Home/Practice areas/Citizenship
§ 00
Citizenship
A grant of citizenship is largely an evidentiary exercise. The requirements are fixed and public; what causes delay and refusal is almost always the arithmetic of physical presence and the accuracy of a declared travel history.
§ 01Requirements
Citizenship Act s. 5(1)
What must be established
| Requirement | Standard |
|---|---|
| Permanent resident status | Held at the time of application, and not subject to review or an unfulfilled condition |
| Physical presence | 1,095 days in Canada during the five years immediately before the application |
| Credit before permanent residence | Time in Canada as a temporary resident or protected person counts at half a day per day, to a maximum of 365 days |
| Income tax filing | Filed for three taxation years falling within the five-year period, where required to do so |
| Language | Adequate knowledge of English or French, for applicants aged 18 to 54 |
| Knowledge of Canada | Demonstrated by test or interview, for applicants aged 18 to 54 |
| No prohibition | Certain criminal matters, misrepresentation findings, and prior revocations bar a grant for defined periods |
Age bands change the requirements. Applicants under 18 and those 55 and over are not subject to the language and knowledge requirements. Minor children have a separate route, and applications for a minor without a parent applying are assessed differently.
§ 02Instrument
Citizenship Act s. 5(1)(c) · s. 5(1.001)
Physical presence estimator
Enter approximate day counts for the five years immediately before the date you intend to apply. This produces the same arithmetic an officer applies, so you can see how close you are before you spend a fee.
Presence estimate
Calculator
Count from the day you became a permanent resident, or from the start of the five-year period, whichever is later.
Include every trip, however short. Departure and return days generally count as days in Canada.
Time as a student, worker, visitor, or protected person. Credited at half value to a maximum of 365 days.
Estimate only. Calculated in your browser and not transmitted or stored.
Estimates do not survive an officer's check. Before filing, reconcile your figures against your passport stamps and your official entry and exit record. A declared absence that does not match the border record is the most common cause of a citizenship file being sent for further examination.
§ 03Practice
Residence questionnaires and further examination
What causes delay, and how to avoid it
- Applying at exactly 1,095 days. A single miscounted trip puts you below the threshold and the application is refused rather than corrected. A margin of several weeks is cheap insurance.
- Forgetting short trips. Day trips across the border, a weekend away, a funeral abroad. They are all in the record even when they are not in your memory.
- Inconsistent addresses or employment history. Gaps and mismatches trigger a residence questionnaire, which adds many months.
- Unfiled taxes. The requirement is filing where you were required to file, not owing nothing. Resolve this before applying.
- Unresolved criminal matters. A charge outstanding at the time of application is treated differently from one long concluded. Get advice before filing, not after.
- Name inconsistencies across documents. Differences between a passport, a permanent resident card, and a birth certificate should be explained in the application rather than discovered later.
§ 04Notarization
Commissioner for Taking Affidavits, Ontario
Notarization and commissioning
Immigration files run on sworn documents. We commission affidavits and statutory declarations and certify true copies for clients of the firm and for members of the public who simply need a document sworn.
- Statutory declarations and affidavits. Common-law relationship declarations, declarations about a name, identity, or date of birth, and support declarations from family members.
- Certified true copies. Passports, permanent resident cards, diplomas, and civil documents, where an application asks for a certified copy rather than an original.
- Translator's affidavits. Where a document is translated by someone who is not a certified translator, the translation generally needs a sworn affidavit attached.
- What to bring. Government-issued photo identification, the unsigned document, and the original of anything to be copied. Do not sign in advance; the signature must be made in front of the commissioner.
Commissioning is not the same as legal advice. A commissioner confirms that you swore or affirmed the contents in their presence. Whether the document says the right thing for your application is a separate question, and one worth asking before you swear it.
NEXT STEPPreliminary consultations are complimentary and held in confidence.
Have the count checked before you file.
A presence review is a short engagement: we reconcile your declared travel against your official record and identify anything likely to trigger a residence questionnaire.
647-546-0134 · admin@hf-imm.ca