Hi,
Is it really necessary for avoiding secondary review and consequent delays to have a buffer of one to two months after the 730 days before applying for PR card renewal after entering Canada via land crossing with an expired PR card and living for two years continuously? Some people even say it's better to wait till 800+ days are done. Just wondering if it would really make a difference or should a buffer of 1 - 2 weeks suffice. I’d really appreciate your advice.
Thank you
There is NO guaranteed approach to avoid non-routine processing, be that Secondary Review or other procedures that can result in additional processing and delays getting a new PR card.
No, no buffer is "
necessary" to avoid non-routine processing.
A PR card application is NOT like making an application for citizenship, for which a buffer over the minimum presence requirement (or, more to the point, the lack of a buffer) is likely to have significant influence in how much scrutiny IRCC employs, including whether the application is subject to additional, non-routine investigation or RQ-related requests.
While many here suggest a buffer over the minimum presence to meet the PR Residency Obligation, I am not among them. I am quite confident that other factors will have far more influence in determining the level of complexity for a PR card application. Since we have seen anecdotal reports of what is obviously automated approval of online PR card applications involving PRs with only a few days presence over the minimum to meet the RO, it readily appears that a buffer, or lack of a buffer, is NOT a big factor, and that even virtually no buffer at all will not preclude the application being low complex, and thus promptly processed.
On the Other Side of the Coin, it is likely the size of the buffer will not have much influence in whether a PR can avoid their PR card application going into non-routine processing.
An extra couple or even several months, let alone weeks, is not likely to have much influence in whether the PR card application goes into non-routine processing. Note, for one example among many, whether it is readily apparent the PR is currently well-settled and PERMANENTLY established in Canada is likely to have far, far more influence in whether the PR card application is subject to increased scrutiny, potentially involving the lengthy delay of a referral for Secondary Review.
That Said, the Number of Days Over the Minimum RO Can Matter:
If and when IRCC has concerns about a PR's RO compliance, and especially if there are concerns about the completeness and accuracy of the travel history reported by the PR in a PR card or PR TD application, the bigger the buffer is over the minimum can have a positive influence in the nature and extent of non-routine processing. What seems to be overlooked by some is that if there are questions about the number of days present in Canada, anyone who has not been in Canada more than 900 days within the previous five years has been outside Canada more than in Canada . . . so, for these PRs, for any days it is uncertain whether the PR was in or out of Canada, it will be reasonable to infer they were likely outside Canada, based on inferring they were likely to be where they were most of the time.
SUMMARY:
For PRs clearly well-settled and permanently living in Canada now, and not leaving Canada for an extended period of time after making the application, the amount of buffer over minimum presence to meet RO is not likely to have much influence. Three days probably as good as three weeks, even three months.
For PRs with complex factors, especially those who do not appear to currently be well-established in a life being lived in Canada, a buffer of two or three months is not likely to reduce the risk of non-routine processing. That is, whether applying for the PR card with a two month, or two week, or two day buffer, is not likely to make a difference in whether the application is referred for non-routine processing. That said, cutting it real close and appearing to have just been visiting Canada at the time of making a PR card application, that is a recipe for significantly involved non-routine processing including an elevated risk of referral for Secondary Review.
