How Do I Count My Days for Citizenship?

The eligibility period is the 5 years before the date you sign the application. Inside it you need 1,095 days, three years, physically in Canada. At least 730 of those must be days as a permanent resident. Nothing before the window counts, however long you have lived here.

Each day in Canada as a temporary resident, meaning a visitor, student, worker or temporary resident permit holder, counts as half a day. So does each day as a protected person, counted from the day the claim or pre-removal risk assessment was approved to the day before you became a permanent resident. The credit is capped at 365 days, which takes 730 calendar days to earn. A student who spent four years here before landing still gets 365, not 730.

Time in prison, on parole or on probation. Time waiting for a decision on a refugee claim. Those days are simply removed from the count.

One group gets full credit while abroad: Crown servants, meaning people employed in or with the Canadian Armed Forces, the federal public administration or a provincial or territorial public service, and their spouse, partner or children. Each of their days outside Canada counts as one day.

IRCC encourages people to apply with more than 1,095 days in case there is a problem with the calculation. You do the count in the physical presence calculator inside your online account, and IRCC offers a travel journal for recording trips as you go. The PR card renewal note shows the same five-year travel history being checked against the 730-day residency obligation, so one careful record serves both.

You must hold valid permanent resident status, with no removal order and no unmet landing conditions; an expired PR card is fine. You may need to have filed Canadian taxes for at least 3 of the 5 years, and you tell IRCC on the form whether you had to and whether you did. Adults aged 18 to 54 on the signing date prove English or French at CLB 4 in speaking and listening and take the citizenship test. Everyone 18 and over takes the oath. And you cannot be under a prohibition, most of which are criminal or security related.

A minor with a Canadian parent, or a parent applying at the same time, applies under the minor 5(2) process with no physical presence test. A minor without a Canadian parent or a parent applying at the same time applies under 5(1) and needs the same 1,095 days as an adult. Children born abroad to Canadian parents may already be citizens; the Bill C-3 note covers that route.

The signing date, because it sets the window; the landing date, because it sets the 730; and the passport stamps and CBSA travel history against the calculator. In our experience, the errors are a forgotten border trip and temporary resident time counted at full value. Our citizenship application service starts with the count.