Calculating physical presence for PR living with citizen spouse outside Canada

[shayaneo]

Hello everyone,

I am a permanent resident and my wife became a Canadian citizen a few months ago. On the CIC website (cic website resources/residence/calculate/spouse) there is information about "Absences from country of residence outside Canada" and the situation in which I may be able to count I spent with my wife outside of Canada as physical presence towards my PR renewal.
Here are my questions:
1) If I have a job in a foreign country and my wife accompanies me, will the days we spend together count for my PR renewal?
2) Or does it have to be my wife who is going to a foreign country for a job and I who follow her?
3) Does the job need to be provided by a Canadian employee?
4) Does it have to be about employment, or can it be a family situation such as illness. By this I mean, if my wife leaves Canada to take care of a family member due to illness, and I accompany my wife.

I tried calling and asking CIC but they were experiencing too many calls and couldn't answer me. I will try again later.
Thank you so much in advance.

 

[Leon]

They don't go into who is accompanying whom. From now on, if you and your wife choose to live outside Canada, for whatever reason, your days spent outside Canada with her will count towards your PR residency obligation.

 

[dpenabill]

In addition to concurring in post by Leon:

Hello everyone,

I am a permanent resident and my wife became a Canadian citizen a few months ago. On the CIC website (cic website resources/residence/calculate/spouse) there is information about "Absences from country of residence outside Canada" and the situation in which I may be able to count I spent with my wife outside of Canada as physical presence towards my PR renewal.
Here are my questions:
1) If I have a job in a foreign country and my wife accompanies me, will the days we spend together count for my PR renewal?
2) Or does it have to be my wife who is going to a foreign country for a job and I who follow her?
3) Does the job need to be provided by a Canadian employee?
4) Does it have to be about employment, or can it be a family situation such as illness. By this I mean, if my wife leaves Canada to take care of a family member due to illness, and I accompany my wife.

I tried calling and asking CIC but they were experiencing too many calls and couldn't answer me. I will try again later.
Thank you so much in advance.

The way the law allowing an exception, a credit as if in Canada, for PRs accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse abroad, is currently interpreted and applied, the key is living together abroad. In particular, if a couple cohabit abroad while one is a citizen, the other a PR, for that time spent living together the PR gets credit toward compliance with the PR RO as if it was spent in Canada.

Obviously this only counts time the citizen is a citizen, not any time prior to becoming a citizen.

If you have been living together in Canada and are considering taking a job abroad, probably no problem qualifying for and being given the credit if the two of you go abroad now so you can take the job abroad. Or if the two of you go abroad for any reason. As long as you are living together.

If you have not been living together, or more to the point if you have been living and working outside Canada while your spouse remained in Canada to qualify for and obtain citizenship, technically that does not affect future calculations based on living together. Whether, however, there are any circumstances in the history which could lead to questions, is another matter. Is it a genuine relationship if there has been a history of living apart? As just one example among a range of others.

In any event, it does not matter who follows who or for what reason.

Reminder: this sort of thing is always subject to change. There are no changes proposed at the moment, and none forecast that I know about, but these kinds of provisions are always subject to revision. So if you go abroad together, be sure to keep tabs on what is happening in Canada.

 

[Adnan34]

Very well explained by dpenabill!!!