Overall, apart from the logistics related to getting the new PR card or going abroad without one and obtaining a PR Travel Document, the overriding concern is perfectly summed up here:
That is it, in the proverbial
nutshell.
But to be clear, even if a new PR card is obtained, given the history here it will still be RISKY to be outside Canada without being in compliance with the RO . . . that is, even with an almost new PR card in hand, if you go abroad and then, when you are returning to Canada, you have not been IN Canada at least 730 days within the previous five years, as of the day you arrive at the PoE, you will be at RISK for being reported and losing PR status.
Even continuing to be
cutting-it-close could be risky, if you go abroad, unless it is relatively easy to clearly establish RO compliance.
The Longer Explanation:
Not really how it works.
Most newly issued PR cards are mailed to the PR. However, a significant percentage are not mailed directly to the PR, but instead sent to the local office for the PR to pick-up in person. The latter can happen for various reasons, but one of the more common reasons is to verify the PR is (1) IN Canada and (2) to conduct an interview with the PR to verify certain information. This can include an examination of the PR's passport and verification of other information, including information in regards to RO compliance.
The application being "approved," as you refer to, means a PR card is issued. But, that does not necessarily conclude IRCC's screening. Just because the application has been approved and a new card "issued," for the individual PR what ultimately matters is the PR card getting
DELIVERED. As noted, most newly issued PR cards are mailed directly to the PR. The PR card is thus "delivered." Otherwise, IRCC has not made a final decision to DELIVER the PR card, and again sometimes this is why the card is sent to the local office for in-person pick-up, so that there is a final check, a final screening, before IRCC makes the decision the PR qualifies for a new PR card and actually DELIVERS the PR card to the PR.
NOTE Re Referral to Secondary Review and RO Compliance Cases: Actually, if compliance with the Residency Obligation is at issue, to be formally examined, the PR card application will not, not ordinarily, be referred to Secondary Review; in this situation the typical procedure is one of the following:
-- PR is sent a request to provide RQ-related information and documents; this request coming directly from the CPC, or
-- the application is referred to the local office to investigate RO compliance; typically but not always the local office will send the PR the request for RQ-related information and documents
There tends to be some confusion about this because
close-call-RO-compliance appears to be a factor in what has triggered many of the referrals to Secondary Review. What triggers the referral to SR is NOT the same as what the referral is about. Again, if IRCC apprehends the PR is NOT in compliance with the RO, and not eligible to be issued a new card for this reason, that does not go to SR but rather triggers the RQ-related requests described above.
The latter may have little or nothing to do with your situation. I do not know what your situation is. I suspect your history has triggered a counter-interview local pick-up to at least verify you are IN Canada, and perhaps to examine you some in person before making the decision you qualify for a PR card and to deliver it. I DO NOT KNOW THIS FOR-SURE. Far from it.
Any Way To Expedite Scheduling For the In-Person Card Pick-Up?
I doubt it.
Here too, however,
I do not know, not anywhere near for-sure. I can offer this: You are already past the stage where "urgent processing" would make a difference. Moreover, even though I am not sure what the situation is, it appears that IRCC has reason to flag you for potential Residency Obligation compliance concerns, and (a bit of a guess) has indeed flagged your file (and this would be part of why the need for an in-person pick-up). If they have, that would tend to preclude expedited processing.
Leading back to RO compliance concerns generally . . .
THE CAVEAT . . . SOME CONCERNS:
Looming large over all this, though, is whether or not, and if so to what extent, there is a RO compliance concern. You say, for example:
"At any point from the beginning of 2021, I will be at around 735 days in the last two years."
Frankly (or as you frame it, TBH), I do not know what this means. RO compliance is based on the last FIVE years, not two. Moreover, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have spent 735 days IN Canada "
in the last two years," since even if every day in the last two years was in Canada that would be less than 735 . . . sure, a mere four days less, given this year being a leap year, but this is such blatantly obvious simple arithmetic it confuses me . . . especially in context with what followed:
"I guess an option of waiting abroad for a PRTD will be a bit difficult."
I am not asking you to unravel or explain this. What matters, foremost, is being in compliance with the RO, in fact, and secondly the extent to which that is or can be readily established versus the chance that Canadian officials might doubt you are in fact in compliance with the RO.
Which points back to the recent post by
@canuck78 which I quoted above.
It appears that at best you have been OUTSIDE Canada more than you have been IN Canada during the last five years. And, of course, if you go abroad that will not change. If you go abroad, the number of IN Canada days credit you have, toward meeting the RO (that is, counting days IN Canada within the preceding
five years) will either remain the same or, if you currently have credit for days around five years ago, begin to DECREASE as days in Canada fall outside the relevant last five years.
What tends to elevate the RISKS here is that it appears (you say this is an application for your "2nd renewal") you have been a PR for ten years or so. If, at this juncture, TEN years into it, you are still spending LESS than HALF your time in Canada, yeah, there is a high risk that IRCC is flagging you for further scrutiny as to RO compliance. For obvious reasons. If you want to talk about getting "frustrated," IF a bureaucracy could be frustrated, no wild stretch of imagination necessary to recognize why bureaucratic officials might apprehend you are not doing what the grant of PR was intended for, as in not settling in Canada permanently.
You might actually now be settled in Canada permanently . . . or your reference to 735 days in Canada is based on having spent the last two years entirely IN Canada, or at least you have spent enough days in Canada in the last two to three years there is no doubt you are in compliance with the RO and will continue to be for at least a couple years (even if you go and stay outside Canada) . . . in which event there may be NO reason for concerns at all. I do not know.
But if you have been a PR for ten years, AND you have only been IN Canada a little over two years total in the last five years, however frustrated it may make you, it should be no surprise that the government is not making it easy. This could have and should have been easily predicted. In general,
cutting-it-close tends to risk non-routine problems and delays, but for someone who has been a PR for around ten years,
cutting-it-close is more or less emphatically
cutting-it-close and risking . . . concerns, concerns with delays.
Another Caveat: Not sure this applies at all, but I wonder if there is cause to doubt your PR card application is "approved," and a new PR card issued. If your eCas shows "decision made," that would tend to verify the application was approved, and the help centre information about it being referred to the local office for pick-up. If eCas does not show "decision made," that would suggest the referral to the local office is for further investigation, and the help centre information is off a bit, which it warrants cautioning is not unusual.
