Most guidance about a citizenship application — ours included — is about how to chase IRCC. This one is about the other direction: what to do when IRCC asks you for something, and the clock starts on your side.
It usually reads like an accusation. It usually isn't one. The most common version by far is a physical presence review or a residence questionnaire, so that's the case worked through in detail below, but the way you answer is the same whatever the letter asks for — and the cost of answering badly, or late, is the same too.
At a glance
What IRCC can ask you for
After your application is in, IRCC can come back to you for any of the following. None of them mean a refusal is coming:
- A residence questionnaire (RQ) or documents about your physical presence — the most common request, and the one this guide works through below.
- Fingerprints — only if IRCC asks for them. Biometrics are not part of a citizenship application: IRCC's biometrics page lists citizenship applicants among the people exempt from giving them. If IRCC does ask, you pay for them yourself, and they must be taken electronically by your local police service, the RCMP, or an RCMP-accredited company. Prints from a Service Canada Centre are not accepted — IRCC says it will delete them and you will have to start again.
- A police certificate. IRCC states that it may request one at any point during processing, even if you already submitted a valid certificate with your application.
- Identity or name documents. If you legally changed your name, the application already requires the document that links the names — a marriage certificate, a court order — and that is the document to have ready if IRCC comes back about a name.
- An interview with an officer. After you pass the test IRCC may invite you to one, depending on your case, to verify your identity, authenticate photocopies of your documents, or confirm you're eligible. Adults can be invited, as can a minor aged 14 to 17 who applied without a parent applying at the same time — and there, both the minor and the person who applied for them must attend. IRCC says interviews don't necessarily lead to a final decision, so an invitation is not a verdict.
Two conditions apply to all of them. IRCC states that while your application is in progress you must be able to reply to its letters and emails within the time given, usually 30 days, and be available in person in Canada for the test, an interview and the ceremony. The deadline in your letter is the one that counts — read it first.
What happens if you don't answer. IRCC is direct about this. It closes applications where you "didn't send us the documents we asked for" or "didn't attend a required event (test, interview, hearing or ceremony)" — it says it will contact you before it does, and a closed application is refunded only in part: the right of citizenship fee for an adult, nothing for a minor. Separately, if IRCC cannot reach you because your contact details are stale, it says processing can take longer or it may refuse or abandon the file. Missing a deadline is the one part of this process that can end an application you would otherwise have won.
The requirement being checked
To qualify for citizenship, you must have been physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days in the five years before you signed your application. Some time spent in Canada as a temporary resident or protected person before you became a permanent resident can count too — but each of those days counts as only a half-day, up to a maximum of 365 days of credit. IRCC's own physical presence calculator is the tool officers effectively check your number against.
The margin matters. Someone who applies at exactly 1,095 days has no room for a forgotten weekend trip. That's often what a review is really about — not fraud, but a number that lands too close to the line, or a travel history that doesn't quite match what you declared. If you're not sure how your own days add up — especially with pre-PR time or a mix of statuses — our guide to the 1,095-day rule walks through eight real situations with a calculator that does the counting.
Why a file gets referred
A few common triggers:
- A thin buffer. Applying at or just above the minimum invites a closer look.
- A mismatch. The trips you listed don't line up with the border agency's entry/exit record.
- Long or frequent absences during the five-year window, especially if the reason isn't clear from the file.
- Incomplete travel history — gaps, missing dates, or a passport that doesn't cover the whole period.
When one of these shows up, an officer refers the file for verification. In the notes you might see it described as being sent for review, or the eligibility line simply stops moving. If you want to see the exact wording an officer used, your GCMS notes are the way to read it in their words — worth doing before you respond, so you answer the real concern instead of guessing at it.
What the review asks for
Whether it arrives as a documents request or a full residence questionnaire, the goal is the same: rebuild your presence with evidence. Expect to be asked for some combination of:
The anchor document is your border record. IRCC collects your entry/exit history from the CBSA itself, so you don't need to request it — and the CBSA warns that doing so yourself when IRCC can collect it will cause a significant delay. Only order your own Travel History Report if IRCC asks you to. To check your account of the questioned period, work from your passport stamps, flight bookings and, for US trips, the free US I-94 travel history.
How to respond well
- 1Read your GCMS notes
- 2Gather documents for that period
- 3Recount honestly
- 4Answer everything, on time
- 5Get help if it's borderline
- Read your GCMS notes first. Know exactly which period or trip the officer is questioning.
- Get the documents that speak to that period. The relevant passport pages, travel bookings, and proof of where you lived and worked for the months in doubt.
- Recount honestly. Redo your presence calculation against your real travel record. If you're genuinely over 1,095, the evidence will show it; if you're under, it's better to know now than to argue a number you can't support.
- Answer everything, on time. Complete every section and submit by the deadline in the letter — usually 30 days. A partial or late answer is what turns a routine request into a refused or abandoned file.
- Get help if it's borderline. If your days are close and the paperwork is complex, an authorized representative is worth it. This is one of the few citizenship stages where professional advice can change the outcome.
You can request your own records from IRCC for free under the Privacy Act — no paid middleman required. If the file has also blown past its processing time, the web form and an MP enquiry are the levers for that separate problem. Unsure what a term in the letter means? The IRCC acronyms glossary decodes the jargon.
The part you can still move
A review is largely a documentation exercise — you gather, you explain, you wait for a decision. What it doesn't touch is the test still waiting at the end. The most useful thing you can do while a presence review runs is make sure that when it clears and your invitation arrives, the knowledge test is the easy part.
Treat any IRCC request as what it is: an ask to show your work, not a verdict. Answer the specific concern, document it honestly, send it before the deadline, and most files clear and move on.