When making use of for Canadian citizenship by means of naturalization, you’ll need to element your journey historical past and any immigration statuses you will have held—not only for the previous 5 years, however in your whole life.
Failure to supply a whole and correct journey historical past can lead to delays or issues to your citizenship software.
The necessity to embody a lifelong journey historical past, slightly than solely journey historical past as an grownup or within the 5 or ten years previous your software, has been confirmed in latest correspondence between immigration attorneys and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
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Whereas journey historical past consists of any nation you will have visited, immigration standing is equally thorough, spanning the vary of statuses from customer to citizen out of the country.
Candidates should enter this info when prompted beneath query 13 of the Software for Canadian Citizenship (CIT 002) type if making use of on paper, or when prompted of their software when making use of on-line.
How detailed does my journey historical past disclosure must be?
Via correspondence through the immigration consultant’s mailbox, IRCC has affirmed that journey historical past and immigration standing disclosure should cowl all international locations/territories visited since delivery—even when the applicant was solely current in a rustic or territory for just a few hours.
This disclosure should embody a begin and finish date to your journey and the immigration standing you held.
As an illustration, in the event you visited a rustic for a layover in your technique to your vacation spot, and remained there for just a few hours, this is able to additionally must be disclosed as a part of your journey historical past. On this case, the entry and exit dates would doubtless be on the identical day.
Whereas some candidates might mistake immigration standing to imply longer-term authorizations, akin to research or work permits, the requirement additionally consists of disclosure of customer standing.
Within the above instance, wherein an individual solely visited a rustic for just a few hours as a part of a layover, they might doubtless disclose their standing as “customer” of their software. This is able to additionally apply to international locations/territories visited as a vacationer.
IRCC’s software type additionally offers candidates the chance to incorporate “different” statuses. As soon as this selection is chosen from the dropdown menu, you possibly can enter your standing with higher specificity, permitting you to reveal any statuses that might not be available from the drop-down.
What strategies can I exploit to make sure that my journey historical past is full?
Although going over your whole journey historical past since delivery can actually appear tedious, there are completely different strategies that you should use that can assist you consolidate and document a whole journey historical past in your citizenship software.
Overview present and previous passports
Think about inspecting all of your present and expired passports.
Passport stamps are sometimes an simply accessible document of entry and exit dates. Needless to say many international locations might not stamp on exit, so it could be extra useful to make use of these stamps as a reference slightly than the only supply of reality.
Verify your electronic mail for eTA confirmations
In case you maintain a passport from a rustic with many visa exemptions, you’ll as a substitute have to use for digital journey authorizations (eTAs) throughout your travels.
Confirmations for eTAs are normally despatched by electronic mail. Looking out your inbox for phrases like “eTA,” “eTA approval,” and even the nation’s identify can reveal information of previous visits.
In case you’re uncertain which electronic mail deal with you could have been despatched the eTA from (since these differ by nation), you possibly can test the official authorities web site of that nation to find out which electronic mail deal with they might have used to ship your eTA affirmation from.
Use journey itineraries and airline bookings
Reviewing previous reserving confirmations and airline itineraries—which frequently comprise the precise dates of journey—could be a superb useful resource when recording your journey historical past.
These could be an particularly helpful supply of knowledge since airline itineraries and journey plans additionally embody layovers, which can be missed in different references.
In case you’ve used the identical airline steadily, it’s possible you’ll even be capable to entry archived journey historical past by means of your on-line account.
Different on-line accounts, akin to lodge portals or Airbnb accounts, can equally aid you decide once you arrived and left a location, and the way lengthy you stayed there.
Double-check social media posts and photographs
Reviewing photographs and posts on platforms like Fb, Instagram, or X may help jog your reminiscence about journeys you may in any other case overlook. Since posts on all platforms even have dates connected, they may help offer you a greater concept of entry and exit occasions.
Different photographs (whether or not in your cellphone, on-line cloud storage, or from bodily prints and photograph albums) can be utilized equally as an support to jog your reminiscence, or as a corroborating document of your travels.
Overview bank card and financial institution statements
Bank card info and financial institution statements also can aid you observe and document your travels.
You might discover it helpful to maintain a watch out for bigger transactions in your statements, the place you could have transformed money into native forex, or transactions to your lodge, resort, or Airbnb, as a marker for when a visit began.
Schedule a Free Canadian Citizenship Session with the Cohen Immigration
Legislation Agency
