My PR Card expires in February 2022. I am currently in India and am unable to travel back to Canada due to the Covid situation. I have less than 730 days required for PR renewal.
Can I delay my travel to Canada next year as I do not want to take the risk due to Covid ? In that case, I cannot travel with expired PR card nor can I apply for PRTD !
Will I have any other option ? will cic consider the fact that I cannot travel due to covid and grant PRTD ?
I fully concur in what
@scylla offered.
But some further observations seem warranted.
The PR Residency Obligation is dictated by statute. IRCC has NO authority to revise it. Only Parliament can change it. Which is simply NOT at all likely. In particular, there is near zero chance that the RO will be changed any time in near future . . . in general, or relative to dealing with the impact of Covid-19.
However, the current law and policy governing the application and enforcement of the PR RO already allows, and actually requires, that PRs with H&C reasons for failing to comply with the PR RO, have those reasons considered in any decision to terminate the individual's PR status. So, the impact of Covid-19, in terms of how it has caused a PR to remain outside Canada so long as to result in a breach of the RO, MUST be considered. Whether that is in the context of a Port-of-Entry examination by CBSA or a visa office processing an application for a PR Travel Document.
What this means is that there is NO free pass due to Covid-19.
What this means is that each individual PR is subject to being examined as to that individual's personal situation, that individual's particular facts and circumstances.
What this means is that a whole lot of other details can be important. The number of days spent in Canada, even though fewer than needed to comply with the RO, is a big factor. The PR's ties in Canada matter. What other reasons there are explaining the PR's time abroad will matter. How long the individual has been a PR can be a significant factor (right now, in particular, it appears that PRs still within the first five years after landing may be getting screened more leniently, as to RO compliance, when they arrive here from abroad).
So no one can even begin to guess, let alone reliably forecast, how this will go for you.
Nonetheless, it can safely be said that . . .
(1) the sooner you make the effort to return to Canada, the better odds you have,
(2) the closer you are to meeting the RO when you come to Canada, the better odds you have, and
(3) returning to Canada while your PR card is still valid, rather than needing to apply for a PR TD after the card expires, would probably improve your odds considerably.
