheers!

 

[thecoolguysam]

I order both records (CANADA and USA) border crossing. Its good to have it for your reference. It took one month to get it. I found it really helpful having it on hand. Instead of guessing all the dates, I just have to cross reference it. I am like you; I crossed the border so many times. It's better to have all the details accurate (just my two cents).

Good luck!

Cheers!

Hiw much time it took for getting usa records?

 

[alphazip]

Hiw much time it took for getting usa records?

It takes approximately 30 days to get U.S. entry records using FOIA, but non-immigrant U.S. visitors can get their records online immediately. Read more about that here:

http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/spotlights/2014-04-30-000000/arrivaldeparture-history-now-available-i-94-webpage