How do you count your days in Canada when you apply for Canadian citizenship application?

According to the recent case called Awrham in January, 2014, in Federal Court:  An applicant has a permanent resident status in Canada.  Then, she obtained her permanent resident status in USA by her marriage to an American spouse.  Since she resided in Windsor, Ontario, she frequently traveled back and forth between US and Canada. 

The Court states “The website residency calculator on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website clearly sets out the expectations for an applicant when declaring their absences on their application and other documentation.  It outlines that leaving Canada on one day and coming back the next counts as an absence (regardless of whether the absence was less than 24 hours).”

Legally speaking, it is always argued that “day” in Canadian Citizenship Act was not defined.  As a result, according to “Interpretation Act”, “day” means any time period in a day – i.e. one minute!

However, according to this decision, if the visit is over “midnight”, then an absence of one day is created.  For example, if you go out of Canada at 11:50 p.m. and come back to Canada at 12:10 a.m. (20 min absence in reality), it is concerned as “one day absence” according to this calculation.

However, according to Citizenship application form, applicant has two ways to show the residency requirements – “Online Residence Calculator” OR “How to Calculate Residence form (CIT 0407)”.  Applicants may choose between two methods.

In light of this decision, applicants may carefully consider to choose “How to Calculate Residence form (CIT 0407)” instead of “Online Residence Calculator”.

Finally, one other reason for the Federal Court to dismiss this appeal was the fact that applicant did not provide sufficient documentary evidence to prove her residency.  Again, in light of such reason, it is strongly recommended to have clear, sufficient and accurate documentary evidence should be included with Canadian Citizenship application.

If you have any individual questions or concerns, please contact our office for more customized consultation for your unique situation. Please note that this posting is for general information only and is not to be considered binding or official legal counsel since situations will vary and can be complicated. The content in this post is current as of the day of entry. Due to the changing nature of Immigration law, the information in this entry may or may not still be applicable.