Question on Citizenship for new PR

[seamyb]

Hi,

I entered Canada on April 2, 2010 on a Temporary work visa, and subsequently obtained a second one year visa which started on April 2, 2011. I married my wife (a Canadian citizen) in March 2012 and started my residency application. I left Canada on April 1, 2012 as my work visa had expired and I could not extend it. I returned to Canada on February 15, 2013 with my residency in hand.

My question is whether or not my time spent in Canada between April 2, 2010 and April 1, 2012 can be now counted towards my citizenship?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Leon]

Yes, some of it can be counted but not much because they only count the past 4 years before you apply for citizenship and you were outside for a long time.

Right at this moment, you have in the past 4 years 33 days in Canada as a PR and 730 days not as a PR which would count as 365 days towards your citizenship requirements so total 398 days which is of course not enough to apply.

According to mine and Excel calculations, you will reach the balance between new and old days on January 1st 2016. At that point, you will have 1050 days as a PR and from January 2nd 2012 (4 years earlier) until you left on April 1st 2012, you have 90 days which count as 45 days towards the citizenship requirements. You would be able to apply on January 2nd 2016, a day after you have met the requirements. That is if you never leave Canada in the meantime.

Before you apply for citizenship, you should do a citizenship calculation at https://eservices.cic.gc.ca/rescalc/resCalcStartNew.do Enter the date you came to live in Canada as April 2, 2010, the date you got your PR Feb 15, 2013 and then list April 1, 2012 to Feb 15, 2013 as an absence.

 

[seamyb]

Thank you Leon, this clears things up a bit