You are correct about the response posted by
@hawk39 . . . no need to wander into the weeds regarding this.
In particular, nonetheless, you are correct that the eligibility period is the five years preceding the date you sign the application, which should correspond to the date you complete the online presence calculation. And of course this means you need to account, in the application, for things like work and address history covering the full five year eligibility period.
Terminology clarification: In this forum, and in most discussions related to Canadian immigration, the term "
landed" is used to specifically refer to the final step in becoming a Permanent Resident. Thus, the date you "
landed" in Canada would be 13 March 2018. This is, of course, a very important date for many purposes. The terminology is not important, in itself, but it helps to avoid confusion.
I am not sure what is going on with how you fill in the information in the online physical presence calculator. I suspect it has to do with how you have gone about entering the "trip" outside Canada information for the period prior to the date of your first
arrival (which you refer to as the date you "landed") in Canada, 19 March 2016.
Apart from the output of the presence calculation, referencing the number of days present and days absent, does the list of absences in the printout show you outside Canada 2 May 2015 to 18 March 2016? (Note: if you actually arrived in Canada 19 March 2016, the dates for the trip should be entered 2 May 2015 to 19 March 2016, not "to 18 March 2016." The from and to dates are date of exit and date of return/arrival, not just dates "absent." The online calculator automatically counts the date of arrival/return as a day IN Canada, not a day absent.)
If your print output shows the time outside Canada, prior to your arrival in Canada, in the list of absences, you for sure should be OK even if in the output it does not show a number of days absent (so long as there is a proper number of days present showing). Even if the calculator print output does not show either the absence itself (in list of absences) or any days "absent" in the calculation, as long as it is showing the correct totals for half-day credits (for days between becoming a protected person and the date you landed as a PR) plus the correct total of full-day credits (for days after you landed, that is after you became a PR), you should be OK.
In particular, it has been awhile since I ran some hypothetical scenarios through the online presence calculator, BUT as I recall, many if not most forum participants suggest NOT trying to force the calculator to include days prior to the applicant's FIRST ARRIVAL in Canada even though they are within the five year eligibility period, since the calculator requires a date of exit (last I tried) for the output to include a time period outside Canada.
The MOST important thing is to be sure the calculator is properly identifying the dates you have been present in Canada. And in doing so, is properly showing those after the date of landing (date you became a PR) and those during which you had protected person status prior to landing.
You are otherwise providing all the relevant information, including your address and activity history going back the full five years, and including the time period between the date of your first arrival in Canada and the date you obtained protected person status (for which, if properly done, the presence calculator should show ZERO credit toward days present in Canada). So the fact that the calculator output does not list days "absent" is not particularly significant . . . again, so long as it is properly showing dates present.
To be sure, you can do a completely separate calculation using the online calculator. Should be easy for you since you have no trips outside Canada to report, other than being outside Canada prior to your first arrival in March 2016.
In any event, probably no reason to worry at all if the calculator output does not reference an absence prior to your first arrival. Again, so long as it properly references the dates for which you get the half-day credit (June 2016 to March 2018) and for which you get the full-day credit (March 2018 to date of application).
NOTE: Probably prudent to wait to apply for about another month. Waiting longer to apply can often lead to actually taking the oath sooner. Especially given recent events and the almost certain slowdown in citizenship application processing that is likely to continue for some time. A solid buffer over the minimum will not guarantee you avoid non-routine processing, but in many cases, it can make the difference. And, in the coming year or two, the difference in timelines for applications routinely processed versus those involving non-routine processing is likely to be much bigger than it usually is. That is, a solid buffer (having 1125 plus days credit) is a good idea in the best of times, but is likely to be an even bigger factor for the next year or two.
