Understand the Physical Presence Requirements of your Canadian Citizenship Application.

The physical presence calculator is used when permanent residents want to apply for citizenship and to prove that they have lived in Canada for 1095 days in the past 5 years immediately before the application.

One of the requirements of becoming a Canadian citizen is meeting the physical presence requirements. It is important to know following points about your physical presence in Canada:

1) A Canadian Residence within the last 5 years immediately before the date of application is considered.

2) If you were a legal temporary resident or a refugee in Canada before your permanent residence status, that time counts as half a day up to a maximum of 1 year (365 days). For example, you were a recognized refugee in Canada for 2 years and then you became a permanent resident. For citizenship purposes your 2 years will be counted as half, so the eligible time for your citizenship would be 1 year only.

Your permanent residence time will be counted on a full-day basis, for example, if you spent 2 years as a PR in Canada, your time will be considered 2 years toward citizenship. Your permanent residence time will not be halved.

3) If you have spent time in imprisonment, or probation/parole, that time is not counted towards your physical presence, this is a general rule, there are some exceptions to this rule however, such as youth sentence, conditional discharge of parole, etc. where such residence can be included in the time spent in Canada.