Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone can help answer my question about applying for Canadian citizenship. I became a permanent resident in 2010, lived in Canada for 10 months and then moved to the US for 2 years while my husband and I completed our Masters degrees. We then moved back to Canada and have been here for the last 14 months. We’re wondering if there is any point in applying for my citizenship right now. I’ve tried looking this information up in multiple places, and it’s not clear to me if a judge will accept my application and grant me citizenship at this point. The reason why I’m even considering applying right now is because I read that if a permanent resident lives outside of Canada because of their Canadian spouse, the time they spend outside of Canada can be counted when making a citizenship application.
Does anyone have more information/advice on this? I’d really appreciate the help.
Also, where can I find information about bringing your personal belongings to Canada? Can I ask Canadian relatives to bring some of my things with them from Pakistan when they come to Canada, or will it cause problems for them at customs?
you must have lived in Canada for 1095 days [3 months] in the PRECEDING 4 year period before you can qualify to apply for a Canadian Citizenship.
you may use ‘transfer of residence’ provision to bring in your personal ‘used’ belongings on top of your personal exemptions.
as far as your relatives and friends bringing in your stuff from Pakistan is concerned, they can bring up to their individual exemptions and whatever weight the airline allows.
You have to have stayed in Canada for at least 3 years before you can apply for Canadian citizenship. Any absence of yours, even if it’s in the US is still an absence from Canada. They will check your absences anyways to see if they correlate with the correct dates you have entered in your residency calculator form. So try to be as precise as possible because any discrepancies or errors will cause a delay in your file and they might also send you a residency questionnaire for additional information which can further delay your case.
Given that it hasn’t been 3 years for you yet, you still have some time before you can apply. What you can do is just verify your absences and write them down so when it comes time to apply you don’t forget. You can also gather any other pertinent information so when your 3 years is up, you can apply quickly.
Your relatives that are coming from Pakistan can bring stuff for you - that shouldn’t even be a problem. Customs hardly opens up suitcases like that unless they have any suspicion too, like bringing in goods to sell without declaring or other illegal items. So it should be fine, even if the officer does ask them, they can say it’s a gift, so it’s not a big deal.
yes and 1095 days out of the last 4 years is a must…that means you must NOT have been outside Canada [even USA, if your entries/exists are recorded] for more than 365 days in the last 4 years.
This is what my confusion was basically about: the time I spent in the US was fine for maintaining PR status, but can’t be used for citizenship.
Thank you for all the replies, you’ve all confirmed what I read myself as well. I’ve been keeping track of my days outside of Canada and now I suppose it’s just a matter of being patient.
I want to clarify the belongings question and see if that changes the responses: Basically, I want my relatives to bring household items (carpets, for example) that I declared when I first entered as a permanent resident. So according to the responses I’ve gotten here, they should be able to bring them in without a problem, they just need to declare the items as gifts and pay a fees for the extra weight they will bring with them. Correct? Or should they make it clear that these items belong to me and they are basically playing the role of a shipper for me (and making certain the items get here undamaged)?
Whoever is bringing in the stuff should also bring that goods to follow form which you declared when you immigrated.
Give em a letter authorising them to bring it for u.
CBSA has an email address for general inquiries, you can ask them any question and they will answer.
[EMAIL=“[email protected]”][email protected]
