The main requirement to become eligible for Canadian Citizenship is to be physically present in the province of Canada for 3 out of 5 years. But here the question arises that driving to the U.S. for service hours every day really counts as a complete day in Canada.
The answer to this question is No. If you are a Canadian permanent resident who goes to the U.S. for employment purposes then your workdays do not add to the physical present days in Canada according to Canadian Citizenship. Although it can be counted if the person has a residence in the province of Canada and comes back for at least part of the day.
The Citizenship Act has differentiated the method of calculating the time span of physical presence depending on the basis of –
- Temporary Residency
- Permanent Residency
- For a temporary resident/ protected person who has been physically present in Canada every day under the Immigration Act before becoming a permanent resident. This adds half of a day of physical presence up to a maximum time period of a year.
- Whereas a permanent resident who has been physically present in Canada after becoming getting PR accumulates a day of physical presence.
A spokesperson of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada mentioned that if a person works in the U.S. but stays in their residence that is located in Canada and spends a part of their day in Canada, then this period of time will be calculated as a part of their physical presence requirement for their Canadian Citizenship.
In simple words, if you are a permanent resident of Canada who lives in Canada and spends a part of your day in Canada, then it will count up to a full day for Canadian Residency.
Physical presence requirements for Canadian Residency
A person needs to be a permanent resident for a time period of at least 2 years and must have spent 1095 full days in the province of Canada before the date of their application to meet the physical presence requirement. IRCC only considers the previous 5 years before the date of the application.
If a permanent resident spends their full day in Canada, it counts as one day. But this is not the case for immigrants working on a work or a study permit, it is then counted as half a day for a year. So, this will take 2 years for a temporary resident to complete their 1 year of physical presence requirement whereas refugees can count half days after getting a positive decision and further can start counting as full days after getting a Canadian PR.
The IRCC suggests applying with more days than you require to avoid miscalculations. The immigration department has the power to authenticate the movement in and out of Canada through the Entry/ Exit program.
Other eligibility requirements for getting Canadian citizenship
Apart from the physical presence requirement, there are a few other requirements in being able to apply for Canadian Citizenship.
- Fluency in English or French is required to avoid communication barriers. People of the age group of 18-54 have to submit proof to show language proficiency.
- IRCC prohibits giving citizenship to people having a criminal history.
- The applicants have to file taxes in Canada for a time period of at least 3 years out of 5 days before the date of applying. Awareness regarding the rights and responsibilities of citizens and a piece of basic knowledge about the history, geography, and political system of Canada.
- Further, the applicant has to submit a formal application to IRCC and pay a government fee to process the application.
After you have fulfilled all the eligibility criteria, you are now open to apply for Canadian Citizenship. A citizenship test is then conducted for people of the age group of 18-54. Then a citizenship ceremony is organized to give the certificate of Canadian Citizenship and take the oath of citizenship and finally declare the applicants as Canadian citizens.
