@hpham1.ca . . . I will get to particular questions, like whether to withdraw (if you do, that probably would not change whether inadmissibility proceedings for a RO breach happen), but first . . . are you actually in breach?
BIGGEST RISK: If you are actually in breach, your biggest risk would arise if you leave Canada while in RO breach.
But the main question appears to be whether or not you are in breach . . .
UPFRONT:
Whether you are in breach of the Residency Obligation appears to depend on whether your time outside Canada attendant a "
job," a job "
for a Canadian public university," qualifies for the working-abroad credit allowed pursuant to the exception prescribed by Section 28(2)(a)(iii) IRPA,
here, which in relevant part provides that credit is allowed for days the PR is "
outside Canada employed on a full-time basis by a Canadian business or in the federal public administration or the public service of a province."
The fact that the travel outside Canada is labeled "
business travel," or "
business trip," does not determine if the credit is available; this label will NOT illuminate much if anything (typically nothing at all) about whether that time abroad qualifies for this RO credit.
Your business travel will not count as days in Canada for purposes of meeting the residency obligation.
In older (quite old) discussions about this credit there were some claims, UNFOUNDED claims, that time abroad on "
business trips" will not get the working-abroad credit because the time outside Canada was pursuant to a "
business trip." Not clear if
@Besram is reviving this claim (which, again, is unfounded) or expressing a conclusion based on your particular circumstances.
There is, however, not enough information here to reach that conclusion, that your time abroad on business for the university will not count.
But neither is there enough shared here to conclude it will count. It is NOT the label "
business travel"
that matters. Some business travel will qualify. Some business trips will not qualify.
What matters is whether the PR is employed full time by a qualified Canadian employer (quite sure that a Canadian public university meets the criteria, assuming it is the university who is your employer), and temporarily assigned (sent or directed by the employer) to do full time work outside Canada (even if that is to engage in what many would describe as "
business meetings" or such), while in effect retaining their position in Canada, a position which according to the assignment, and the employment relationship, provides the PR will return to their position here, in Canada, when that assignment is completed. Again, some business trips will meet the criteria, so get credit. Some will not.
There is a lengthy, in-depth discussion of this in the topic "
Working Abroad RO credit, including "business trips;" an update" (update as of the time of that discussion, several years ago now) which is
here.
Claiming the RO Credit for Time Abroad in Employ of Qualified Canadian Employer:
In the PR card application, Question 5.2, if you believed your time outside Canada was pursuant to your employment as described in that question, you should have checked [X] Yes.
Then, in the chart for question 5.5, where you reported time spent outside Canada, you should have checked [A] in the drop down box in the column for stating "
Reason for absence" for those time periods you were outside working for the university. Then, in addition to submitting two pieces of evidence showing you were residing in Canada, you should have also included the "
proof" (supporting documents) described in the
Appendix to the guide for PR card applications, in the section titled "
Situation A. Employment outside Canada," including in particular a letter by an official in the university confirming your employment and details of the assignment outside Canada, and other details as described in the guide.
If you did this properly, including completely and accurately filling in dates in the travel history chart, in question 5.5, the form automatically calculated three totals:
Total time spent outside Canada: ####
Total time spent outside Canada due to reasons A, B, or C: ##
Total time spent outside Canada excluding reasons A, B, or C: ####
Even though the total time spent outside Canada is more than 1095, as long as the total time spent outside Canada excluding reasons A, B, or C (for you it is reason A) is LESS than 1095, you have at least made an application that on its face appears to meet the RO. That matters.
If, in the application you actually made, the latter total is more than 1095, showing you are in breach of the RO, you should have responded to question 5.7 providing what we typically call H&C reasons why you should be allowed to keep PR status despite being in breach of the RO. For this the application form itself erroneously refers to "
next question" (yeah, we all very much love IRCC for its meticulous precision,
sigh) which would be question 5.6, but H&C reasons are entered in response to 5.7, and additional supporting documents for this need to be submitted with the application.
Should I or should I not withdraw the application.
Withdrawing the application is not likely to change what IRCC does. Well, IRCC for sure won't proceed to approve the application and deliver a PR card if you withdraw. But a withdrawal is not likely to affect whether IRCC proceeds with an inadmissibility report. Your application put your admissibility into issue, and once that is done the horse, as some might say, is out of the barn and on the run (with exceptions of course).
If you followed the instructions, properly identified the time abroad in the employ of the university (assuming it was in the employ of the university), included the additional proof prescribed in the instructions, and the total time spent outside Canada excluding reasons A, B, or C (for you reason A) is LESS than 1095, there should be little reason to worry. Depending on the particular employment relationship and assignment details, IRCC might not allow the working-abroad credit, but by the time IRCC is assessing your case and the claim for working-abroad credit you are probably close enough to meeting the RO based on days in Canada, if not actually meeting it, the LIKELY worst case scenario is, as some here have cautioned, non-routine processing resulting in a significant delay getting a new PR card. On the other hand, even if IRCC allows the working-abroad credit, there could be non-routine processing and delays just in IRCC's examination of that.
In fact, you appear to be close enough to meeting the RO, assuming you are staying in Canada in the meantime, the risk of inadmissibility proceedings should be relatively low even if you did not make the claim for the working-abroad credit in the application. That said,
when a PR is in breach of the Residency Obligation, there is always some risk that a PR card application will trigger inadmissibility proceedings. This risk varies depending on the particular details, with how big the breach is probably being the dominant factor, but other factors such as how well settled in Canada the PR is NOW can have a lot of influence.
And if you stay in Canada long enough to be in RO compliance before they actually open the application and start processing, the risk of inadmissibility is likely so low as to be near none. In particular, even if at the time the PR card application is made you are in breach, if you have stayed in Canada long enough to meet the RO before a 44(1) Report is prepared, you have cured the RO breach, no breach no inadmissibility determination. That is, you continue to get credit toward meeting the RO after applying for a PR card, at least up to the date a 44(1) Report is prepared.
There is a wrinkle here, however, bringing up
A Not Likely But Possible Risk . . .
If you did not claim the credit for days working abroad, by not checking the working abroad reason in the question 5.5 chart, such that the total time outside Canada excluding reasons A, B, or C is more than 1095 days, on its face the application shows a RO breach and that could be enough to trigger a 44(1) Report based on that date, the date the application was made. No credit for days in Canada after that date. There have only been isolated reports of this happening (but this includes one in officially published IAD decisions). And those have involved breaches far bigger than yours. Probably a low risk, but nonetheless it has happened so it is possible it will happen. (But a decent lawyer should turn this around in an appeal, if necessary.)
