Hi,
I’m a recent PR in Ontario via PNP. I have several inquiries and will really appreciate anyone’s help and advice.
- I am still working in Saudi Arabia and have a valid Iqama sponsored by my Employer; which I will end contract with in a couple of months.
- On the other hand, I will be getting married to a Saudi National thus will be transferring my sponsorship from THE Employer to my future husband; this will make my Iqama Valid in Saudi Arabia but not as a “Student” nor as “Worker” but as a WIFE OF A NATIONAL ( who isn’t planning to immigrate to Canada and will only be visiting via Tourist Visa).
Questions:
- Will I still be considered to have my PR status?
- Will the Iqama (residence permit) of Saudi Arabia affect my future application for The Canadian citizenship?
Thanks in advance
Will I still be considered to have my PR status?
As a landed PR you are now a Permanent Resident of Canada. This is an immigration status and does not indicate what your place of residence is for purposes other than immigration status.
You can only lose your Canadian PR status in very specific, limited circumstances, such as by failing to meet the obligations of a PR, or for being involved in serious criminality or supporting terrorism or such.
The obligations of a PR obviously include the obligation to actually reside in Canada. This is a rather flexible if not generously favorable to PRs requirement: 730 days in five years.
Whether the fact of having obtained PR status via the PNP process has any additional conditions, I do NOT know . . . others here are more familiar with those programs.
Will the Iqama (residence permit) of Saudi Arabia affect my future application for The Canadian citizenship?
There is NO direct impact on your status in Canada. No direct impact on qualifying for Canadian citizenship.
But of course to become a Canadian citizen you will need to make an application and provide sufficient information to Canada to establish you meet all the qualifying requirements. Including an actual physical presence in Canada requirement. Obviously, if you have a spouse who is working and living abroad, that is a strong indicator you likely spend a considerable amount of time abroad, so your case would likely be at risk for more scrutiny and longer processing, so that the Canadian government can better verify you meet the qualifications. Additionally, your status in another country can be reviewed and may invite questions about ongoing ties to that country and similarly further inquiry so the government can verify the dates you were actually in Canada.
If, however, you actually have met the requirements and can provide proof, these matters should not preclude you from successfully becoming a citizen.
It is worth noting, in this regard, that of course the grant of PR status itself, let alone the grant of citizenship, is specifically for the purpose of coming to Canada to live permanently, THUS to the extent your circumstances are inconsistent with that purpose OBVIOUSLY this is something likely to raise questions and increase the risk of more skeptical scrutiny.
The prospect of your spouse obtaining a visitor's visa to Canada is very individual specific, although in general foreign nationals NOT from a visa-exempt country can tend to incur difficulty when there are circumstances suggesting they have a reason to over-stay in Canada, like having a spouse in Canada. But he would not be precluded from obtaining a visitor's visa just because of his relationship to a Canadian. It would depend on how well persuaded the visa office is that he would comply with the terms of a visitor visa (not work in Canada, not overstay, and such).
If you live in Canada and he works in Saudi Arabia he will still have declare his income in Canada as family income and it will be taxed.
I doubt this. I not certain, but if I understand this properly, I think this is not true. At least relative to paying taxes to CANADA.
To be clear: I see this proposition or something similar repeated fairly often in this forum.
While it might merely be misleading in some respects, it appears to me that if the message is that a non-resident spouse with no Canadian source income has to pay CANADIAN taxes on his or her foreign source income, that I am fairly sure is NOT CORRECT.
I am NO expert on immigration. I am ESPECIALLY NOT an expert when it comes to Canadian tax matters.
And perhaps I am misunderstanding the message.
But this much I do know: A non-resident with no Canadian source income is not required to file a Canadian tax return and does not owe Canada any tax on his or her foreign source income. Even if the individual has a spouse who is a Canadian resident.
NOT filing a Canadian return can affect the tax credits and benefits the spouse in Canada is entitled to. Thus, it can affect the amount of taxes the Canadian-resident spouse might have to pay, but only to the extent it might preclude credits or benefits . . . but the IN-CANADA spouse does NOT have to pay any income tax on the non-resident spouse's foreign income.
In any event, I am not sure what I might be misunderstanding about the claim that non-resident spouses must pay Canadian taxes on their foreign source income. Generally, my understanding is NO, there is no tax obligation imposed on a non-resident spouse arising from the fact of having a spouse who is resident in Canada.
Edit to note: if the must declare and pay taxes observation is about having to pay taxes to a country other than Canada, my apologies. That is something I have very little familiarity with.
