You generally need 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada in the five years before you sign your application, plus taxes filed for three of those years. Most refusals and long delays come from day counting, not from the test. Count carefully, and apply with a margin.
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Permanent resident status in good standing, with no unfulfilled conditions and no removal order or fraud investigation outstanding. An expired PR card does not stop you applying. Losing PR status does.
Physical presence: at least 1,095 days in Canada within the five years immediately before the date you sign the application. Time in Canada as a temporary resident or protected person before you became a permanent resident counts as half a day each, up to a capped total.
Taxes filed for at least three of those five years, where you were required to file under the Income Tax Act. Then language ability in English or French, and a knowledge test about Canada, both of which apply if you are between 18 and 54 on the day you sign.
Use IRCC's physical presence calculator and be brutally honest with it. Every trip counts: a weekend across the border, a funeral abroad, a work conference. The day you leave and the day you return each count as a day in Canada, which people often get backwards.
Apply with a buffer. Filing at exactly 1,095 days leaves no room for a forgotten trip, and the usual consequence is a residence questionnaire: months of delay while you produce passport stamps, entry records, leases and employment history.
You can request your own travel history from the Canada Border Services Agency before you apply. If your memory of the last five years is hazy, get that record first. The officer deciding your file will have it.
You may already be a citizen, in which case you need a citizenship certificate rather than a grant application. The two processes are different, and filing the wrong one wastes months.
The rules for citizenship by descent changed on 15 December 2025. A Canadian parent who was themselves born or adopted abroad can now pass citizenship to a child born abroad where that parent has at least 1,095 days of cumulative physical presence in Canada before the child's birth or adoption. That reopened citizenship for a large group previously blocked by the first-generation limit.
This matters for adults who spent years assuming they were not Canadian, and for parents deciding whether a child abroad needs sponsorship at all. Establish citizenship first. It is faster and cheaper than immigrating someone who already is a citizen.
Prohibitions. A charge or conviction in Canada or abroad, time in prison or on parole, or an ongoing revocation proceeding can bar an application for a period. Tell us at the start. These usually change the timing, not the outcome.
Incomplete history. Every address and every job for the five years, with no gaps and no overlaps, plus every absence from Canada. Blank months attract questions, and questions attract questionnaires.
Document mismatches. A name spelled differently across a passport, PR card and marriage certificate is a routine cause of delay. It is easily dealt with before filing, and slow to fix afterwards.
1,095 days of physical presence within the five years before you sign the application. Days spent in Canada as a student, worker or protected person before you became a permanent resident count as half a day each, subject to a cap. Days as a permanent resident count in full.
If you are between 18 and 54 on the day you sign the application, yes: a knowledge test about Canada, and proof of ability in English or French. Outside that age range, neither applies. Language is usually proved with an approved test result or evidence of secondary or post-secondary study in English or French.
No. The requirement is physical presence, not residence or intention. Working abroad for a Canadian employer does not add days, with narrow exceptions for Crown servants and their families. If you are anywhere near the line, expect a residence questionnaire and prepare the evidence before you file.
Tell us first. Certain charges, convictions and periods of imprisonment create a temporary bar, and applying during a prohibition period wastes the fee and creates a refusal on your record. Once the bar period has passed it usually stops being an obstacle at all.
Possibly not. Since 15 December 2025, a Canadian parent who was themselves born abroad can pass on citizenship where they have at least 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada before the child's birth or adoption. If that applies, you apply for a citizenship certificate rather than permanent residence.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.