Missing Few Trips

Hi,

parkbr: What should I do now?

I agree with corazon, get your travel history and with that and some research of your own (looking at old credit card statements, other records you might have, dates of photographs, anything to refresh your memory) in order to reconstruct, as best you possibly can, your dates of travel.

If the discrepancy is not much (no more than several days), just prepare a new residency calculation, as accurately as you can, and be prepared to present it to CIC at the next encounter you have: either at the time of the test-interview or, if per chance you were to receive RQ before then, submit the corrected residency calculation with the response to RQ.

I would be sure to overtly, and clearly, indicate that it is a corrected travel disclosure and residency calculation. Again, if the discrepancies are minimal, no more needs to be said than that, that it is a corrected calcuation. (Forget giving a "I forgot" explanation; see below.)

If your case has already been transferred to a local office, you could send a corrected residency calculation and travel disclosure without prompting. And, in particular, if the discrepancy is more than several days, more than a twenty or thirty days for example, I would do that or (and personally I would) consult with a lawyer.

In any event, do not proceed to the next step without correcting it (thus, for example, if you are scheduled for a test, bring corrected calcuation with you). And in correcting it, do not rely on the U.S. records or the CBSA records to be complete, but do your best to accurately reconstruct your true travel history and report it. Report ALL trips as best you can.

Some people might disagree with this, thinking that it is best to see how it goes as is, being prepared to update the calculation if asked but not necessarily be proactive in correcting it. That might suffice. For many it may suffice and make it easier. But, if CIC identifies that there is a significant discrepancy and you have not made an effort to come clean, so to say, that's one of those contextual circumstances that can make a case a lot more difficult than it needs to be.

I have often emphasized, and I don't think it can be stated too often:
Your credibility is one of the most important elements in making your case for citizenship. If the applicant's credibility is compromised, if CIC begins to doubt the accuracy of the applicant's representations, that can make it very difficult to prove one's case. A great deal depends on CIC (and the CJ) believing the applicant.

parkbr: Since they do not stamp my entry or exit at the Niagara Falls border, I completely forgot about it!

It will help to forget the "I forgot" (or the dog ate my homework) excuse. No matter how true it is. It is not credible. Not credible no matter how true it is. Odds are you relied on your stamps and you can say so. It would be one thing to forget actual dates (so then you report the trip as best you can), or if making many day trips just not logging into memory all of them (but this would be someone making so many day trips, several dozen every year, that questions are likely to arise anyway), but claiming to totally forget you made trips longer than day trips and leaving them out of the residency calculation altogether is not believeable (again, even if it is true) unless, of course, you have some disabilities affecting recall (and such individuals usually know to keep records rather than relying on memory).

Personnel at CIC see and deal with and understand the full gamut of these things day in and day out: they can put it all in context. Minor omissions or mistakes are, I am quite confident, readily forgiven, not a big deal, but of course that can and will depend on a wide range of other factors.

No reason to take chances with your credibility by saying "oh I forgot I went to a foreign country so I did not disclose that trip," when the ordinary, reasonable person does not forget international travel. We are not talking, here, about a person's memory off the top of their head, but memory based on a diligent, conscientious effort to fully disclose, as required, all such travel, with severe penalties at risk for misrepresentations in this, and having to sign a declaration that the information is "true, correct, and complete" subject to penalties for false information or omissions.

Personal observation: My memory is under seige, and I have traveled internationally regularly for many decades, and while I might indeed forget some particular trips I took two or three decades ago, not many . . . and I am fairly confident this is the experience of the ordinary, reasonable person . . . recognizing, of course, many of us might not recall some trips off the top of our heads, but if we are required to make a disclosure of all such trips in a formal venue with criminal as well as other severe penalties at stake if we make misrepresentations in such regard, and we thus take the time to reconstruct as best we can all travel abroad, the "I forgot" about a trip within the previous four years just does not fly very well at all. Even if it is true. At the very least, someone should know that they have perhaps failed to recall some travel, and should make some note to that effect in the application, somehow. The declaration the applicant signs is not a mere formality.

To obtain CBSA personal records, see these websites:
http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/agency-agence/reports-rapports/pia-efvp/atip-aiprp/req-dem-priv-eng.html

http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/tbsf-fsct/350-58-eng.asp

For U.S. records see:
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/976/kw/record%20of%20arrival%20and%20departure/session/L3NpZC9veUVaUUZtaw%3D%3D/p/0/c/0

There are several discussions about how to do this in multiple topics here, but they tend to get dated when CBSA or other government agencies amend their web pages or change url addresses. The links I give, for example, work today, but who knows if they will continue to work next week.

The records are not necessarily complete. Some have reported that theirs was, indeed, complete. But, as I have oft times emphasized, only the individual is in a position to record every cross-border trip for certain.

The other discussions here, though, do go into reports as to just what various individuals have gotten back, so perhaps it is worth your while to dig through previous pages of topics to find those discussions.

 

Edited by canuck25 - 06 Oct 2012 at 10:42am