We are a married couple, currently living is San Francisco, California. I am a US citizen and my husband is a dual citizen (Canada & US). We have planned to move to Canada (Victoria, BC) for sometimes now and, in preparation, I applied for and was granted permanent residency in May 2022. Up until now we have been living in the US . . .
I read somewhere on this forum that a poster, who has PR and lived outside Canada with her spouse, was able to convince Canada Immigration to allow her to count the days she spent with her spouse toward permanent residency obligations even though they were outside Canada. . . . We most likely will work with an immigration lawyer when the time for PR renewal comes around.
Most PRs do NOT need the assistance of a Canadian immigration lawyer, even those relying on the credit toward the Residency Obligation for days outside Canada allowed PRs accompanying their Canadian citizen spouse.
PR status does not require "
renewal;" there is NO PR renewal.
Replacement of expiring or expired status cards, the PR card, is often referred to as "
renewal," but that is more like renewing a passport (one continues to have the status of citizenship even if their passport is expired, or even if they have no passport; likewise PR status), not like renewing a drivers' license (which terminates when it expires unless it is renewed).
To understand the PR Residency Obligation better see the IRCC website for general information here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/new-immigrants/pr-card/understand-pr-status.html
and here:
https://www.ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1466&top=10
and particular instructions regarding the Residency Obligation included as an appendix in the guide for making a PR card application (to renew or replace expiring or expired PR card) here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5445-applying-permanent-resident-card-card-first-application-replacement-renewal-change-gender-identifier.html#appendixA
In the latter, see "
Appendix A: Residency obligation" under subheading "
Time spent outside Canada" and the specific instructions for "
Situation B. Accompanying a Canadian citizen outside Canada."
There is plenty of useful information in a forum like this. But far better to be familiar with the basic information and rules as published by IRCC in the website and Appendix A linked above. If after reviewing IRCC's information you still have questions, come here.
By the way, unlike most PRs who need a valid PR card to board a plane flying to Canada, those who are a U.S. citizen can use their U.S. passports for commercial travel to Canada. So as a U.S. citizen there is no need to have a PR card unless and until you are actually moving to Canada and need to present a PR card to obtain provincial health care coverage or a drivers' license (assuming you have obtained a Canadian SIN).
While you do not need to renew the PR card, you do need to comply with the PR Residency Obligation. And yes, a Canadian PR who is
accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse outside Canada is allowed RO credit for days outside Canada the PR is
accompanying their citizen spouse.
For a PR in a marital relationship with a Canadian citizen, if they are living/settled in Canada and then move to another country, the PR gets credit toward meeting the RO for days they are ordinarily residing together outside Canada. Does not matter why they moved abroad. No problem.
Otherwise, in some situations what constitutes "
accompanying," and therefore qualifying for the credit, can get tricky.
There is a topic here specifically about this titled "
Who-accompanied-whom can matter for PRs living with citizen spouse abroad: UPDATE" which is here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/who-accompanied-whom-can-matter-for-prs-living-with-citizen-spouse-abroad-update.579860/
I do not share the view about concerns you are at risk for being denied this credit. There is some risk, yes, and how you approach things can have an impact on how it goes. But as long as you do not make any PR Travel Document applications (which you should not need to do) and if you are accompanying, or accompanied by, your Canadian citizen spouse when you travel to Canada, the risk should be quite low.
And you have a safety valve: as
@Besram noted, if push came to shove and for some reason you became one of those fairly few examples in which the accompanying-citizen-spouse credit is not allowed, your spouse can again sponsor you for PR anew.
Our case is a little different from the typical cases, I believe. We (both of us) have never been previously established in Canada and then moved to the US. We have always lived in the US and now plan to move to Canada when we retire. The retirement took longer than expected. MIL's health is now a major factor on my spouse's relocation timeline. If I can get credit for the days outside Canada (i.e., in the US) while being with my spouse, it will make the "2 years in the country" requirement for PR renewal a lot easier to satisfy. Otherwise, we'll be looking at two residences and a bit of going back and forth between Canada and the US.
Your underlying reasons may not be typical, but it is actually quite common for Canadian citizens in a marital relationship with a Foreign National (FN) outside Canada to make representations in a sponsorship application that they and their partner will relocate to live IN Canada when the sponsored FN spouse is granted PR status in Canada, and then not follow through with what they represented they would do (whether the plan was a misrepresentation or there was a change in circumstances compelling a change in plans, such as unanticipated difficulties and delays in settling affairs before making the move, or something in-between those, such as an intervening better job offer, before the move, inviting the couple to change their plans and remain outside Canada).
That is, the situation (sponsored PR living abroad with Canadian citizen spouse without following through with moving to and permanently settling in Canada) is fairly common whether typical or not.
@canuck78 referenced and
@Besram further addressed one of the snags a PR in this situation can encounter later depending on how long it is before a move is made to Canada. Since the PR was never settled in Canada, the PR never actually "
accompanied" their spouse in going outside Canada. PRs just living together, without at least having accompanied one another in moving abroad, have sometimes been denied RO credit.
We have very little idea what percentage of PRs in similar situations run into this issue later, but we do know they can and sometimes do. We know this because of a significant number of cases in which RO credit has been denied in such situations, and a significantly larger number of cases in which the Minister of IRCC has argued to the IAD that RO credit should not be allowed in similar situations (but the IAD either allowed the credit or allowed the PR to keep PR status based on H&C reasons).
Technically it should make no difference that the PR is a U.S. citizen rather than the citizen of some other country. However, in addition to how uncommon the so-called
who-accompanied-whom cases are (which are essentially about situations in which the PR and citizen did not accompanying one another, that is they did not travel from Canada together), they are almost exclusively cases involving an application for a PR Travel Document.
**
Under current law and rules a PR who is a U.S. citizen should have no problem traveling to Canada without applying for a PR TD.
I cannot guarantee that inadmissibility proceedings will not be initiated attendant a Port-of-Entry examination if you have been outside Canada more than three years within the previous five years (or up to May 2027, since you became a PR), but the risk of that should be low and very low if you are traveling together with your Canadian citizen spouse.
There is some risk an application for a new PR card might trigger preparation of a 44(1) Report of inadmissibility (accompanying-citizen credit not allowed) if you have been outside Canada for more than three years in the previous five, but if you wait to make that application a significant amount of time after you AND your Canadian citizen spouse have established an in-fact residence in Canada, the risk of that should be low to very low.
And again, as
@Besram noted, if push came to shove and for some reason you became one of those fairly few examples in which accompanying-citizen credit is not allowed, your spouse can again sponsor you for PR anew.
** Among rare apparent exceptions to so-called
who-accompanied-whom cases arising in regards to PR TD applications, there is the
Parikh case, cited by the source
@Besram links, in which the IAD and Federal Court found the PR's claims about even living together lacking credibility, in a case rife with credibility issues and probably triggered by a flag arising from an application for citizenship itself rife with credibility if not outright misrepresentation issues, notwithstanding the fact there was 44(1) Report prepared attendant a PoE examination well after being RQ'd in regards to the citizenship application.)
