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Physical Presence Calculator for Canadian Citizenship

Citizenship requires 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada during the five years before you apply. Time before you became a permanent resident can count too — at half value, up to a limit.

Your days in Canada

Count only days you were physically in Canada, and only those falling inside the five years immediately before the day you plan to apply.

Every one of these counts as a full day.

Time as a visitor, student, worker, temporary resident permit holder, or protected person. Each counts as half a day, and the credit stops at 365 days.

Protected persons count too. If you were recognised as a Convention refugee or person in need of protection before landing, that time earns the same half-day credit as other temporary status.

Physical presence is only one of the citizenship requirements. Tax filing, language and knowledge requirements are assessed separately, and absences must be declared accurately — IRCC verifies them against travel history.

Countable days

0

of 1,095 required

Permanent resident days0
Pre-PR credit0

You need 1,095 more days of physical presence in Canada.

Review My Citizenship Timing

Estimate only

Based on IRCC's published physical presence rule, verified 2026-08-13. This is not immigration advice, and IRCC's own assessment of your travel history is what decides your application.

Confirm with IRCC's physical presence guidance.

Citizenship presence questions

You must be physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days during the five years immediately before the day you apply. Those days do not have to be continuous, and the five-year window moves with your application date, so waiting can change the calculation in either direction.

Yes, at half value. Each day you were physically in Canada as a temporary resident or protected person before becoming a PR counts as half a day, and that credit is capped at 365 days of presence. In practice 730 calendar days before landing is the most that can ever help you — anything beyond that adds nothing.

It does. Time in Canada as a protected person — a recognised Convention refugee or person in need of protection — earns the same half-day credit as time as a visitor, student or worker. For clients who spent a long period awaiting a decision before landing, this often brings a citizenship application forward considerably.

Precisely. IRCC checks declared absences against border and travel records, and understating them causes real problems, including refusal or a finding of misrepresentation. Count every trip, however short, including same-day crossings. If your travel history is complicated, it is worth having someone go through it with you before you file.

You can, but many people deliberately build a buffer. If IRCC calculates any of your absences differently from you, an application filed with no margin can fall under the threshold and be refused, and you lose the fee and the processing time. A cushion of a few extra weeks is common practice.

No. Depending on your age you may also need to meet language and knowledge requirements, and you must have filed taxes for the required number of years within the five-year period. Physical presence is simply the requirement people most often need help calculating.