Before diving deeper into the more complicated aspects, it warrants a reminder that if you,
@smash1984, wait another month or so to apply, say wait until early April 2022 to apply,
which again would be a good idea anyway, then you do not need to list the U.S. as a country in which you have been in for 183 days or a more in a row during the previous four years.
If you do that, wait to apply to when you do not need to list the U.S. in the 10.b) chart, that means it will NOT be necessary to include a U.S. PCC WITH the application.
Since IRCC could ask for a U.S. PCC anyway, later on, it might be prudent to proceed with obtaining a U.S. PCC anyway and have it ready to submit.
Otherwise . . . it is a little complicated . . .
As noted, if you wait to apply when you do not need to list the U.S. in the 10.b) chart, that means it will NOT be necessary to include a U.S. PCC WITH the application.
There is, otherwise, the option of applying within a period of time you need to check "yes" (item 10.b in the application) you were in a country for 183 days or more within the preceding four years, and list that country, the U.S. If you do this you can either:
-- include a U.S. PCC (easier to do than it is for quite a few other countries; so as it appears
@SszZTkmZ will likely do, you can eliminate most risks related to providing PCCs by simply obtaining and submitting the U.S. PCC with your application), or
-- as
@rajkamalmohanram appears to be suggesting, not include a U.S. PCC but explain, in the chart box provided, that the U.S. was your country of origin and that is where you were prior to becoming a Canadian PR
This is where things get a bit complicated. And it can appear more complicated than it really is because what is often overlooked is the difference between:
-- what is required to make a complete application, versus
-- what can be requested and required to establish the applicant has no criminal matters constituting a prohibition
If you do what
@rajkamalmohanram appears to be suggesting, which is to not include a U.S. PCC but explain, in the chart box provided, that the U.S. was your country of origin and that is where you were prior to becoming a Canadian PR, that gets the application PAST the completeness screening.
As I noted, technically that is not the correct response, because you were not in the U.S. "
immediately prior to establishing Permanent Residency in Canada." But the odds are very good that will still, nonetheless, pass the completeness screening.
Moreover, wandering into the realm of guessing a bit, my guess is that this gets a pass anyway.
As I previously commented, sometimes the technicalities matter. Sometimes they don't.
As I have otherwise commented, the citizenship application is NOT intended to test the applicant's ability to properly complete bureaucratic forms. IRCC does NOT engage in
gotcha-games. If you provided a U.S. PCC with your PR visa application and have not been living or working in the U.S. since then, unless IRCC has other reasons inviting concern, odds are good this is not an issue; odds are good the previous PCC plus a clear name-record check for the U.S. (an FBI/NCIC name record check is standard for all citizenship applicants, repeated multiple times right up to scheduling the oath) suffices to assure IRCC there are no U.S. related criminal prohibitions.
As
@rajkamalmohanram also commented,
the decision about whether to include a PCC is YOURS to make. And, consistent with what
@rajkamalmohanram suggested, my sense is that not including a U.S. PCC but explaining, in the box in the chart for explaining, that the U.S. was your country of origin and that is where you were prior to becoming a Canadian PR, has good odds of working. Not because the latter is correct, but because it does not matter.
Unless it does matter (such as if there is a name record hit in the U.S. NCIC database), or unless there is some other concern inviting IRCC to more strictly scrutinize the application (such as concerns about actual physical presence).
