PR Card expiring in February 2022 but can only return to Canada in months after

[BelBris]

Hello all,

I hope you can help me with my particular situation. I landed in Toronto and gained my PR in January of 2017. I stayed physically in Canada for 9 days only and then returned to my home country (UK) to prepare to bring all my stuff over to Canada. Events transpired and I had to remain outside Canada until this present day. I have been accompanying my Canadian Spouse this entire time and have proof in both our names, such as bank statements, car ownership papers, rental agreements, and utility bills of various address that we have resided in together. As of now, I am residing in the USA.

My question is this: Will I be able to drive up to a land POE in a private vehicle and enter Canada with my expired PR card (expires February 2022), my original Copr, and UK passport, and paperwork proof of accompanying my spouse? She, and my Canadian children will be travelling with me too. Will that be enough to gain entry?

Many thanks for any advice!

 

[jakklondon]

Hello all,

I hope you can help me with my particular situation. I landed in Toronto and gained my PR in January of 2017. I stayed physically in Canada for 9 days only and then returned to my home country (UK) to prepare to bring all my stuff over to Canada. Events transpired and I had to remain outside Canada until this present day. I have been accompanying my Canadian Spouse this entire time and have proof in both our names, such as bank statements, car ownership papers, rental agreements, and utility bills of various address that we have resided in together. As of now, I am residing in the USA.

My question is this: Will I be able to drive up to a land POE in a private vehicle and enter Canada with my expired PR card (expires February 2022), my original Copr, and UK passport, and paperwork proof of accompanying my spouse? She, and my Canadian children will be travelling with me too. Will that be enough to gain entry?

Many thanks for any advice!

If you accompanied your Canadian citizen spouse, and have proof of it, I see no reason why you would be reported for non-compliance with RO.
Remember, you don't need PR card to return to Canada by land from the US, all you need is a private transportation and COPR. And you are entitled to be admitted into Canada, with or without RO breach (assuming you are still holding PR status). And , in your case, there shouldn't be any worries with RO compliance, since your spouse is Canadian citizen and you were accompanying your spouse.

 

[BelBris]

Thank you so much for this! That’s a weight of my mind. Much appreciated.

 

[jakklondon]

You are welcome. Have a safe trip and happy holidays.

 

[pitra426]

My situation is somewhat similar to the original poster here.
-First landed in Feb-2017,stayed for a week and moved out to Singapore as I had just taken up a new position.
-Finally moved to Canada on 30th Dec.2019.
Courtesy COVID, have stayed inside the country until now with the 730 days coming up sometime next week.
The 1st 5 years anniversary of the PR is in end-Jan, while the PR card is expiring in early March-'2022.

-Should I wait and submit the PR card renewal application only after the 730 days have been met or, can I submit it dated a few days ahead
of the 730 days.
-Unlike the previous poster, even if I move outside Canada in Feb-'2022, I cannot cross through a land border.
-Given the above, do I have to wait until I actually get the renewed PR card (~130 days or more based on today's avg.processing timeline) or can I give a friend's address to mail it to?
Have been wanting to check in person on both parents (who are close to 70) with poor health that has seen frequent, short hospital admissions recently.
But, it seems there is no way to meaningfully expedite the renewal processing timeline.
Have seen the link below,but unsure if they even differentiate based on the word "urgent" on the envelope.
Urgent processing of a permanent resident card - Canada.ca

 

[canuck78]

Hello all,

I hope you can help me with my particular situation. I landed in Toronto and gained my PR in January of 2017. I stayed physically in Canada for 9 days only and then returned to my home country (UK) to prepare to bring all my stuff over to Canada. Events transpired and I had to remain outside Canada until this present day. I have been accompanying my Canadian Spouse this entire time and have proof in both our names, such as bank statements, car ownership papers, rental agreements, and utility bills of various address that we have resided in together. As of now, I am residing in the USA.

My question is this: Will I be able to drive up to a land POE in a private vehicle and enter Canada with my expired PR card (expires February 2022), my original Copr, and UK passport, and paperwork proof of accompanying my spouse? She, and my Canadian children will be travelling with me too. Will that be enough to gain entry?

Many thanks for any advice!

You can run into issues. Although time spent with a Canadian spouse usually counts towards RO but you usually need to have spent time in Canada first. Would add that now you have to provide significant proof that you will move to Canada once your spouse receives PR if applying while living abroad. Have you been living in the UK due to the Canadian citizen’s career? What about your move to the US from the UK? Was it due to the Canadian citizen? See the potential issue when you try to renew your PR card once in Canada. You have to be let in as a PR. We are also seeing some issues in certain provinces when people return to Canada without a valid PR card. Your SIN is likely on hold, you can have difficulty getting a health card, etc. without a valid PR card.

 

[canuck78]

My situation is somewhat similar to the original poster here.
-First landed in Feb-2017,stayed for a week and moved out to Singapore as I had just taken up a new position.
-Finally moved to Canada on 30th Dec.2019.
Courtesy COVID, have stayed inside the country until now with the 730 days coming up sometime next week.
The 1st 5 years anniversary of the PR is in end-Jan, while the PR card is expiring in early March-'2022.

-Should I wait and submit the PR card renewal application only after the 730 days have been met or, can I submit it dated a few days ahead
of the 730 days.
-Unlike the previous poster, even if I move outside Canada in Feb-'2022, I cannot cross through a land border.
-Given the above, do I have to wait until I actually get the renewed PR card (~130 days or more based on today's avg.processing timeline) or can I give a friend's address to mail it to?
Have been wanting to check in person on both parents (who are close to 70) with poor health that has seen frequent, short hospital admissions recently.
But, it seems there is no way to meaningfully expedite the renewal processing timeline.
Have seen the link below,but unsure if they even differentiate based on the word "urgent" on the envelope.
Urgent processing of a permanent resident card - Canada.ca

You can apply to renew your PR card now. You can apply up to 9 months early. Are you moving out of Canada for good? Without a current medical emergency it would be difficult to qualify for urgent processing. You always have PRTD as an option.

 

[BelBris]

You can run into issues. Although time spent with a Canadian spouse usually counts towards RO but you usually need to have spent time in Canada first. Would add that now you have to provide significant proof that you will move to Canada once your spouse receives PR if applying while living abroad. Have you been living in the UK due to the Canadian citizen’s career? What about your move to the US from the UK? Was it due to the Canadian citizen? See the potential issue when you try to renew your PR card once in Canada. You have to be let in as a PR. We are also seeing some issues in certain provinces when people return to Canada without a valid PR card. Your SIN is likely on hold, you can have difficulty getting a health card, etc. without a valid PR card.

Yes, to clarify, I have been accompanying my Canadian spouse due to her work. All the moves from UK, to Ireland, then the US have been due to her. I have proof of all this, including us visas, etc. I thought the relevant legislation made no mention of which spouse was accompanying which, or for what reason, simply accompanying is sufficient. It would seem strange that the act of accompanying my spouse would somehow negate the exception created precisely to cover PR holders accompanying spouses. I’m not sure I understand you. We did supply evidence of intent to move to Canada and it was sincere but then she was offered a job that could not be refused. There was no such job offer in Canada. Again, I can’t see in the relevant legislation anything about holding any PR to account for decisions made outside of Canada, only that they are accompanying a Canadian spouse. To reiterate; I have my original Copr, my expired (as of when I arrive at land POE) PR card, and proof of my spouse’s permanent job offer in Canada too. What do you think will be the outcome if I arrive by land in a private car? As mentioned before, I will be arriving with my Canadian children too. If I have to wait for SIN, I’ll live with that, I just want to be admitted and given I’ve met the exception laid out in the relevant legislation, with paperwork proof of my accompanying my Canadian spouse, I do hope that is the case…

edit: at time of arrival, I will have been a PR for over 5 years. I’ve read that immigration look at where you been in that time only, in rolling 5 year chunks. Reading into that, I imagined residing in Canada or not would not be even considered. I thought they just would want proof that wherever I was residing I was residing with a Canadian citizen spouse… What do you think?

Another Edit (Sorry!): I found this on an immigration attorney website: "Despite having to count these (5 year) periods in a rolling manner, immigration officials are not authorized to examine a permanent resident’s residency obligation whenever they choose. An immigration officer is only authorized to do so when someone applies for a permanent resident card or travel document, or when they return to Canada at a port-of-entry following international travel. The good news is that the government official can only check the residency obligation of the previous five-year period."

Honestly, I take this as there being no issue with regards to residing in Canada at all or not, the information is not scrutinised further back than 5 years. The official is only checking for RO compliance, and in this 5 year period (and before, really) I have been accompanying my spouse the entire time. Anyway, that's as much as I've been able to find out after your response! Oh, and which provinces are holding SIN's, health cards, etc? Many thanks for your advice, btw, and any further help you can supply...

 

[pitra426]

You can apply to renew your PR card now. You can apply up to 9 months early. Are you moving out of Canada for good? Without a current medical emergency it would be difficult to qualify for urgent processing. You always have PRTD as an option.

-Thanks for the reply. Waited until now as I will be fulfilling the '730 days stay within 5 years of PR landed date (1st Feb, 2017)' criterion only by next week. Maybe I'll keep the filled-in renewal application form, supporting documents ready and submit in 1st week of Jan.

-Haven't decided yet as to whether to leave Canada permanently.
Don't want to waste the long, hard 2-year stay go waste-would rather prefer to renew, wait for another 130 days to collect the renewed PR card and
then decide.
-PRTD may be an option, but not even thinking about it as no clear processing timeline is mentioned. Will prefer to use this as the last option.

1st 5 year PR anniversary date=1st Feb,2022. Current PR card shows validity until 7th Mar,2022.
Another option: Can I submit the PR renewal application and then travel outside for 10 days (in Jan/Feb) and be able to return with the card before 7th March? Though technically possible, practical difficulties like how CBSA/CIC interpret PR validity date and testing, quarantine requirements in other countries (while travelling) could complicate this option.

 

[canuck78]

-Thanks for the reply. Waited until now as I will be fulfilling the '730 days stay within 5 years of PR landed date (1st Feb, 2017)' criterion only by next week. Maybe I'll keep the filled-in renewal application form, supporting documents ready and submit in 1st week of Jan.

-Haven't decided yet as to whether to leave Canada permanently.
Don't want to waste the long, hard 2-year stay go waste-would rather prefer to renew, wait for another 130 days to collect the renewed PR card and
then decide.
-PRTD may be an option, but not even thinking about it as no clear processing timeline is mentioned. Will prefer to use this as the last option.

1st 5 year PR anniversary date=1st Feb,2022. Current PR card shows validity until 7th Mar,2022.
Another option: Can I submit the PR renewal application and then travel outside for 10 days (in Jan/Feb) and be able to return with the card before 7th March? Though technically possible, practical difficulties like how CBSA/CIC interpret PR validity date and testing, quarantine requirements in other countries (while travelling) could complicate this option.

You still need to continue to meet your RO so make sure you aren’t losing any days from your initial landing. Yes you can leave and reenter before the expiry of your PR card if you continue to meet your RO but you must anticipate that there can unexpected issues when travelling these days and you may get stuck abroad past the expiry date of your PR card.

 

[pitra426]

You still need to continue to meet your RO so make sure you aren’t losing any days from your initial landing. Yes you can leave and reenter before the expiry of your PR card if you continue to meet your RO but you must anticipate that there can unexpected issues when travelling these days and you may get stuck abroad past the expiry date of your PR card.

Thanks for the reply. I will be meeting the RO next week, so it should be ok.
Yes, I would prefer to apply, wait to get the new PR card and then leave (due to the current uncertainty around international travel and potential quarantine outside, if infected).

 

[Omioshohag2]

Hi, me and my family got Copr for sinp. I am planning to enter canada, settle my kids and wife there. I will enter and leave canada every 3 month interval for 3 month stay. Will it cause any problem in my PR renewals? Thanks

 

[steaky]

Hi, me and my family got Copr for sinp. I am planning to enter canada, settle my kids and wife there. I will enter and leave canada every 3 month interval for 3 month stay. Will it cause any problem in my PR renewals? Thanks

We've seen many cases in this forum that many cannot maintain their RO while traveling outside Canada (example travel bans, India flight ban, covid lockdown in home country) and thus facings issues in PR renewals or their cards became expired.