Guides · After you apply

Can I leave Canada after applying for citizenship?

Yes. On the way to becoming a citizen, you can leave Canada once IRCC has received your application, as long as you keep your permanent resident status, can receive and answer IRCC’s letters and emails in time, and are in Canada in person for your citizenship test, any interview, and the ceremony.

Checked against IRCC’s pages on 17 October 2026. Sources: Canadian citizenship: after you apply, Canadian citizenship: who can apply, IRCC Help Centre: recalculating after a returned application, Understand permanent resident status.

What IRCC asks while you’re away

IRCC’s page on what happens after you apply asks you to:

• keep your permanent resident status;
• be able to receive the letters, parcels and emails IRCC sends you;
• reply within the time IRCC gives you — usually within 30 days;
• be available in person in Canada for the citizenship test (if you are 18 to 54), any interview, and the ceremony;
• tell IRCC if you plan to leave Canada for more than two weeks in a row.

Does a trip after you apply change your count?

The count looks at the five years before the date you sign your application, so a trip after that date is outside it.

If your application comes back and you send it again, the count is done again. In the online account, IRCC asks whether anything changed since your last calculation, and you add any time outside Canada since then.

Your PR status still has its own rule

Until you become a citizen, PR status needs 730 days in Canada in every five-year period — see how long a PR can stay outside Canada. And to come back on a plane, boat, train or bus, you need a valid PR card or a permanent resident travel document.

Before you sign

Count your days with the calculator, then check them in IRCC’s physical presence calculator on the day you sign.