I was an international master's student in Canada then got my PGWP and applied for the CEC stream to get PR. I'm now applying for citizenship. I have the following questions:
- Considering I was already in Canada for 3 years before applying to PR, what is my considered my "country of origin" in this case (country of citizenship or Canada)?
- I spent 6 months in my country of citizenship before becoming a PR and finalizing my landing procedures in Canada, do I need to submit a police certificate for that time?
There is no clear answer. For multiple reasons.
There are questions in addition to the question about whether in your particular circumstances your home country (the country of your nationality) qualifies as your country of origin. (My sense is it is OK to proceed on the basis your home country is your country of origin, notwithstanding some open questions about this.)
In particular, however, even if your home country is your country of origin, that does not for sure mean the country of origin exemption applies in your case.
For example,
@forw.jane asks an important question. "
Did you submit PCC as part of your PR application?"
And even if you did, the date of the police certificate could make a difference.
I will dive a bit into the issues below, but will offer this upfront:
Despite a lack of clarity about what "
country of origin" means in this context, and what it means in your situation in particular, it should be safe to proceed on the basis that your country of nationality is your country of origin. (Will address this further below.)
Thus, if you submitted a PCC from your home country (your country of nationality), AND you have not traveled back there since you landed and formally became a Canadian PR, you probably do not need to include a new PCC with the citizenship application.
NOTE: You could, nonetheless, be required to submit one later in the process.
Responding to Question 10.b. In Particular:
If you were in any country other than Canada, including your home country, for 183 days in a row during the four year period preceding the date you apply for citizenship, the correct response to Question 10.b. is [Yes] and generally this would mean you need to include a PCC with the application.
That country must be listed in the Question 10.b. chart.
In regards to whether you will submit a PCC, you can, however, check "
No" in the drop down in the Question 10.b. chart, and in the chart column titled "
Explanation" state something like "
No PCC included because XXX country is my country of origin and time period there was prior to my becoming a permanent resident;" but of course you should do this
ONLY IF you honestly believe the country of origin exemption applies to you.
It would be reasonable to believe the country of origin exemption applies to you if:
-- when you were in your home country for 183 days in a row during the four year period preceding the date you apply for citizenship, that was BEFORE your PR landing, and
-- you submitted a PCC from your home country as part of your PR application, and
-- you have NOT returned to your home country since you landed
So, for Question 10.b., check [Yes], list the country in the chart, indicate that no PCC will be included, and refer to the country of origin exemption in the explanation box. Then submit the application without a home country PCC.
CAVEAT:
My sense is that the approach described above is a reasonable understanding of the instructions and how they apply, and thus an acceptable approach.
That said, this is NOT for sure. There are alternative views about this.
Moreover, unless you submitted a PCC from the home country with your PR application that was dated not much before you landed, sometime during that six month period you were there just before landing, the better approach might be to just go ahead with getting a new PCC to submit with your citizenship application. That is, it would be better to include the PCC and NOT claim the country of origin exemption.
Another option would be to claim the country of origin exemption, but in the meantime proceed to obtain a new PCC from your home country to have in case IRCC asks for one later in the process, so you could quickly submit it and minimize the amount of delay this non-routine processing might casue.
On the other hand . . . there is the view that you can reasonably claim the country of origin exemption even if you did not submit a PCC from that country as part of your PR application, and even if you traveled to your home country after landing. My understanding to the contrary of this view is based on
Example 1 in the Guide instructions for Question 10.b. See
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-0002-application-canadian-citizenship-under-subsection-5-1-adults-18-years-older.html#Step4
In particular, my understanding of Example 1 is that is illustrates that to qualify for the home country exemption, the applicant must have submitted a PCC from that country as part of the process of becoming a PR, AND also NOT have returned there after landing. Again, others see this differently.
Country of Origin:
There is a lack of clarity as to what "
country of origin" means in the IRCC instructions for Question 10.b. in the Guide for making a citizenship application, regarding which in addition to more lengthy discussions a few years ago (around the time IRCC revised the application requirements in regards to who must include a PCC) there is some more recent discussion, here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/citizenship-police-certificate-clearance-requirement.848487/ and here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/police-certificate.848662/
And this difference in views also emerged in response to what was essentially the same query by you back in May, here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/citizenship-application-do-i-need-a-police-certificate.846440/
My understanding is that in this context "
country of origin" means the country in which a person was last residing before immigrating to Canada. This too is based in part on
Example 1 in the Guide's instructions for Question 10.b., regarding how to answer that question and whether the applicant needs to include a PCC with the application.
In contrast, more than a few (including in other parts of the CanadaVisa forums) have stated that "
country of origin" refers to an individual's home country, that is the country of their birth or nationality.
For most people applying for Canadian citizenship, the country in which they were last residing before immigrating to Canada is also their home country, that is the country of their nationality. So usually, for the vast majority of applicants, it makes no difference which is the correct interpretation. And even among those who were residing in a country other than their home country when they applied for PR, it is likely most are not claiming the country of origin exemption as a reason to not include a PCC with a citizenship application.
If my understanding is correct, your situation in this regard is a little complicated because the country in which you were residing when you applied for PR was Canada. But it should be reasonable to proceed based on the understanding that your home country is your "
country of origin."
