British/Canadian living in London - Need to renew PR card

[Canadabrit2012]

Hi all!

I'm a tad worried about my situation and wondering if you can help.

In short I am a british citizen living in the UK and I do not have a Canadian Passport or citizenship.

I moved to Canada when I was 9 years old and lived there until I was 27 years old. (18 years).
I have a PR card and its due to expire right away.

I have been living in London for over a year now and have no plans to return to Canada in the next few years but do plan to settle there eventually!

Am I going to be able to renew my PR card?
And, can I apply from over here in London and have it sent to my Canadian address?
Also - Is there anyway I could apply for Canadian Citizenship so I don't have to worry about this in the future?
Or do I need to actually be living in Canada to do that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Also - I have a 'common law' partner that is a Canadian Citizen. If that helps.


Thanks,
Canadianbrit2012

 

[Leon]

You can not apply for citizenship when you are not living in Canada and you also do not meet the residency requirements for that any more. Because you have been gone for more than a year, you would have to live in Canada for 3 years again before you could apply.

Applying for a PR card from outside Canada is kind of a grey area. It says that the application must originate within Canada but you yourself don't necessarily have to be. You could send your application to relatives in Canada and have them mail it in for you. Renewal cards are supposed to get mailed out now so it will probably mailed to your Canadian address. However, might be a chance they want you to come pick it up. Since you are visa exempt, you should have no problems doing that.

With a Canadian common law partner, as long as you are living together, your days outside Canada still count as days in Canada towards the PR residency requirements so you don't have to worry about losing your PR status because of that. If you did not have a Canadian partner, you could spend max. 3 years outside Canada in any rolling 5 year period.