Guides · Counting days
How IRCC counts your days: departures, returns and day trips
To become a citizen you need 1,095 days in Canada in the five years before you sign your application, and IRCC counts only the full days outside Canada as absences: the day you leave and the day you come back are both days in Canada. A trip from 1 to 15 July is 13 days away. Leaving on 1 July and coming back on 2 July is 0 days away — and you still declare it.
Checked against IRCC’s pages on 17 October 2026. Sources: Physical presence calculator: frequently asked questions, Canadian citizenship: who can apply.
The rules, one at a time
- The window is the five years before the day you sign. Days before it don’t count, however many there are (eligibility).
- A day in Canada as a permanent resident is one day. At least 730 of the 1,095 must be days as a permanent resident.
- A day in Canada before PR is half a day, as a temporary resident or protected person, up to 365 days of credit — see does time before PR count.
- The day you leave and the day you come back are days in Canada. You were here for part of each, so only the days in between are absences.
- A same-day trip is 0 days away, and still declared, day trips to the United States included (calculator FAQ).
- 29 February counts like any other day, as an absence or as a day in Canada (calculator FAQ).
- Time serving a sentence — in prison, on parole or on probation — generally doesn’t count; IRCC’s calculator FAQ lists the exceptions.
Worked through
You leave on 1 July and come back on 15 July. You were in Canada for part of 1 July and part of 15 July, so both are days in Canada. The days away are 2 to 14 July: 13 days. That is IRCC’s own example.
See it on your own dates
The calculator opens on a PR date and one trip, 1 to 15 July 2025, which it counts as 13 days away — unless you kept your own dates in this browser, which it opens on instead. Change the dates to yours.
Becoming a citizen
You have your days.
By this count, you reached 1,095 days on 13 June 2026. Check IRCC’s calculator, then apply when you’re ready.
Keeping your PR status
1,222 days
in Canada in the last 5 years. 730 needed · it holds.
More about these dates
By this count, you reached 1,095 days on 13 June 2026.
The five years before today hold 1,222.
PR card: by this count you have 1,222 days in the last 5 years — 730 needed. It holds.
Your five years since PR end on 1 June 2028.
Estimates. Confirm with IRCC’s physical presence calculator before you apply.
Keep counting with an account: these dates and trips go with you, and the count stays up to date.
This browser didn’t let the page keep your dates, so they can’t go with you. Make an account anyway and add them there.
These are example dates — replace them with yours.
The days left
Every day, five years
19 Oct 2021 – 18 Oct 2026 · 1,826 days
The five years start 19 Oct 2021, but nothing counts before 1 Jun 2023, so the calendar starts there. The window slides with the date.
Every day from 19 October 2021 to 18 October 2026. 1 trip taken, 13 days away in all. By this count, the 1,095 days are there on 13 June 2026. Today is 18 October 2026. United States: 1 Jul 2025 to 15 Jul 2025, 13 days away.
The same count has a page of its own: the citizenship calculator.
Why the day you sign matters
The window ends on the day you sign, so the same trips give a different count a month later: old days fall out of the window as new ones come in. IRCC asks for the date in your calculation, the date you sign and the date on your application to be the same date, so count again on the day you sign. IRCC also encourages applying with more than 1,095 days, in case something in the count is off.