When did you first come to live in Canada?

[mailvdutt]

I am planning to apply for citizenship next month.I Came to canada in jan-2006 on Business Visa and stayed for 3 months and then came again in april-2006 on work permit and stayed for 3 months.

Then i came to canada in jun-2010 as PR.
For the below question i should put the date as jan-2006?

When did you first come to live in Canada?

 

[keesio]

hmmm... that is a good question. I'm pretty sure they want the date you first became a resident of Canada. I would guess that the date of your work permit.

 

[frege]

That is a good question. Since you only spent a few months in Canada, it's debatable whether you truly established residence here in 2006. For example, did you file a resident tax return in Canada, a non-resident one, or none? On what basis? In any event, that time was outside the four-year period, so it can't count.

If you include the 2006 date, in theory the civil servant could take it as a claim that you came to live in Canada in 2006, and although you were outside the country for all of that time, you were really resident in Canada through connections to the country. Of course, this is crazy, but if instead of 2006, you had been here in early 2010, you can see how this could be a problem.

If you filed only a non-resident tax return in 2006, I think it's safe to forget about 2006 as the date you came here. If you include it however, and there was continuity between the two three-month periods, it would make sense to use the earlier date, January 2006.

 

[OKK]

If you did established ur roots in 2006 such as got a job,filled taxes etc etc. Then it will be 2006. If not then it will be 2010. It sure is tricky question in your case. I will suggest you should seek a legal advice before you file your application as a wrong reply and here comes that dreaded RQ. You can clearly see the confusion here and so will the CIC so its best to got with a legal advice rather then a online guessing

 

[frege]

If you did established ur roots in 2006 such as got a job,filled taxes etc etc. Then it will be 2006. If not then it will be 2010. It sure is tricky question in your case. I will suggest you should seek a legal advice before you file your application as a wrong reply and here comes that dreaded RQ. You can clearly see the confusion here and so will the CIC so its best to got with a legal advice rather then a online guessing

I think if mailvdutt chooses to say 2010, there is no danger. Because even if this is the wrong answer, it doesn't help him at all, so it's obvious he's not trying to cheat.

If he says 2006, I also think there won't be a problem, because the other answers will show that he was out of the country for the entire relevant period, and he won't need that period to meet the 1095-day mark. However, to be on the safe side, he could include a note with his application explaining that he was uncertain how to answer the question, that he lived in Canada for six months in 2006 but ceased residing here after that, and lived abroad until he resumed residence in 2010 when he became a PR. This will clarify that he's not claiming residence for the period before June 2010, which is the only significant point.

In doubt, mailvdutt could even include a note in case he answers 2010.

With these precautions, I think it's probably unnecessary to get a lawyer if it's just for this reason.