kan12 said:
Hello,
I work for a very small company (with only 3 employees including myself) in Canada. The company deals in purchasing from overseas for sales in Canada, and it wants to send me overseas for a period of 1 year so that I can make sure the products are made properly which is then exported to Canada. I will be employed and paid by this company, to my Canadian bank account.
My question is will this period of 1 year considered towards my residency requirement, as I am an employee of Canadian company who is sending me overseas. And will it also be the case when the new bill comes into force. My main concern is since it is such a small company, will it cause any concerns.
As
scylla posted,
IF the employment qualifies for the employed-abroad-by-Canadian-business exception, the time abroad while so employed should count toward compliance with the PR Residency Obligation. Does
not count toward qualifying for citizenship.
But, the caution posted by
zardoz alludes to the risk that CIC might decide that the exception is
not applicable and not give credit for the time abroad.
The smaller the business, the more the PR has a relationship with the owner(s) of the business, the more CIC is likely to skeptically assess whether the business or the employment qualifies.
There are a number of indications that these days CIC is scrutinizing claims for such credit more thoroughly and applying the standards more strictly. Moreover, while generally the information about the PR Residency Obligation available at the CIC general information pages and in the Guide for applying to replace a PR card is reliable, in regards to this particular issue, the last I looked that information failed to fully inform PRs as to what CIC requires for the exception to apply.
Short of reading some of the official cases involving CIC's denial of credit, for the most comprehensive explanation of the requirements for residency credit during employment abroad see section 6.5 in the manual ENF 23 "Loss of Permanent Resident Status" (can be reached by following links from
this CIC web page), which incorporates some aspects of the way in which CIC, the IAD, and the Federal Courts have been in fact assessing cases.
Even that, however, does not adequately illuminate the particular risk referred to by
zardoz, which has to do with the nature of CIC's examination as to whether the business itself qualifies, recognizing that if CIC concludes that the purpose of either the business or the particular employment is to facilitate residency credit for a PR abroad, the employment will
NOT qualify for the credit.
Here's the wrinkle,
. . . and why, perhaps, CIC has gotten tougher on allowing for this credit:
The credit is not intended to facilitate the maintenance of PR status for PRs with otherwise minimal residency in Canada.
But who needs the credit in order to be in compliance with PR Residency Obligation? A person regularly employed
in Canada before being transferred (assigned) abroad for a period of time, and who returns to Canada after that period of being
temporarily assigned abroad, would ordinarily meet the PR Residency Obligation by virtue of the time actually spent in Canada.
Put another way: a PR who needs credit for having spent a year abroad while employed for a Canadian business, in order to meet the PR Residency Obligation, is a PR who otherwise appears to have been outside Canada for three out of the other four years (out of the five years in question) . . . that is, someone with minimal ties to actual residency in Canada to begin with.
Thus, CIC's skepticism should be expected.
All that said, for those PRs who are working for a legitimately Canadian business (which means more than a business lawfully organized and maintaining an office in Canada) and that business assigns the PR abroad
temporarily, with the expectation the PR will return to the PR's position in Canada at the end of the assignment abroad, there
should be credit given toward compliance with the PR Residency Obligation. And this would be true even if the PR did indeed only have relatively minimal time spent in Canada otherwise (in other words, the PR really needs to be given this credit in order to be in compliance with the PR RO).
But the smaller the business, the closer the relationship the PR has to the business owner(s), the more skeptical CIC is likely to be. For obvious reasons actually.
