Urgent! please help

Hello everyone,

I am going to apply for the Canadian citizenship next month and I have a question please regarding "date when you first arrive to Canada". My story is that I have studied in Canada, as an international student, between September 2003 and March 2006 in Alerta and I went back home after that date. I came back to canada to do my Master's degree, as an international student, on September 2008, and I became a permanent resident in April 2009. My question is, when applying for citizenship: Should I answer the question regarding "Date you first come to Canada" as September 2003 or as September 2008. I am confused, please help Thanks.

thanks PMM. I am just confused, other people tell me to put 2008 since they only count the last four years. I don't know if I apply through an immigration agency.

Thanks a lot Dpenabil. I have asked many people and each one says somthing different. Many people tell me if you tell them the 2003 date, it will create a confusion (i was not living in canada in 2006 and 2007). They say I better put 2008 which does make sense since they only count the last four years. The question itself is not clear. Other suggestions please.

Foremost: no need to sweat this. Either way is probably not going to be a problem.

That said, actually item 6.B is very clear. And similarly in the residency calculator. Only in the hard version form for declaring residency is it a bit vague, but that form leaves a lot to be desired in technical terms.
See, for example, the sentence (on form CIT 0407) that states:

The Citizenship Act requires a person to have accumulated 3 years (1095 days) in the past 4 yours on the day before application.

What this means in context is relatively clear, but only in context; in terms of what it literally says, though, in itself, it is nonsensical: what in the devil's slide does "have accumulated 3 years (1095 days) in the past 4 years" mean?
It means nothing unless you interpret it to mean, by reading into it, either to have accumulated 3 years of residency or three years of actual presence . . . and therein more than a few are led astray by the vagueness of the admonition that follows. (As of this juncture, but for those with truly exceptional circumstances, no one should even consider applying until they meet the strict, actual physical presence threshold of 1095 days present in Canada during the immediately preceding four years.)

But, as I say, what 6.B in the application itself says and asks for is clear, and is specific. I agree with Alisaleh that that item is not directly related to the relevant four year period (it may have some relevance, but it is not itself couched in terms relative to the four year period).

The reason you are getting conflicting information is, as I have said, the interpretation by many (including a majority of those who have addressed this in this forum . . . I am among the minority on this) that 6.B is there only for the purpose of identifying whether or not an individual is entitled to include, in the residency calculation, time in Canada prior to landing. That is, they read the question in light of what they believe its purpose is.

(Frankly I do not understand this approach to interpreting forms or instructions; only if the literal meaning of the form is ambiguous would I resort to reading into the item its anticipated purpose -- and generally most of the information solicited in citizenship and immigration forms can be used by CIC in multiple ways, so the purpose is usually not part of what an item is actually asking. Oh well.)

All that said, no matter: if you answer the item literally, that is, if you put down the date you first came to live in Canada, there is no way that will harm your application. It is a truthful response. It does not affect the residency calculation (since all that time is outside the four year time frame). That is, there is no downside in answering it as it is posed, literally. If you are concerned, you can attach/include a supplemental sheet with the application in which you identify the item clearly and as breifly as possible clarify your answer and perhaps add that you came to live *permanently* in Canada on such and such a date.

But again, this is NO BIG DEAL. It will not affect your eligibility. I doubt it ever hurts to interpret and respond to questions based on their literal meaning and as directly as possible.