Minor Application

[dnageena]

I immigrated to Canada with my family in 2004 along with my wife and son born in 2003 and my son is a US citizen. We stayed in Canada till 2009, I applied for citizenship just for me and moved to the US in 2009 after getting Canadian Citizenship. I am assuming both my wife and Son will meet the PR requirements since they are staying with a Canadian Citizen. The question I have is that my son will be 18 next year but would like to get his Canadian citizenship so that he can study in Canada. His PR card has expired and did not stay or visit Canada in the last 10 years.

Under the Canadian Citizenship Application for a minor under subsection 2, I don’t think he has to meet the physical presence and should be able to apply for his citizenship. Am i correct? If Approved where in Canada will he be called for Oath?

[SettlementOrgMod]

Hello There,

Thank you for sharing your situation and question with us.

A permanent resident who has spent time abroad with their Canadian partner (or parent if under 19) may count those days abroad towards their physical presence requirement for maintaining PR status. However, the residency requirement for citizenship requires physical presence in Canada for 1,095 days. There are some exceptions for partners of citizens who are active members in the Canadian Armed Forces, and public civil service.

IRCC developed a Physical Presence Calculator resource that may help you calculate this requirement for citizenship. Here is an excerpt:

To be eligible for Canadian citizenship, you must have been physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days in the five years immediately before the date of your application. We encourage applicants to apply with more than the minimum requirement of 1,095 days of physical presence, to account for any miscalculations of absences, or any other aspect that could lower the physical presence total below 1,095 days. Please note that you cannot meet the physical presence requirement without a minimum of two (2) years as a permanent resident.
When calculating your time in Canada:

• only the five (5) years immediately before the date of your application are taken into account;
• each day you were physically present in Canada as an authorized temporary resident or protected person before you became a permanent resident counts as half a day (up to a maximum of 365 days);
• each day you were physically present in Canada after you became a permanent resident counts as one day;
• time spent serving a sentence for an offence in Canada (e.g. serving a term of imprisonment, probation and/or parole) cannot be counted towards your physical presence - there are some exceptions.

You may find helpful information in the IRCC Help Centre article Can I leave Canada after I mail my citizenship application? You will need to mail your citizenship application in Canada, but you may want to contact the IRCC Client Support Centre directly about where the citizenship ceremony will likely take place.

You are also correct, minors do not need to meet the residency requirement. For more information on applying for Canadian citizenship, you may want to read the Settlement.Org article How do I apply for Canadian Citizenship?

You may also want to contact a Lawyer or a reputable, registered Immigration Consultant who is familiar with Canadian immigration issues for some advice and assistance with this process.

We hope this information is helpful. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to post them here.

Sincerely,

Your Settlement.Org Team

[dnageena]

Thanks for the reply. For my son, who is a minot, he does not have to be physically present in Canada under section 5(2). My son will belong the first col in the table show at the below link.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/become-canadian-citizen/eligibility/minors.html

[SettlementOrgMod]

We are happy to help, thank you for bringing your question to the forum.

You are correct, minors do not need to meet the residency requirement. For more information on applying for Canadian citizenship, you may want to read the Settlement.Org article How do I apply for Canadian Citizenship?.

I hope this information is helpful, please do let us know if you have any additional questions or would like to update us on your situation.

Sincerely,

Your Settlement.Org Team