A PR Outside Canada Applying for Citizenship! Need help!

[mohammedk]

Hi,

I lived in Canada for five years as PR, and applied and paid for the citizenship card at that time, but left without doing the Oath nor receiving the card! I have lived outside Canada all this time, my local Canadian embassy told me that CIC tried to reach my on my old mailing address but never succeeded and my application has be archived, now I have to start all over! I am planning on moving back to Canada with my wife and kids, who are not Canadian and were born outside Canada.

What do I need to do to apply for Citizenship? Can I do this online? And how how about my kids and wife?

Your feedback is highly appreciated. Thank you.

MK

 

[scylla]

You haven't given us very much information to go on.

How long have you been outside of Canada? Do you currently meet the citizenship residency requirement of living in Canada for 4 out of the last 6 years? If not, do you currently meet the PR residency requirement of living in Canada for 2 out of the last 5 years?

You cannot apply for citizenship online. The citizenship application has to be mailed and you must be in Canada to apply.

What your wife and children are eligible to apply for depends on the answers to the questions I asked above.

 

[Mr Optimist]

Hey Scylla,

I have a similar question, but not exactly.

I got my PR in Sep 2012 and worked in Canada for about 2.5 years before leaving Canada. Now it will be due to renew before Aug 2017. Can I apply for PR renewal while staying outside Canada?

I am planning to move back to Canada somewhere in early part of 2018. What options do I have?

 

[Rob_TO]

Hey Scylla,

I have a similar question, but not exactly.

I got my PR in Sep 2012 and worked in Canada for about 2.5 years before leaving Canada. Now it will be due to renew before Aug 2017. Can I apply for PR renewal while staying outside Canada?

I am planning to move back to Canada somewhere in early part of 2018. What options do I have?

No, you must be in Canada to apply for renewal of PR card.

Assuming you left Canada around March 2015, that means you must return to Canada permanently by around March 2018 or you will be in violation of the RO.

After your PR card expires, you can then apply for a PR Travel Doc to return to Canada which you should get easily if you are still in compliance with the RO. Then once back in Canada you can apply to renew PR card, making sure you stay in compliance going forward.

 

[Mr Optimist]

No, you must be in Canada to apply for renewal of PR card.

Assuming you left Canada around March 2015, that means you must return to Canada permanently by around March 2018 or you will be in violation of the RO.

After your PR card expires, you can then apply for a PR Travel Doc to return to Canada which you should get easily if you are still in compliance with the RO. Then once back in Canada you can apply to renew PR card, making sure you stay in compliance going forward.

Thanks Rob... That perfectly answered my question. I should get a PRTD and make it a point to return to Canada before Mar 2018 to fulfill RO if I want my PR renewed. Perfect!!

 

[mohammedk]

You haven't given us very much information to go on.

How long have you been outside of Canada? Do you currently meet the citizenship residency requirement of living in Canada for 4 out of the last 6 years? If not, do you currently meet the PR residency requirement of living in Canada for 2 out of the last 5 years?

You cannot apply for citizenship online. The citizenship application has to be mailed and you must be in Canada to apply.

What your wife and children are eligible to apply for depends on the answers to the questions I asked above.

Dear Scylla,

Thank you for your feedback.

I have been outside Canada for 10 years, I only visited Canada two years after i had left, and at that time I was given a temp passport to travel back to Canada.
Hence, I have not lived 4 years in Canada for the last 6 years nor meet the PR residency requirement of living in Canada for 2 out the last 5 years.
However, I lived for 4 years continuously and met the minimum numbers of days, the 1,000+ days!

 

[cempjwi]

Hi,

I lived in Canada for five years as PR, and applied and paid for the citizenship card at that time, but left without doing the Oath nor receiving the card! I have lived outside Canada all this time, my local Canadian embassy told me that CIC tried to reach my on my old mailing address but never succeeded and my application has be archived, now I have to start all over! I am planning on moving back to Canada with my wife and kids, who are not Canadian and were born outside Canada.

What do I need to do to apply for Citizenship? Can I do this online? And how how about my kids and wife?

Your feedback is highly appreciated. Thank you.

MK

It seems that you left after you applied for citizenship, it was approved but you never took the oath, right? Taking the oath is part of becoming a citizen, which means that in fact, you never became a citizen as you abandoned the process over 10 years ago. This is something that you seem to know because you are asking about information on how to apply for citizenship. The thing is that you left Canada 10 years ago without completing your citizenship, which in turn means that you may have remained a PR in the eyes of CIC. As a PR you continued to be required to meet your residency obligation and because 10 years have passed since you left Canada, you have lost your PR status, which means that you cannot apply for citizenship. You need to meet the citizenship requirements at the time of application; just because you qualified 10 years ago does not mean you qualify now. In any case, because this is just a board, you need to contact CIC directly to verify these facts. CIC provides a Verification of Status request; however, people often confuse that document as actual verification of current PR status, which is not; that request only proves that at some point in time you because a PR. You will need to apply to renew your PR card, but based on the information you have provided, your card will not be renewed (unless CIC in a surprising twist tells you that you are a citizen and that you should come take the oath).

 

[scylla]

Dear Scylla,

Thank you for your feedback.

I have been outside Canada for 10 years, I only visited Canada two years after i had left, and at that time I was given a temp passport to travel back to Canada.
Hence, I have not lived 4 years in Canada for the last 6 years nor meet the PR residency requirement of living in Canada for 2 out the last 5 years.
However, I lived for 4 years continuously and met the minimum numbers of days, the 1,000+ days!

It doesn't matter that you lived in Canada continuously in the past - all that matters is if you qualify right now. You certainly do not qualify to reapply for citizenship at this time (very far from it). At this point you should forget about citizenship and be concerned about how you are going to retain PR given you do not meet the residency obligation for PR by a long shot. At this point your only hope for keeping your PR status would be to re-enter Canada by land using your COPR and hope you are not reported at the border for failing to meet PR. If you are able to successfully re-enter, you will have to live in Canada for two straight years without leaving before you will be able to apply to renew your PR card. You will not be able to sponsor your family during this time - you won't be able to sponsor them until the two years have passed. They can apply for a visitor visa - but there's probably quite a high chance the visa will be refused. So you'll need to be prepared to be separated from your family for two or more years if you want to try to save your PR status.

 

[mohammedk]

It seems that you left after you applied for citizenship, it was approved but you never took the oath, right? Taking the oath is part of becoming a citizen, which means that in fact, you never became a citizen as you abandoned the process over 10 years ago. This is something that you seem to know because you are asking about information on how to apply for citizenship. The thing is that you left Canada 10 years ago without completing your citizenship, which in turn means that you may have remained a PR in the eyes of CIC. As a PR you continued to be required to meet your residency obligation and because 10 years have passed since you left Canada, you have lost your PR status, which means that you cannot apply for citizenship. You need to meet the citizenship requirements at the time of application; just because you qualified 10 years ago does not mean you qualify now. In any case, because this is just a board, you need to contact CIC directly to verify these facts. CIC provides a Verification of Status request; however, people often confuse that document as actual verification of current PR status, which is not; that request only proves that at some point in time you because a PR. You will need to apply to renew your PR card, but based on the information you have provided, your card will not be renewed (unless CIC in a surprising twist tells you that you are a citizen and that you should come take the oath).

Yes, I never took the oath!
I have contacted IRCC online requesting Verification of Status and inquerying about my options.
I wonder why my Temp passport was reissued for me in 2015? Would they still issue it if I was not a PR?

Thanks.

 

[mohammedk]

It doesn't matter that you lived in Canada continuously in the past - all that matters is if you qualify right now. You certainly do not qualify to reapply for citizenship at this time (very far from it). At this point you should forget about citizenship and be concerned about how you are going to retain PR given you do not meet the residency obligation for PR by a long shot. At this point your only hope for keeping your PR status would be to re-enter Canada by land using your COPR and hope you are not reported at the border for failing to meet PR. If you are able to successfully re-enter, you will have to live in Canada for two straight years without leaving before you will be able to apply to renew your PR card. You will not be able to sponsor your family during this time - you won't be able to sponsor them until the two years have passed. They can apply for a visitor visa - but there's probably quite a high chance the visa will be refused. So you'll need to be prepared to be separated from your family for two or more years if you want to try to save your PR status.

I agree.

Would it be easier to re apply as a new immigrant with my family? Given that we are planning on going to live there!

Can a lawyer assist in this matter?

Thanks.

 

[scylla]

I agree.

Would it be easier to re apply as a new immigrant with my family? Given that we are planning on going to live there!

Can a lawyer assist in this matter?

Thanks.

Yes - it would most likely be easier to reapply for PR (if you qualify). Sure - a lawyer can help you if you don't want to do the research yourself.

 

[Rob_TO]

I wonder why my Temp passport was reissued for me in 2015? Would they still issue it if I was not a PR?

What do you mean a temporary passport? Do you mean a Canadian passport which is only given to citizens? Or perhaps a PR Travel Document?

 

[mohammedk]

What do you mean a temporary passport? Do you mean a Canadian passport which is only given to citizens? Or perhaps a PR Travel Document?

Rob,

It was a regular Canadian Passport, valid for one one, Type P, Starting with GA!!

 

[scylla]

Rob,

It was a regular Canadian Passport, valid for one one, Type P, Starting with GA!!

What you're saying makes no sense. How can you have a Canadian passport without having Canadian citizenship?

 

[cempjwi]

Rob,

It was a regular Canadian Passport, valid for one one, Type P, Starting with GA!!

It seems you may be leaving important information out. Why were you given a temporary Canadian passport? Temporary passports are usually and rarely issued abroad now, where available, but normally a TD is issued both for Canadians a PR's alike; it might have been different in the past but only Canadian citizens are given a Canadian passports unless you were stateless and Canada granted you a temp passport, which seems to obviously not be the case for you.

In any case Type P are regular passports, given only to Canadian citizens. If that is the case, so why are you asking about applying for Canadian citizenship? How did you obtain that Canadian passport? Didn't you have to prove you were Canadian to obtain it? And if you were able to prove it, how did you prove it? And, more importantly, why can't you prove it again? Usually non-Canadian born citizens will prove their Canadian citizenship with a citizenship certificate, don't you have that? Did you ever have one?