As @desertrose416 suggests, better to wait until 2021 . . .
. . . and given the history, and subject to what things are like next year, waiting a full year, until at least next summer, to make an application for a new PR card. (Also, note, the presence requirement is 730 days within the relevant five years, not "720.")
BUT my response here, what follows,
is mostly about the advice, purportedly from an Immigration Consultant,
that it is better "to have more than 1095 days of stay to show for your RO."
I suspect this is fair advice. I'd be inclined to quote it and probably will, but would prefer it if this could be quoted without reservation or qualification.
My PR Card expires on 14.12.2021. As there is no issue date on the card, I assume that it is 5 years before, i.e. 14.12.2016.
I think I can apply for renewal 9 months in advance, i.e. in April 2021.
By 31st March 2021 I will have 1127 days of stay in Canada, i.e. 407 days more than the required 720 days.
From 14.12.2016 till now I have been absent from Canada for 435 days.
The Immigration Consultant generally advise you to have more than 1095 days of stay to show for your RO.
Now if I apply for renewal on 1st April 2021, will the Immigration Officer count 5 years back to 1st April 2016 and find that I had more days of absence from Canada and will that put me in an unfavourable position? I am counting my absence from 14th Dec. 2016.
I want to apply on 1st April 2021 because there is a long processing delay of 132 days now, i.e. 4.5 months approx. and my application will be processed in August and I will have a valid card before the present one expires. It is always better to have a valid PR Card in hand.
What do the experts and champions on this forum feel.
Thank you for your views.
Again, as
@desertrose416 suggests, better to wait until 2021 . . . rather premature to assess when to make an application for a new PR card when the current card is still valid until nearly the end of the next year and it is an application that cannot be made for nearly another year.
But, frankly, that seems rather obvious . . . that is, frankly, aspects of this query hint peculiarities, including the concern about renewing a PR card so prematurely. Seems to be one of those queries which evokes a spontaneous "
what's up?" reaction, as in what is the real question, the reason for asking about this at this time.
Including . . .
. . . so much emphasis on counting days absent from Canada when the PR Residency Obligation is based on counting days IN Canada (which, again, requires 730 minimum NOT 720). Especially for a PR who has currently been IN Canada many days more than what is needed to comply with the RO and planning, apparently, to remain in Canada for at least the coming 200 plus days. And especially for a PR given advice from a professional that, likewise, focuses on days IN Canada not number of days absent.
. . . salient reference to the issue date of PR card, when that is totally NOT relevant in determining either RO compliance or when an application for a new card should be made or could be made; but no mention of landing date or even whether the current PR card is the PR's first.
. . . even though it is true that generally it is a good idea for a PR to have a valid PR card in hand, concern about applying in time to get new card way before current card expires (to get new card by August 2021 when current card does not expire until December 2021).
. . . AND, really standing out . . . obtaining advice from an "Immigration Consultant" . . . about renewing a PR card application . . . and again so far in advance of when that could be done let alone should be done.
Thus . . . seems feasible if not outright likely there is something else going on. Which ordinarily invites a shrug and no comment. Especially for a query like this where, apparently, there is little or nothing on the line.
Except for that last thing I referenced, the advice obtained from an "Immigration Consultant." And this in particular: "
The Immigration Consultant generally advise you to have more than 1095 days of stay to show for your RO."
I was NOT aware that immigration consultants will "
generally" advise PRs to have
more than 1095 days presence when applying for a new PR card. If a consultant is asked, it would not surprise me that a consultant would advise this. Even though it is even more conservative than what I often caution in this forum: that having less than 900 days presence (within the five relevant years) is
cutting-it-close because that means the PR has been abroad MORE than IN Canada, and that means if there is any question about whether the PR was actually in Canada during a period of time, the NORMAL, REASONABLE inference is the PR was probably OUTSIDE Canada during that period of time (for any period of time it is not clear where a person was, it is reasonable to infer the person probably was where the person was most of the time).
That said, the PRs this is likely to be relevant for generally do not have much if any control over how many days credit they have when it is time for them to apply for a new PR card. This is an issue that generally arises for PRs whose FIRST PR card is expiring AND the PR did a soft-landing AND did not come to Canada to settle for nearly three years (and for some even later). The approach underlying my observations for these PRs focuses on
(1) the more they are cutting-it-close the greater the RISK of non-routine processing delaying the issuance and delivery of a new PR card, including the RISK of Secondary Review which can delay getting a new PR card for a YEAR or so
(2) thus, if feasible in their situation, waiting as long as they can to apply for a new PR card is a good idea if they want to reduce the RISK of SR or other non-routine processing delays
Otherwise, nonetheless, the purported advice from the consultant is consistent with what a number of others and I have oft reminded the so-called "soft-landing" PR: a soft-landing plan is OK but it is best to have concrete plans to make the actual move to settle in Canada well within the following TWO years, to NOT wait to actually settle in Canada barely in time to meet the Residency Obligation. That is, to plan to come, and actually do come to Canada in time to have at least 1095 days presence in Canada before the first PR card expires.
All that noted, going back to the particular advice here, which again, purportedly, advises PRs to have 1095 days presence-credit toward compliance with the PR RO when they apply for a new PR card. And, as I initially noted, this advice from a professional would NOT surprise me. And, indeed, this is advice I wish we could quote without reservation or qualification . . . there are, after all, scores and scores of queries in this forum for which such advice, if credible, would be appropriate. We see no shortage of queries about applying for a new PR card from PRs who managed to return to Canada despite being short of their RO and planning to apply for a new PR card as soon as they can, let alone those who otherwise will barely meet the 730 days within five years minimum.
That is, this advice, if credible, would help put into context cautions about the risk of SR or other non-routine processing delaying PR card application processing for those PRs
cutting-it-close.
This in turn leads back to perceiving the query here to be a bit curious. Including the peculiarities already referenced.
The most salient oddity here, though, is who goes to an Immigration Consultant for advice about when to apply for a new PR card? Especially a year and a half, or more, before the current card expires?
I am not asking the OP to explain. Rather, this is mentioned to simply put quotation marks, in a sense, around the purported advice about having 1095 days presence before applying for a new PR card.
I realize that once again I have gone on at length about a rather narrow proposition. But this is an important proposition. It makes sense to me. There is a steady stream of queries here for which it would help put the situation into context if we could reliably say that professional consultants actually advise having 1095 days presence when applying for a new PR card.
