What is the 1,095-day rule for Canadian citizenship?
The 1,095-day rule is the physical presence requirement for Canadian citizenship: you must have actually been in Canada for at least 1,095 days (3 years) during the 5 years immediately before signing your application.
Only days physically spent in Canada count. The 5-year window is counted back from the day you sign your application, so the qualifying days move with your application date.
Days as a permanent resident count as full days. Days you were physically in Canada as a temporary resident or protected person before becoming a PR count as half days, up to a maximum credit of 365 days. Time spent serving a sentence generally cannot be counted.
For travel, the days you leave and return are usually counted as days in Canada, but every full day in between is not. Long vacations, work trips, and visits home add up quickly, which is why IRCC recommends applying with a cushion of extra days rather than the exact minimum.
The safest approach is to keep a complete list of your trips and recount before you apply. Our free physical presence calculator does the math for you, including the pre-PR half-day credit, and IRCC's official calculator can confirm the result.
Enter your PR date and trips, get your day count instantly.
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