I have always met the two out of five years when getting PR cards. Been in UK dealing with a very traumatic situation, so not a fun thing. My last five year stretch went up to January 24, 2017. New one began right after that. Had to leave Canada again on January 25, 2017 to return to issue I am battling in UK. Need to tie up loose ends here and then fully intend to go home. Will be applying for Canadian citizenship as soon as I can. In the meantime I am sure I can be gone three years, but then must be home no later than that, so I have two full years in Canada. I fully intend to do so. I did seek legal advice when I applied for new card, and was told I could return to UK for three years to finish up police investigation I had commenced.
For further verification and clarification:
The dates on a PR card are NOT relevant when assessing compliance with the PR Residency Obligation.
Regardless of the outcome of past Residency Obligation examinations (including the one attendant getting your last PR card), as others have tried to explain, a PR needs to continuously be in compliance, which means a PR needs to have spent at least 730 days IN Canada in the previous five years. This applies to every day.
So, take today for example. If you are outside Canada and you somehow return to Canada today, July 11, 2019, to be in compliance with the Residency Obligation you need to have spent at least 730 days in Canada between July 11, 2014 and today. If you have NOT been in Canada at least 730 days between July 11, 2014 and today, you are not in compliance and at risk for losing PR status upon arrival at a PoE into Canada.
If you are abroad and you return to Canada January 3, 2020, to be in compliance with the Residency Obligation when you arrive at the PoE on January 3, 2020, you will need to have been present in Canada at least 730 days between January 3, 2015 and that day, the day you arrive, January 3, 2020.
The "five year stretch" that counts is always the five years immediately preceding the day any Canadian officer is doing the counting. Such as when the PR returning to Canada arrives at a PoE and is examined.
Thus, going back to getting a new PR card. If you got a new PR card in January 2017, and then you traveled outside Canada but came back to Canada a few months later, say May 16, 2017. To be in compliance with the Residency Obligation when you arrived in Canada May 16, 2017, the relevant five years during which you needed to be in Canada at least 730 days would have been May 16, 2012 to that day, May 16, 2017 . . . again, even if you had just been issued a new PR card in January 2017.
As for the traumatic experience and the reasons why you are abroad: If you fall short and thus breach the PR Residency Obligation, the circumstances compelling you to remain abroad MIGHT (but ONLY MIGHT) lead officers to let you keep PR status despite the breach. But that would be a big gamble. And if that fails, given the extent of your life lived in Canada, depending on other circumstances, there may be some other relief available. But that too would be a big gamble and could leave you without status for a lengthy period of time.
Best way to avoid a risk of losing PR status is to be sure that by the day you return to Canada you have been IN Canada at least 730 days during the five years prior to that day.
