I got my PR card in 2020 and I left one month after I received my PR card. I am now back to canada and my PR is to expire in few months.
At the immigration counter, I was asked couple of questions and then was sent to the second immigration counter. The second immigration officer asked me the reason for visit which I said that my plan now is to settle in canada. She then asked whether I have met my residency obligations to which I responded no. She kept typing something and then told me that you have to apply for PR renewal however she said that it is less likely that I would get my card renewed.
I recently met a lawyer who told me that he can get my card renewed. He said he would not apply on humanitarian grounds rather apply as a routine renewal. Basically (as I understood) he would show as if I was living in canada for the last two years. Not sure how he would do that.
I don't think so this seems a reasonable track as it seems fishy but felt of posting on this forum and getting some advise
Many, I guess, might answer this simply, citing the conventional wisdom:
do NOT proceed with making a PR card application until you have first stayed in Canada long enough to meet the PR Residency Obligation. And this is probably a good answer, and for many in a similar situation perhaps the one best answer. That is likely your best path forward.
Whether that is actually the right approach for you in particular, however, is not so easily answered. Likely, yes, but that's about probabilities which are not predictive, not determinative. (Hint: even five to one odds, let alone what is merely "
likely," is often not good enough to bet on; after all,
Russian Roulette is considered to be more suicidal than a game of chance, for obvious reasons despite the five to one odds, as no amount of potential winnings will make that a gamble worth taking.)
A key factor to consider is the particular, actual outcome of the Port-of-Entry examination.
Frankly, what you describe a lawyer saying sounds more like a consultant than a lawyer. And otherwise it is difficult to grasp that a lawyer is recommending proceeding to make a PR card application when in breach of the RO without offering H&C reasons. Yeah, something seems off here.
So, Further, Longer Observations:
While this forum can offer information and suggestions, this is not an appropriate place to get advice. I will offer some information in regards to what we know about how things work, which includes some
if-this,
then-that oriented suggestions. This is NOT advice. For advice, discuss the matter further with your lawyer, if you have hired one, or with another lawyer.
If you have not yet hired a lawyer, it is OK to consult with additional lawyers. And to compare what they say. It is not just OK but important to be selective in deciding which lawyer to actually hire. It is important to get assistance from
a lawyer you trust and that you PAY (a lawyer you have retained), once you are satisfied with who you want to be YOUR lawyer.
Free consultations are NOT worth much (it's tough to get what you pay for from lawyers, so don't expect much for free) other than an opportunity to explore whether this is the lawyer you want to hire, the lawyer you will pay to actually review and analyze YOUR case in detail, and to be your representative.
Meanwhile the conventional wisdom is
do NOT initiate a transaction that could (let alone that must)
involve a Residency Determination UNLESS you meet the PR Residency Obligation . . . but of course that is only if any such transaction can be avoided.
Obviously, for example, you could not have returned to Canada, or pursued settlement in Canada as a PR, without at least arriving at a Port-of-Entry into Canada, thereby applying for permission to physically enter Canada. So you could not avoid that transaction, a PoE examination, which is a transaction that can trigger a Residency Determination.
An application for a new PR card is a transaction that
must involve a Residency Determination.
Meanwhile, if attendant that PoE experience the officer waived you into Canada without preparing a 44(1) Report, and your PR card is currently valid so that you can proceed to complete the process of settling in Canada (thus, for example, obtaining a drivers' license or provincial identification, obtaining health care coverage, opening bank accounts, and so on), there is NO need to apply for a PR card anytime soon. You can, instead, STAY and wait until you have remained in Canada long enough to be in compliance with the RO before you make the PR card application (or at least wait until you have in fact settled into residing in Canada and stayed long enough to be confident there is a low enough risk it is worth taking a chance the application will succeed rather than triggering inadmissibility proceedings, recognizing that the for-sure-safe approach is to wait until fully in RO compliance).
BUT, this is very much dependent on having been waived into Canada without a 44(1) Report being prepared by the PoE officials. So the actual outcome of the PoE examination is important.
In particular, if at this stage no 44(1) Report has been prepared, it is likely you can stay and wait to make a PR card application only when it is for-sure-safe (when you meet the RO). There is some possibility that CBSA could follow up and pursue the matter further, potentially leading to the preparation of a 44(1) Report, but so far neither the anecdotal reporting nor what is reflected in published decisions about actual cases indicate that is common.
In contrast, if there is any indication a 44(1) Report has been prepared, or that CBSA is proceeding to prepare a 44(1) Report, then it really is time to LAWYER-UP, and at the least get detailed advice (advice you PAY for) about how the process works and how you can present H&C factors to be considered when next contacted.
SUMMARY: probably OK to just stay and wait, to put off deciding when to make a PR card application. If, however, there is an indication that CBSA is proceeding with a 44(1) Report, find a lawyer you can trust and retain them, PAY for assistance including advice about how to navigate forward from here.
