Automatic Trigger for "secondary review" in PR card renewal

[Cameron2020]

They said if the days you stayed in Canada is just a little more than 2 years, you go for secondary review.
So far they have kept me waiting for 4 months after they started their second review and whenever I contacted them, they said there is no time limit for us.
I sent them my airplane ticket along with my documents for urgent processing, but not only they did not care about my travel plan, but they even sent me for secondary review!
When I objected about it, they behave as if I never send them any ticket and asked me to send it again. When I sent them the ticket and prove of payment, but again they ignored it and considered it as invalid!!!!
I had to leave Canada 2 months ago with the same ticket that they considered it as invalid and now my card is expired and I can not go back to my family.
Is this the way they behave with a 5 year permanent resident, or it can be a 10 year or 15 year one.
Getting a travel document as they suggest is as difficult as getting your PR card, because again you should prove them that you have been in Canada for 2 years during the last 5 years and all other stuffs. It is actually a vicious cycle!!!!!
Plus, there is no Canadian embassy in my country and I have to travel to another country to get that. That embassy does not even accept to send my passport back by post!!!!!!!!

 

[ttrajan]

Useless people. They don't have immigration check while leaving Canada and troubling people who stayed more than 2 years?

 

[vop]

@Cameron2020, Many having been waiting for a year+. It took them 6 months to even open the application in the first place and then, it was sent for secondary review. So count yourself blessed that they may process your card within 1 Year after it is sent for secondary review. I know that is not really helpful but its a very real possibility that they may keep you waiting for longer. So I really think you should apply for a PRTD asap to take advantage of the 2 out of 5 years. Doesnt your country have VFS procedures ? Its very likely that once your PRTD is approved, they will also process your PR card.

I do think the IRPA kept the rules flexible (2 out of 5 years) for the globalized world that we live in and its not just for emergencies as some have suggested. It is to allow people to work elsewhere if they want to but to ensure that they establish here at some point or be based out of here and live here. It is the main reason imo that they didnt revisit the rules even in bill c-24 because they felt it would harm intra company employees, high ranking executives etc.

Having said that, since there are people who pretended to live here even for those minimal 2 years, officials have decided to be more circumspect on everyone especially if there are flags like multiple passports, no job, or the type of work, salary, unusual income etc during this period. This is very similar to the RQ that was applied for all citizenship applicants based on certain criteria. I dont agree with the process because they are not communicating at all with the client but having said that, the officers are given the discretion. I just wished the officers communicated with the client to either provide more exhaustive proof and especially since this is a renewal, if needed, on how they have established their lives here like say, "an affirmation letter" because unlike your landing when you are new, now, you have a chance to really explain how you have established yourself. But I really doubt they would change because they want to keep the flexibility for high tech executives, mobile professionals etc because that would mean they have to give binding declarations in letters which can be used against them.
But at the same time, they want people to police themselves and actually make more of an effort to live here.

 

[Cameron2020]

Useless people. They don't have immigration check while leaving Canada and troubling people who stayed more than 2 years?

Really good point.

 

[AmirATM]

I am no expert.

What criteria is employed by IRCC to screen PR card applicants is not public information. It is even unclear why some are sent for SR while others, who IRCC clearly has concerns about their compliance with the PR RO, are promptly sent the request for information and documentation pursuant to a formal Residency Determination.

Around 2012 or 2013 CIC briefly posted an Operational Bulletin which it soon took off line, which specifically listed the checklist of criteria used in doing counter-interviews for PRs required to pick up the PR card in person. I have a copy somewhere but probably on a hard drive in a box somewhere in my office area (which appears to be more like a poorly run landfill site than a work space). It was very similar to the triage criteria for issuing RQ to citizenship applicants, which was leaked in 2012 (the OB 407 version of the File Requirements Checklist).

I have posted a fair bit about cutting-it-close, but there is no magic number of days, one way or the other. As I oft point out, both appearance and context matter. Which means what the other facts are and what the PR's history is matter. Just because two PRs both happen to have been present in Canada a mere 850 days (well less than half the time) during the five years that count does not mean they will both encounter the same processing. Many other factors can influence how it goes.

My sense is that any indication the PR is not fully settled and living in Canada permanently will at least increase the risk of additional scrutiny by a lot. What indicates not being fully settled and living permanently in Canada will, of course, vary considerably depending on a wide range of facts.

My sense is also that SR tends to be focused on applicants perceived to have been involved in some fraud (or otherwise scamming the system), living abroad, or likely to leave Canada to live abroad. Not that you will see many who have been dragged into SR admitting there is any possible reason for IRCC to have such a perception. But there almost always is.

In terms of more specific factors, while there are undoubtedly many others, some examples I can guess include:
-- cutting-it-close (less time in Canada than outside Canada is probably cutting-it-close, but obviously less than 800 days is cutting it a lot closer)
-- applying soon after returning to Canada after an absence longer than a routine holiday (longer than, say, a couple or three weeks, for most people anyway)
-- leaving Canada for an extended time after applying
-- job history in Canada not sufficient to support the PR without obvious other means of support (suggesting employment, income abroad)
-- long-term work or residential status abroad

But there are many things which can draw negative, skeptical attention. Even which PoE a PR uses, when traveling to and from Canada, in relationship to where the PR reports living and working, if incongruous for someone living and working where the PR claims, could trigger elevated scrutiny. IRCC can compare residential address with work address, or check for information in LinkedIn or other websites. And so on.

To be clear: the vast majority of legitimate PRs who have settled in Canada permanently will not encounter delays when they apply for a new PR card, be that six months or a week before the card expires, or six months or a week after the card expires.

You summed it up quite well as usual.
My case falls under the scenarios you mentioned. I landed in 2012 and left for 2 and half years except for one short visit in 2014. First thing I send the application I got a secondary review letter after 2 months- So, I spent the weekend writing a letter showing the chronological order of my absences with supporting entry/exit stamps and tried to make it as easy as possible for IRCC to verify.

I also cut it short - I think 740 days- but I am not really worried, because I already accumulated 60 days more after I sent the application and I decided Canada home so it doesn't really matter much for me (As long as it doesn't turn to a real long process over a year or something ), especially that I wont be traveling for at least a year from now. (my card expires in Dec 2017 ) .

Moreover, I was flagged by immigration, so each time I enter the country they send me to secondary, one time an agent asked me why , i said i really dont know, and I asked him if he can verify, he went for 10 minutes and he came back and said that its because you left the country for a long time, so we just want to make sure you meet the residency obligations, he also said dont worry as soon as you get citizenship this will be gone . Anyway i felt from his tone that its not a big deal.

In addition to description of In/Out of the country and entry exit stamps i provided the following documents :

Attachment 07: “Demande d’inscription au régime d’assurance maladie du Quebec» and «Confirmation de votre inscription au régime public d’assurance médicaments» letters dated March 2nd 2015.

Attachment 08: Sublease form of my previous address

ü Attachment 09: Notice of assessments- 2015, Notice of assessments -2016

ü Attachment 10: “Personal effects accounting document” from CBSA dated March 4th 2015.

ü Attachment 11: Videotron telecommunication service contract dated March 2nd 2015.

ü Attachment 12: Rogers Wireless service agreement dated February 26th 2015.

ü Attachment 13: Youth Employments Services (YES) Intensive Job Search Program Agreement dated April 20th 2015.

ü Attachment 14:Current apartment lease

ü Attachment 15: RBC checking bank account and Credit card statements from February 26th 2015 till present date (grouped by years), showing weekly salary transfer from August 2015 till date, utility bills, rent payments and all other expenses from Feb 2015 till date.

ü Attachment 16: Work contract

ü Attachment 17: Car purchase contract

ü Attachment 18: Pay slip of August 2015 and June 2017.

ü Attachment 19: Test Results for Driving test and temporary driving license dated June 2nd 2015.


Honestly, If it is just a matter of verification they should send me the PR as soon as they get through my documents because its really a proof without reasonable doubt that I met the PR residency obligation .

So what do you think? do they still put it a side for a couple of months even if the case is strong?

 

[dpenabill]

I also cut it short - I think 740 days- but I am not really worried, because I already accumulated 60 days more after I sent the application and I decided Canada home so it doesn't really matter much for me (As long as it doesn't turn to a real long process over a year or something ), especially that I wont be traveling for at least a year from now. (my card expires in Dec 2017 ) .

Overall, it is hard to guess how long these things will take. As I have oft posted, cutting-it-close has risks. As long as you stay in Canada those risks tend to be limited to how long it takes rather than what the outcome will be.

In any event, I really am not an expert. What I do is analyze and organize, and try to explain information about the process, how it works and such. Applying the information to an individual case is quite another thing and I am not qualified to do that (for many reasons).

So I honestly cannot offer you a whole lot about the what or why in your particular case.

I can throw some ideas out there, but you know the obvious one, and that is the extent to which you remained outside Canada.

I am not clear about what you mean by having 740 days. If it has been less than five years since you landed, the number of days you have as a credit toward complying with the PR Residency Obligation is the total of --
-- number of days in Canada since you landed, plus
-- number of days left on the calendar before the fifth year anniversary of the date you landed

During the first five years, as long as you remain in Canada that total does not change. So you have been here 60 more days since applying for the PR Card, but that does not change your credit since there are now 60 less days to the fifth year anniversary of when you landed. If you leave Canada, the total changes because each day abroad deducts a day from the days remaining group.

My outside guess, if your card does not expire until December 2017, is that you applied so soon (seven or eight months before the card expires) that, in conjunction with your overall history it appears you might have done so to get the card sooner in order to return abroad for another extended period of time. But since you have been flagged anyway, perhaps that is all it took to throw you into SR.

But if as you say you are now in Canada to stay, overall things should go OK . . . unless there is something else lurking in the wings (it does seem like you may have been flagged unusually early, depending on when that was).

It may not take IRCC too much longer . . . or it could take a long while.

As long as you are in Canada, maybe give the help line a call occasionally to check on the status of things, but otherwise give a few months and go from there.

 

[AmirATM]

Thanks dpenabill for your comments - I will just wait, it should be a matter of time as far as I know - as I mentioned the Officer told me that the reason of you being flagged is that you landed and you returned back to work abroad. Anyway, the question that is bugging me is ; you put a regulation in place, people abide to it and you still keep people waiting and from what I read if you have less than 1000 days you most likely going to SR. it doesn't make sense at all. what is fair is change the regulations to whatever suits you 3 years our of 5 , 4 years out of 5 and renew the PR to people who meet these obligation. what is happening now is a double standard: the residency regulation calls for 2 out of 5 years but if you have less than 3 years we going to keep you lingering anyway even if you have met the regulation. The only thing that I think the IRCC should check beside meeting the residency obligation is possibility of fraud or misrepresentation, then again, that could happen with people who stay from 1 days to 5 years . hard to understand sometimes.

 

[dpenabill]

Anyway, the question that is bugging me is ; you put a regulation in place, people abide to it and you still keep people waiting and from what I read if you have less than 1000 days you most likely going to SR. it doesn't make sense at all. what is fair is change the regulations to whatever suits you 3 years our of 5 , 4 years out of 5 and renew the PR to people who meet these obligation. what is happening now is a double standard: the residency regulation calls for 2 out of 5 years but if you have less than 3 years we going to keep you lingering anyway even if you have met the regulation.

As the IAD and the Federal Court have stated again and again, and frankly it is obvious, the PR Residency Obligation is intentionally liberal so as to accommodate a wide, wide range of circumstances which immigrants might encounter and which temporarily interfere with their capacity to fully settle permanently in Canada. Rather than impose a difficult to enforce intent requirement which would put excessive discretion in the hands of bureaucrats and lead to inconsistent results, Canada has this very liberal PR RO.

The liberal PR RO is not intended to facilitate a lifestyle which does not constitute permanently settling in Canada. The specific purpose for PR (and again, this has been emphatically stated by many IAD panels and Federal Court justices in official decisions) is so the person can permanently settle in Canada.

Those PRs who spend more time abroad than in Canada appear to not be settling permanently in Canada. So of course the government is likely to scrutinize their applications for a new PR card more thoroughly.

Some may characterize this as suspicion of fraud. And sure, PRs who appear to be manipulating the system are indeed more likely to be suspected of and investigated for fraud.

Moreover, again, for those who spend more time abroad than in Canada, IRCC has a due diligence obligation to scrutinize more extensively. If there is any question at all about the time the PR spent in Canada, the reasonable inference is that they were NOT in Canada . . . this is because if it is not certain where a person was for any given time, it is reasonable to infer that person was where he usually was, so for a person outside Canada more than in Canada, it is reasonable to infer he was outside Canada.

I have no idea what your personal situation is. It is obvious that many PRs who encountered unexpected difficulties making the transition to coming to Canada to settle permanently in Canada, and thus who reach the end of their first five years as a PR barely meeting the PR RO, are suffering because there have been so many other PRs who have been exploiting the Canadian system and in particular exploiting how liberal the PR RO is, with no intent to permanently settle in Canada. (Note recent media reports about a large number of PRs surrendering PR status recently, directly related to increased enforcement of the PR RO.)

Overall, the PR who has clearly settled permanently in Canada is likely to see the PR card process move along more quickly, even though he cut-it-close, depending of course on how close he actually cut it and on how clearly he has finally permanently settled in Canada. In contrast, the PR who is not settled permanently in Canada, and who appears to deliberately be just barely meeting the PR RO, should anticipate more thorough scrutiny and perhaps some severe skepticism in assessing his case.

But otherwise, yes, while questions about compliance with the PR RO appears to be the biggest trigger for Secondary Review, SR is mostly about investigating and interdicting potential fraud.