11.06.2008

citizenship update

Our applications for Canadian citizenship are in the mail! And may I say:
WHOO-HOOOO!!!!

In my last post about our status in Canada, I said:
The only potentially tricky part is the number of days you have actually been physically present in Canada.
To be eligible for Canadian citizenship, you must have lived in Canada for at least three years (1,095 days) out of the four years (1,460 days) preceding your application. Please note that you cannot meet the residence requirements for citizenship without a minimum of two (2) years as a permanent resident.

The counter takes in the last four years, so those of you who moved to Canada before becoming Permanent Residents, a full year of that time counts.

You also deduct any time spent outside of Canada. Day trips don't count, so we don't deduct time for picking up friends at the Buffalo airport or picking up Tala in western New York State. But our little trips to New York and Vermont, our US Thanksgiving in New Jersey, vacation in Peru, my trip to Southern California - all that gets deducted.

The CIC site has a very useful and user-friendly online calculator, where you can input all your info, and it tells you exactly when you're eligible to apply for citizenship. You can save it online, and you can also print your results to submit it with your application.

After deducting our various trips out of Canada, we determined we can submit our applications on November 1. Only two months away, not bad! Allan is eligible sooner than me, but we'll submit our applications when we're both ready.

I was out of the country 65 days in the last 3 years; Allan had 49 days. We had forgotten a wedding in Vermont, so my eligibility date came out to November 3.

This week we had our pictures taken in the back of a video and novelty store, one of the zillion citizenship-photo places in Mississauga, where the man taking your picture is a new Canadian himself. We checked everything twice, paid $400 online and printed a receipt, and sent off the whole shebang.

The CIC website says the current processing times for routine citizenship applications is 12-15 months. I hope it comes through while Hazel McCallion is still Mayor of Mississauga, because I want to be sworn in by her on Canada Day. I don't know if that's possible at this point, but I'm hoping.

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