730 days in Canada - how do they keep track?????

[suse305]

Hello,

this question might be a bit dumb. I wonder how they keep track on how many days you spend in Canada. I spent a few months in Canada but had to leave temporarily but nobody seemed to care. I did not meet any officer when leaving, noone stamped my passport or checked my PR card. So how do they know I am gone? And what will they ask when I return???

thanks for shedding some light on this ... :-[

suse

 

[Karlshammar]

You have to give us more details such as how long was your absence, where were you, etc. With the meager information you have provided I am afraid we cannot really answer.

Hello,

this question might be a bit dumb. I wonder how they keep track on how many days you spend in Canada. I spent a few months in Canada but had to leave temporarily but nobody seemed to care. I did not meet any officer when leaving, noone stamped my passport or checked my PR card. So how do they know I am gone? And what will they ask when I return???

thanks for shedding some light on this ... :-[

suse

 

[Alabaman]

From my research and observations, my inference is that they really don't know. They go by stamps on your passport. If they see evidence of travel(s) then they can ask you to prove you meet 730 days.

The burden of prove will be upon you. So you need documents like employment references, paystubs, credit card and bank statements, rental leases, bills, tax returns, flight tickets/boarding passes etc.

 

[tegveer]

You have to mention your absence on the immigration forms and the stamps on your passport , I think .

 

[Leon]

When you arrive in Canada, at least when you arrive by plane, they give you these little custom forms to write down what you are bringing with you. On those forms, you also answer how long you were gone as well as the border guards often make small chat, like what were you doing, how was your vacation etc. They may also be making note of your answers. Canada immigration also works with the US border as well as maybe some others so even if your exit from Canada was not registered, they might know that you have entered the US on such and such date.

In some cases people have been stopped when entering Canada and told by the IO's that they don't really believe this person has been living in Canada and is in violation of their residency requirements. If that happens, they are supposed to let you back to Canada anyway for a month or two to make your appeal. You will then have to prove that you have been living in Canada enough that you can meet the residency requirements in your first 5 years as a PR. If you fail to do that, you will lose your PR.

If you get into Canada without anybody noticing, the next check is when you apply to renew your PR card. If you say on your application that you have been in Canada for 730 days or more when you haven't, you don't know if they will double check that with the records they have access to.

 

[Suin]

honesty is the best policy. if they figure out that you were not honest with them it can make it even worse. if they ask you, tell them the truth, you never know what they have on the screen while talking to you.