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Residence Calculator

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Rules of calculation
2. Applying with less than 1,095 days of physical presence
3. What to declare
4. Time imprisoned, on parole or on probation
5. Error messages

1. RULES OF CALCULATION

Q. How long must you have lived in Canada before being eligible for Canadian citizenship?

A. You must have lived in Canada for three years (1,095 days) within the four years immediately before you apply.

Q. How is the residence requirement for citizenship calculated?

• Every day you spent in Canada as a permanent resident counts as a full day.
• Every day you spent in Canada before you became a permanent resident counts as a half-day.
• Only the four years preceding the date of your application are taken into account.

Q. Why does the residence calculator perform two different calculations?

A. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has made a distinction between basic residence and physical presence in response to certain Federal Court decisions.

Basic residence is the minimum time required to be eligible for a grant of citizenship. It does not include absences from Canada. An applicant who has less than three years (1,095 days) of basic residence will have his or her application returned to them by the Case Processing Centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia (CPC Sydney). Such applicants cannot meet the legislative requirements concerning residence.

Physical presence is the amount of time an applicant accumulates within the four-year period minus the days absent from Canada. An applicant who has less than three years of physical presence, but has at least three years of basic residence, is referred to a citizenship judge who will evaluate the nature of his or her residence in Canada.

Q. When I try to calculate my absences, I get different numbers than the residence calculator. How does the residence calculator determine the number of days for each absence?

A. The calculator uses the following rules to determine the number of days absent for each absence declared:

• When calculating an absence, either the day you leave Canada or the day you return is considered an absence, but not both. For example, an absence between July 1, 2003, and July 15, 2003, equals 14 days of absence.
• If you leave Canada and come back the same day, you do not have to declare an absence.
• An absence on February 29 (leap day) is not counted as an absence, nor is it credited as a presence. (For more information, see below.)
• The total number of days absent includes all absences from Canada within the four-year period immediately preceding the date of your application. Because the time spent in Canada before you became a permanent resident is only credited as half-time, absences from Canada before you obtained permanent resident status are divided by two before they are included in the total number of days absent.

Q. Why is February 29 (leap day) not counted as a presence?

A. The Citizenship Act states that an applicant for citizenship must have accumulated three years of residence. Three years has been interpreted in the jurisprudence as 1,095 days, which is why leap days are neither counted as a presence nor an absence.

2. APPLYING WITH LESS THAN 1,095 DAYS OF PHYSICAL PRESENCE

Q. I have more than 1,095 days of basic residence but less than 1,095 days of physical presence. Should I apply now or wait until I have 1,095 days of physical presence?

A. Only a citizenship judge can determine if you meet the residence requirements with less than 1,095 days of physical presence.

Because the Citizenship Act does not define residence, there have been different interpretations over the years. If you apply with less than 1,095 days of physical presence, a citizenship judge will review your application to evaluate the nature of your residence in Canada. You might be asked to complete a residence questionnaire, provide evidence that establishes residence, and appear in person before a judge. When residence must be evaluated by a citizenship judge, it will take longer to process the application than would otherwise be the case.

Deciding to apply with less than 1,095 days of physical presence is a personal decision that should be made carefully while taking into account your personal circumstances. For example, some people will never reach 1,095 days of physical presence because of their occupation. In this situation, you might decide to apply with less than 1,095 days of presence.

3. WHAT TO DECLARE

Q. Do I have to declare day trips to the United States?

A. No, not if you come back the same day.

Q. I travel often to the United States and don’t remember the exact dates. What do I do?

A. To use the residence calculator, you must enter exact dates. If you do not know the exact number of days you were absent, try to calculate an approximate number and add it by hand to your absence sheet after you have printed it.

Q. I travel often because of my work (truck driver, employee for an airline company, etc.). Do I have to declare those absences?

A. Yes. All absences from Canada, regardless of the reason, must be declared. You do not have to declare trips where you left and came back to Canada on the same day.

4. TIME IMPRISONED, ON PAROLE OR ON PROBATION

Q. I have heard that time spent imprisoned, on parole or on probation does not count as residence. Should I declare this time as an absence?

A. You must accumulate three years of residence in the four years preceding the date of your application. The Citizenship Act states that time spent imprisoned (in a penitentiary, jail, reformatory or prison), on parole or on probation cannot be counted toward residence. This time should therefore not be declared as an absence, but rather in section 8 (Prohibitions under the Citizenship Act) of the application.

If you have been imprisoned, on parole or on probation longer than one year, you will be unable to meet the residence requirements until exactly three years after your parole or probation ends, or three years after your release from imprisonment (whichever is the most recent).

If you spent less than a year imprisoned, on probation or on parole in the four years before applying for citizenship, follow these steps to find out if you are eligible for citizenship:

• Use the residence calculator to determine your eligibility without taking into account the time you spent imprisoned, on parole or on probation.
• Manually calculate the number of days you spent imprisoned, on parole or on probation in the four years preceding the date of your application.
• Subtract this time from your basic residence AND your physical presence results as calculated by the residence calculator.
• If you have less than 1,095 days of basic residence, you are not eligible to be granted citizenship. (See the section on Rules of calculation for more information.) Since you cannot be granted citizenship, you should consider applying after you meet the requirements for basic residence.
• If you have 1,095 days or more of basic residence, you are eligible to apply. (See the section on Applying with less than 1,095 days of physical presence if you have less than 1,095 days of physical presence.)

5. ERROR MESSAGES

Q. When I try to list my absences from Canada, I get an error message. What am I doing wrong?

A. The following mistakes when listing absences will generate error messages:

• Absences before your date of entry to Canada.
• Absences after the date you indicated you would sign your application.
• Missing information: from, to, destination or reason for absence.
• Absences that overlap.
• Wrong date format. The date format should be YYYY-MM-DD.
• Remember that the following months have 31 days: January, March, May, July, August, October and December.
• Remember that the following months have 30 days: April, June, September and November.
• Remember that February normally has 28 calendar days. Do not count February 29 in leap years.
• There are 12 months in a year.