When applying for Citizenship with multiple Entry & Exit Stamps

[ALEX-MTL82]

Hello everyone,

My question is I have been and still am out of canada since March 2015. I landed Oct 29 2013 and lived in Canada till i left in March 2015. I had to fly back to take care of my maternal grandfather who has had 2 strokes last year and is now paralyzed from the waist down in India. This has had a significant impact on my single mother who lives in Dubai. I am an only child.

As a result I have had to make several trips back and forth between Dubai and India. I have documentary proof of this from hospital & doctors in India. I hold an Indian passport and every visit to Dubai has been on a 90 day Tourist/Visit visa. I have accumulated 4 India trips and 5 Dubai Tourist visas resulting in 17 entry and exit stamps on my passport till date. I am planning on returning to Canada full time this July 2016. I still hold a valid PR and hopefully one day plan on being a Canadian citizen. However all these stamps have got me very worried. I know I am allowed to leave Canada for a while but how will all these entry and exit stamps look when its time to apply for citizenship.

Im really panicking guys, any help/advice anyone can share is very much appreciated.

Thank you to all.

 

[nope]

This isn't something to worry about, since you have no control over how the CIC officer will view this. What you should do is two things:

1) Organize your data exhaustively, so that you are absolutely certain every trip you put in the citizenship application is correct.

2) While waiting for your interview, make up a short dossier with all of the evidence for each trip, and an explanation of why you went. At the same time, make certain that your evidence of life in Canada is in order, and that you have a good explanation for why you were able to take time off of work for these ventures.

Travel isn't a problem, as long as it fits into the narrative of 'settled in Canada'. A tourist visa for Dubai is not necessarily a bad thing to hold -- tourists don't work or live, they visit. 'Settled in Canada but life disrupted by ill relative in home country' is an acceptable narrative.

Remember, PR is set up so that it is difficult to lose -- 2/5 years in Canada is far more lenient than the American green card. PR also leads to citizenship, and a significant number of people who apply to become citizens took advantage of the relaxed approach to PR residency. I wouldn't worry about your situation at all.

 

[Alias]

hi,

Just to add to what nope said, as the Dubai passport stamps will be in Arabic, make sure you have English translation for each of them.

Thanks,

 

[ajithpl]

What really matters is your physical presence in Canada and the travel to/ from Canada after landing. Only the copies of bio pages needs to be given while applying for citizenship and no need to mention the travel Dubai-India in the online calculator as it has nothing to do with Canada. But of course, you have to wait longer to make up these absence with 4/6 criteria to achieve (or 3/5 is applicable in some years from now)
If they ask your other trips during test/ interview, give the actual reasons.

 

[heeradeepak]

Hello everyone,

My question is I have been and still am out of canada since March 2015. I landed Oct 29 2013 and lived in Canada till i left in March 2015. I had to fly back to take care of my maternal grandfather who has had 2 strokes last year and is now paralyzed from the waist down in India. This has had a significant impact on my single mother who lives in Dubai. I am an only child.

As a result I have had to make several trips back and forth between Dubai and India. I have documentary proof of this from hospital & doctors in India. I hold an Indian passport and every visit to Dubai has been on a 90 day Tourist/Visit visa. I have accumulated 4 India trips and 5 Dubai Tourist visas resulting in 17 entry and exit stamps on my passport till date. I am planning on returning to Canada full time this July 2016. I still hold a valid PR and hopefully one day plan on being a Canadian citizen. However all these stamps have got me very worried. I know I am allowed to leave Canada for a while but how will all these entry and exit stamps look when its time to apply for citizenship.

Im really panicking guys, any help/advice anyone can share is very much appreciated.

Thank you to all.

Nothing is in your hands all depend on CIC officer but we have seen similar cases drags for years by overconfident CIC officers.

 

[shekhawatmx]

Hello everyone,

My question is I have been and still am out of canada since March 2015. I landed Oct 29 2013 and lived in Canada till i left in March 2015. I had to fly back to take care of my maternal grandfather who has had 2 strokes last year and is now paralyzed from the waist down in India. This has had a significant impact on my single mother who lives in Dubai. I am an only child.

As a result I have had to make several trips back and forth between Dubai and India. I have documentary proof of this from hospital & doctors in India. I hold an Indian passport and every visit to Dubai has been on a 90 day Tourist/Visit visa. I have accumulated 4 India trips and 5 Dubai Tourist visas resulting in 17 entry and exit stamps on my passport till date. I am planning on returning to Canada full time this July 2016. I still hold a valid PR and hopefully one day plan on being a Canadian citizen. However all these stamps have got me very worried. I know I am allowed to leave Canada for a while but how will all these entry and exit stamps look when its time to apply for citizenship.

Im really panicking guys, any help/advice anyone can share is very much appreciated.

Thank you to all.

Please apply for E gate card when you are there next time, it can be done at the airport also just before the passport control.

E gate holders can pass through automated passport control white exist and entry and no stamp are posted on passport.

 

[nope]

What really matters is your physical presence in Canada and the travel to/ from Canada after landing. Only the copies of bio pages needs to be given while applying for citizenship and no need to mention the travel Dubai-India in the online calculator as it has nothing to do with Canada. But of course, you have to wait longer to make up these absence with 4/6 criteria to achieve (or 3/5 is applicable in some years from now)
If they ask your other trips during test/ interview, give the actual reasons.

I just want to correct a misconception here -- when you apply for citizenship, Canada does expect you to list travel to other countries, even if it begins and ends outside of Canada. For example, I lived in the US for a year, and in that time, visited Germany. I didn't make a separate entry outside of the American entry, but I did mention in the notes that I went to Germany for a week.

Doing this avoids questions during the interview.