Physical Presence Calculator

What are the physical presence requirements?

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.

In order to help you decide when to apply, the physical presence calculator calculates if and when you will meet the 1,095 day requirement.

How do I use the physical presence calculator?

• Fill in all the required information
• Enter all dates correctly
• List all time spent serving a sentence in Canada in the last five years
• List all your time away from Canada, including travel for work or vacation, in the last five years

The physical presence calculator only collects information about the five (5) years immediately before the date of application.

What happens next?

The calculator will tell you if you meet the physical presence requirement.

• If you meet the physical presence requirement, attach a copy to your Application for Canadian Citizenship. If you attach a copy, you do not need to complete the How to Calculate Physical Presence form (CIT 0407).
• If you do not meet the physical presence requirement, you are not eligible to apply for Citizenship. The calculator will give you a date when you should be eligible to apply, assuming nothing changes and you remain in Canada. When you are eligible to apply, redo the calculation before sending in your application. Your circumstances might have changed. For example, you might have more absences and this could impact your eligibility. If you want to save this calculation, you will need to register with an e-mail address. Don't forget to review all dates including the application date when you retrieve a saved calculation.

Foreign police certificates

During the four (4) years immediately before the date of your application, if you spent 183 days or more in a row (since the age of 18) in a country (other than Canada), you must provide a police certificate from each country. If you were in your country of origin immediately prior to becoming a permanent resident and landing in Canada and this time falls within this four year period, you are NOT required to provide a police certificate. Please indicate this in the explanation box of the application form.

See How to get a police certificate (police check) for specific and up-to-date information on how to get police certificates from any country.

For more information

Consult Frequently Asked Questions.