Travel History for Visa Applications: How Far Back Each Form Asks
The DS-160 wants five years, a UK visitor application can want ten, and citizenship forms want every trip in the qualifying period. Here is what the main forms ask for, how to build a record that matches your passport, and how to keep one that is ready for the next form.
Last verified: September 2026
In short: visa forms usually ask about the last 5 years (US DS-160, Canada visitor visa) or 10 years (some UK visitor applicants, Canadian permanent residence). Citizenship applications ask for every trip abroad in the qualifying period: 5 years for the US, the UK and Canada (3 on the US and UK spouse routes) and 4 years for Australia. The Schengen visa form asks for no travel history at all. Whatever the form, the dates you give should match your passport, official entry and exit records and your earlier applications.
How far back each form asks
As of September 2026, these are the travel-history questions on the main forms. Each row was checked against the form or the official page for it.
US nonimmigrant visa, DS-160
- How far back
- 5 years
- What to list
- Your international travel history, plus the dates of your last five visits to the United States if you have been before.
UK Standard Visitor visa
- How far back
- 10 years
- What to list
- Travel history, when your circumstances call for it. GOV.UK lists it among the details you "might also need to provide".
Canada visitor visa, IMM 5257 Schedule 1
- How far back
- 5 years, or since age 18 if that is more recent
- What to list
- Travel outside your country of citizenship and residence: from and to (year and month), country, location and purpose.
Canada permanent residence, IMM 5562 (Your Travels)
- How far back
- 10 years, or since your 18th birthday if that is less
- What to list
- All trips outside your country of origin or residence, including tourism, business and training. The principal applicant also completes it for a spouse or partner and for dependants aged 18 or older.
Schengen visa, harmonised application form
- How far back
- None
- What to list
- No list of trips. Field 28 asks only whether your fingerprints were collected for an earlier Schengen visa application, with the date and visa sticker number if you know them.
US naturalization, N-400 Part 8
- How far back
- 5 years (3 years if you apply as the spouse of a US citizen)
- What to list
- Every trip outside the US: the date you left, the date you returned and the countries you visited. Trips completed within 24 hours are left out.
UK naturalisation, Form AN
- How far back
- The qualifying period: 5 years, or 3 as the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen
- What to list
- All absences from the UK. Only whole days away count. Trips that do not fit on the form go on a separate attachment.
Canadian citizenship, physical presence calculation
- How far back
- 5 years before you apply
- What to list
- Every absence from Canada, including same-day trips to the United States. Only full days outside Canada count.
Australian citizenship, Residence Calculator
- How far back
- 4 years
- What to list
- The exact dates of every departure from and return to Australia, including trips you plan before you apply.
Two things change between these forms: the window, and what counts as a trip. A window measured "since age 18" or "whichever is more recent" can be shorter than it first looks.
Canada visitor visa, "whichever is more recent". You turned 18 on 14 February 2023 and apply on 25 September 2026. Five years back reaches 25 September 2021, but your 18th birthday is more recent, so Schedule 1 covers 14 February 2023 to today. A 40-year-old applying the same day lists travel from 25 September 2021.
One day trip, two answers. A Canadian permanent resident drives to Seattle on 1 July and returns that evening. The citizenship calculation still lists it, as 0 days absent. A US permanent resident who crosses to Tijuana and back within 24 hours leaves that trip off the N-400 table entirely. And a Canadian holiday from 1 to 31 December counts as 29 days absent, because the day you leave and the day you return count as days in Canada.
What makes a record hold up
A travel-history record is checked against other documents, so it is only as good as its weakest date. Before you copy anything into a form, check four things.
- It covers the whole window. Start from the first day the form asks about, not from when you started keeping notes. Short trips and weekend crossings are the ones most often missing.
- It matches what officials can see. Passport stamps, visas and government entry and exit data are what your dates are compared with. Australia says outright that it assesses residence against the movement data it holds, not against the numbers you enter in its calculator.
- It agrees with what you declared before. The DS-160 asks for your last five US visits, and earlier applications stay on file. Keep a copy of every form you submit, and if a date was wrong last time, correct it deliberately and explain the correction rather than repeating it.
- Estimates are marked as estimates. A reconstructed date written as if it were certain is the error most likely to collide with a stamp. Where a form has room for comments, such as Part 14 of the N-400 or an attachment to Form AN, say which dates are approximate and why.
Keep dates in one format (YYYY-MM-DD avoids day-month confusion) and one row per stay in a country. That structure converts to every form above: Canada's Schedule 1 needs only the year and month, while the N-400 and the citizenship calculators need exact departure and return dates. Our free travel history template is a CSV laid out this way.
Filling the gaps
Most people cannot list five years of travel from memory. Work from the strongest evidence outward: official records first, then passport stamps and visas, then airline accounts, boarding passes, booking emails, card statements and photo locations. Several governments will give you your own entry and exit data; how to get official entry and exit records covers which ones and how. Australia's movement records, for example, are free to request. For the rest, rebuilding travel history from passport stamps, emails and photos walks through the method trip by trip.
If a date still cannot be pinned down, use the narrowest range your evidence supports and mark it approximate. A form that asks for month and year does not need more; a form that asks for exact dates needs your best supported estimate and a note, not an invented day.
Keep it in AtlasDays, export it for every form
The easiest record to hand in is one you never had to rebuild. AtlasDays keeps every trip as it happens: log it in a few taps, or let Auto-Detect add it when your iPhone crosses a border. Past years come in from a CSV file, your photos or Flighty. When a form asks, you export the dates instead of reconstructing them, and every application you file is built from the same record.
Exports sit under Settings → Export, created on your iPhone and never uploaded:
- Country Presence Report (PDF). Your trips in date order or grouped by country, with an optional personal details block (name, date of birth, nationality, passport number), purpose and notes, a signature line, and dates in the format you pick, such as 2026-06-30 or 06-30-2026.
- Spreadsheet (Excel or CSV). Country, State, Start Date, End Date, Days, Purpose and Notes, ready to filter to the form's window and copy across.
Two things to know before you copy from it. Copy the dates, not the totals: the report counts presence days with both travel days included, while citizenship forms that count whole days away give a smaller number for the same trip. And a city or port of entry, if the form wants one, goes in the trip's notes.
Beyond the dates
Travel history is one part of an application, and the rest of the file is assessed with it. Citizenship applications then test your day totals against their own limits: see US naturalization physical presence, UK citizenship absence limits, Canada's 1,095-day rule and Australia's residence requirement. If your record has a gap you cannot close, rebuilding your travel history covers what else counts as evidence.
AtlasDays keeps your travel history ready for the next form
Log trips as they happen, or import past ones from a CSV file, your photos or Flighty. When an application asks, export a dated Country Presence Report PDF or a spreadsheet, privately on your iPhone.
Get AtlasDaysFAQ
How many years of travel history does a visa application need?
It depends on the form. The US DS-160 asks about the past 5 years, Canada's visitor visa form the past 5 years or since age 18 if that is more recent, and some UK visitor applicants and Canadian permanent residence applicants 10 years. Citizenship applications ask for every trip abroad in the qualifying period, usually 4 or 5 years.
Do I need exact dates for every trip?
Not always. Canada's visitor visa Schedule 1 asks only for the year and month, while the US N-400 and the Canadian and Australian citizenship calculations need exact departure and return dates. Where you cannot establish a date, give your best supported estimate and say it is approximate where the form allows comments.
Can I submit an exported travel history as proof?
Treat it as a summary, not as evidence. A self-prepared list or PDF helps you fill in forms consistently and can accompany an application that accepts one, but officials check dates against passports and their own entry and exit records. The AtlasDays report states on its first page that the records are user-maintained and not independently verified.
About this article: AtlasDays provides general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Rules change and outcomes depend on your circumstances, so never rely on it alone: check the linked official source or ask a qualified professional.