Citizenship - physical presence obligations 

PMM

Posts: 661

Hi All,

Regarding PR and Citizenship - there appear to be differing obligations in terms of satisfying the requirements if you are contributing to the obligations when accompanying a spouse (who is a Citizen) overseas.

For PR, each day spent with a Spouse who is also a Canadian Citizen overseas counts towards the physical presence obligations - i.e. to maintain PR status.

For Citizenship, the requirements for physical presence indicate:

"Duration of physical presence

The applicant must have been physically present in Canada for at least 1095 days during the five years immediately before the date of application. It should be noted that:

only physical presence in Canada counts;
each day of physical presence in Canada as a permanent resident counts as one day; and
each day of physical presence in Canada as an authorized temporary resident or protected person before becoming a permanent resident counts as one half day, with a maximum of 365 days towards physical presence".

In terms of time overseas with a Canadian citizen:

"Under subsection 5(1.1) of the Act, a citizenship applicant can count time residing with their Canadian citizen spouse who was employed outside of Canada in or with the Canadian Armed Forces or the public service of Canada or the public service of a province or territory, but not as a locally engaged staff, as time spent residing in Canada for the purpose of meeting the residence requirement for citizenship".

My question therefore is -

Do days spent outside Canada, maintaining PR with a spouse who is a Canadian Citizen count towards the PR requirements for Citizenship?

I am guessing not (since my wife would not be employed in or with the Canadian Armed Forces or the public service of Canada or the public service of a province or territory).

Can anyone shed any more light?


Thanks