at the airport/Port of Entry

[canuc2009]

Hi Experts
After 35 years in Canada I left Canada for 10 years to be with my aging parents,who have passed away
now. I would like to return to Canada as soon as possible.
1) What happens at the Port of Entry, when I appear with a fairly recent German passport. Am I required to state:I am a returning Permanent Resident?
2) Of course I can provide the original passport with the immigration visa and "Landed" stamp. And also
subsequent passports issued by Consulat in Toronto.
2) I understand the Immigration officer has to let me in. Is that correct??
Thanks a lot in advance for any help/advice
Canuc2009

 

[scylla]

No - the officer does not have to let you in.

If your PR status was still valid (not expired) - then the officer would have to let you in even if you had not met residency obligations.

But since your PR status has long expired, the officer is under no obligation to allow you in.

 

[thecoolguysam]

if you were here in canada for 35 years then it means you must have canadian passport. if you are canadian citizen then you can come and if you are a PR then if the pr card is not expired then you can still come in

 

[scylla]

if you were here in canada for 35 years then it means you must have canadian passport. if you are canadian citizen then you can come and if you are a PR then if the pr card is not expired then you can still come in

That's not necessarily true.

Someone can obtain PR status, live in Canada for 35 years and never become a citizen.

If the OP is in fact a citizen, he/she can return without any issues. If he/she never became a citizen and is still a PR, that's a completely different matter.

 

[Leon]

I assume that the original poster did not want to become a German citizen because they would have lost their German citizenship because of German citizenship law.

Anyway, some speculations about this case..

You are still a PR until somebody revokes your PR status and I assume that has not happened yet.

If you arrived at the border stating that you are a PR and want to enter, it is possible that they would let you enter without reporting you for not meeting the residency requirements. If you state that the reason you were outside Canada was taking care of sick parents and that you plan to apply for your PR renewal based on H&C grounds, that might help your case. I have heard of a case of somebody living in the US who had been a PR as a child and was coming back on vacation years later was let into Canada anyway but told that he must contact the Canadian embassy about giving up his PR status once he arrived back in the US.

It is also possible that they would let you in and report you for not meeting the residency requirements. If they do that, they would let you enter for 30 days to work on your appeal and you could expect having to prove that your parents were sick with some medical documents, translated into English or French of course.

If you sneak into Canada on a new passport without mentioning that you are PR and they do not become aware of your name and birth date matching someone who is a PR already, I do not really know if there are any consequences to that.

Immigration publications state that even if a PR has been away for many years, returns to Canada and stays for 2 years, they meet the residency requirements again and if they apply for a PR card renewal at that point, only the previous 5 years immediately before their renewal application can be considered. However, you could also apply earlier claiming H&C grounds but if you do, you take the risk that if they say no, they could revoke your PR status.

You could also go to the Canadian embassy in Berlin and apply for a travel document on H&C grounds because of your parents illness. I do not know the odds of getting one.

You should read OP10 at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op10-eng.pdf