A lot about what you "
learned" is not just wrong, but way wrong.
Moreover, sensing a forum reluctance to be upfront about bad news, leaving me to be its messenger, the bad news is that given your breach of the Residency Obligation you currently meet the definition of
inadmissible and it appears quite likely (or at least there is a real risk) that when you make the effort to come into Canada that will trigger inadmissibility proceedings leading to an adjudication of status terminating your PR status.
It is possible you could come to Canada soon, present your valid PR card at the Port-of-Entry (PoE), and be waived into Canada without any inadmissibility proceedings being commenced (we do not know the odds). In that case, if lucky and waived into Canada without a problem, and you stayed in Canada for the next two years, that would cure the breach of the RO (at that point you will have been IN Canada at least two years within the preceding five, meeting the RO), you would not be inadmissible, you could apply for and obtain a new PR card, and if you stayed another year beyond that you could even become a Canadian citizen.
The longer you wait to come, the bigger the risk you will be subject to inadmissibility proceedings at the PoE resulting in a Removal Order, terminating your PR status unless you successfully appeal based on H&C reasons. Again, we cannot quantify the odds except to recognize the longer you wait, the bigger the RO breach, the bigger the risk of being issued a Removal Order at the border. Meanwhile, anecdotal reporting suggests that many PRs in RO breach are in fact waived through the border, and if so all they need to do is STAY long enough to get back into RO compliance.
That's a rather narrow pathway to keeping your status as a Canadian (Canadian PR), subject to a significant chance it will not work. A move to Canada soon, and to stay, doing so not knowing whether you will even be able to stay permanently, is probably not part of your current planning.
There are other potential approaches, all with some level of risk (given how much you are already in breach of the RO), pursuant to which you can TRY to save your PR status despite failing to comply with the RO. Most rely on being allowed H&C relief, which will ordinarily only work if the PR comes to Canada to stay, soon if not more or less immediately. And getting the H&C relief is nowhere near a safe bet.
In the meantime, if you do nothing to trigger a Residency Determination, you remain a Canadian, meaning you will continue to have Canadian PR status indefinitely (no need for an "
extension") -- perhaps, for example, another five years if in the meantime you do not do something that triggers a Residency Determination. But of course the longer it goes to when you do trigger a Residency Determination, the greater the odds the outcome is the loss of PR status.
Things that trigger PR Residency Determination:
-- arrival at a PoE; the application to physically enter Canada (made by showing up at a PoE) can trigger a Residency Determination, but will not necessarily do so (most PRs presenting a valid PR card are waived into Canada without RO questioning)
-- application for a PR Travel Document
-- application for a new PR card (some refer to this as "renewing" the PR card)
-- application to sponsor family member can trigger a Residency Determination, but will not necessarily do so
Some Clarifications:
There is NO
extension of a PR card or of PR status.
Once someone become a Canadian (actual landing and becoming a Canadian PR), they remain a Canadian UNLESS and UNTIL their status as a Canadian is terminated or revoked.
A person who landed and became a Canadian PR twenty years ago but did not stay long, and who has not been back to Canada since, is STILL a Canadian. UNLESS their admissibility was adjudicated resulting in a determination of inadmissibility, and that decision took effect (was not appealed). Obviously, if they show up at a PoE and border officials recognize they are a Canadian PR, given the absence that long that will almost certainly trigger inadmissibility proceedings, probably leading to the loss of their Canadian status.
Effect of New PR Card:
A new PR card would not restart the so-called five year clock. Even if you are issued a new PR card, unless you are staying in Canada that is NOT likely to save your PR status. Even with a new PR card, say it is June, 2025, if you are questioned in June 2025 about complying with the RO, that will be based on the number of days IN Canada between June 2020 and June 2025, and if less than 730 days, that means you are in RO breach, meeting the definition of inadmissible, and subject to being issued a Removal Order and deported . . . even if your new PR card is valid until sometime in 2029.
Bottom-line:
There is some chance you can save your PR status if you make the effort to move to Canada soon. If waived through at the border, just stay. If issued a Removal Order at the border, appeal and stay, being sure to get a good lawyer for the appeal.
If moving to Canada soon is not feasible, then saving your PR status is likely not feasible either. Sorry.
