Entering Canada with an expired PR card - urgent please help.

[pdo]

With a visa and eTA exempt US passport, most likely you can just fly back to Canada with that alone. Just don't mention to the airline upon checkin that you're a PR, or it could cause them to demand a valid PR card. Just fly by posing as a visa-exempt foreign national.

Yeah this is what I was assuming I could probably do, but I was worried, since my daughter has a Canadian passport if it would raise a flag with the airline. And once you get on an airline, are the CBSA folks going to be pissed about us lying, or at least not being entirely truthful to the airline people? And is that going to somehow jeopardize my PR status?

 

[cempjwi]

Yeah this is what I was assuming I could probably do, but I was worried, since my daughter has a Canadian passport if it would raise a flag with the airline. And once you get on an airline, are the CBSA folks going to be pissed about us lying, or at least not being entirely truthful to the airline people? And is that going to somehow jeopardize my PR status?

No, you having a US passport and your daughter a Canadian passport will not necessarily raise a flag when checking in or boarding; that is a pretty common situation. You, however, having a US passport without a return ticket to the US may raise a flag. Then again, you can buy a refundable one way ticket between Vancouver and Seattle, and that issue is gone.

The more time consuming issue may be once you land in Canada. I've read stories of visa exempt citizens that have managed to get back into canada on the strength of their passport alone without disclosing they are PRs either because they don't have their PR card, it is expired or they are having issues with their RO, but I have never heard a follow up story regarding how the entry got resolved later on (one would think that they might have been flagged as over-stayers although that is not technically an issue for PRs). I am not sure what the result would be if you were to disclose that you don't have your PR card and that you left the country and deliberately attempted to use a loophole to get back in it. I doubt that their focus will be on the subject of you having conned the airline.

Another choice obviously is to cancel your trip.

 

[Rob_TO]

Yeah this is what I was assuming I could probably do, but I was worried, since my daughter has a Canadian passport if it would raise a flag with the airline. And once you get on an airline, are the CBSA folks going to be pissed about us lying, or at least not being entirely truthful to the airline people? And is that going to somehow jeopardize my PR status?

No, nobody will care one little bit about if you boarded the plane as a foreign national and not using your PR card. Thousands of PRs have traveled on visa-exempt passports alone, and I've never seen a case in history of anyone getting in trouble after the fact (assuming you meet the RO, which you do).

Also traveling with a Canadian citizen is not a problem.

Once in Canada, just show your passport and COPR and tell them your PR card is processing. They should let you in with no problems at all. My wife did exactly this and there were zero issues.

 

[pdo]

My wife did exactly this and there were zero issues.

Has your wife done this since the new regulations went into effect earlier this year?

 

[Rob_TO]

Has your wife done this since the new regulations went into effect earlier this year?

She did it several years ago. Several others have posted here that they have done this also with no problems over the past few months.

When it comes to entering Canada, the new eTA rules don't change anything. CBSA will not care about HOW you got to Canada. Once you present yourself to them at immigration, all they will care about is confirming your PR status and that you meet the residency obligation. It will be completely irrelevant to them that you boarded a plane with just your passport.

 

[pdo]

Cool. thanks for the info Rob_TO. If anyone else has any experiences to share would love to hear still. But I think we're going to keep the trip as planned and just bank on the visa exempt US passport making the flight boarding/checkin on.

 

[mabobine]

Under both scenarios, you still have the issue of your non-PR daughter, whom you could not sponsor until you are in Canada (or in Canada with your RO restored). Problem is that a customs agent may decide not to let your non-pr daughter into Canada at all as she may pose a risk of overstaying and becoming a burden on Canadian health services, for example, because she obviously will not leave because you are not leaving.

Thanks for your help!
For my second daughter, if she is not Canadian PR how she can use Canadian health services? Also, for her I can always visit USA after every 6 months to make sure she doesn't overstay in Canada until her application is accepted.

Also, do I need to have a job in Canada to apply for her immigration and how long the process usually takes?

 

[Rob_TO]

Thanks for your help!
For my second daughter, if she is not Canadian PR how she can use Canadian health services? Also, for her I can always visit USA after every 6 months to make sure she doesn't overstay in Canada until her application is accepted.

Also, do I need to have a job in Canada to apply for her immigration and how long the process usually takes?

Healthcare depends on province. In most of them, you must be PR to get access to healthcare. So she should have private travel medical insurance if she doesn't qualify for healthcare.

You mentioned before that you don't meet the residency obligation. If this is the case, then you need to wait for 2 years in Canada before you are back in compliance with the RO and can submit an app to sponsor your daughter. Then the app will take up to 1 year, so you're looking at up to 3 years before she will be a PR. When you qualify to sponsor her, you don't need any specific income requirement.

Also you and your family may be reported upon entering Canada for not meeting RO, and have your PR statuses revoked. If you can make it into Canada ok, then each time you left/re-entered you'd again face the risk of having RO reported and PR revoked.

 

[pdo]

Follow up to my case above: applied for PR renewal/replacement, marked envelope as URGENT due to imminent travel, included receipt for travel in late August. Got the card in less than two weeks! whew.

 

[Prttywendy]

Thanks for the above valuable advice. I am in the similar situation, I would need some advice urgent. My PR card expires in 24 hours and I would like to travel to China to see my parents, my dad has a stroke. I am using Singapore passport which has 14 days visa free entry China, and 3 month visa exemptions in Canada on passport strength. It is not possible to get Travel document in Shanghai, China on time before my leave is over, I have a young kids here schooling here too, i can not afford to wait too long in China.I have been working in Ottawa since 2012, kids and I are here 99% of the time in last five yrs since we landed as PR ,My husband is a Canadian. We have a good record as residents ...
Questions:
1.) if I book a ticket to China anyways, can I use my passport to board on air Canada back to Ottawa using the strength of my passport even though my pr card is pending renewal approval with travel document issued from shanghai, China?
2.) if I apply urgent renew of my PR today or tomorrow before travel or book tickets in Canada, how fast can I get the new PR Card ?
3.) any alternative way possible I can see my father who is suffering from severe medical condition now. Est my visits is about 2-3 weeks max .

Thank you everyone.

 

[Rob_TO]

Thanks for the above valuable advice. I am in the similar situation, I would need some advice urgent. My PR card expires in 24 hours and I would like to travel to China to see my parents, my dad has a stroke. I am using Singapore passport which has 14 days visa free entry China, and 3 month visa exemptions in Canada on passport strength. It is not possible to get Travel document in Shanghai, China on time before my leave is over, I have a young kids here schooling here too, i can not afford to wait too long in China.I have been working in Ottawa since 2012, kids and I are here 99% of the time in last five yrs since we landed as PR ,My husband is a Canadian. We have a good record as residents ...
Questions:
1.) if I book a ticket to China anyways, can I use my passport to board on air Canada back to Ottawa using the strength of my passport even though my pr card is pending renewal approval with travel document issued from shanghai, China?
2.) if I apply urgent renew of my PR today or tomorrow before travel or book tickets in Canada, how fast can I get the new PR Card ?
3.) any alternative way possible I can see my father who is suffering from severe medical condition now. Est my visits is about 2-3 weeks max .

Thank you everyone.

You will not be able to board an airplane back to Canada without a valid PR card or PR Travel Document. Even with visa-exempt passport you would need eTA, which you don't qualify for as a PR. So really your only options are to apply for new PR card and hope it comes quickly, or to apply for PR TD after you arrive in China and hope it's processed quickly. No guarantee for either how much time it would take.

Alternately you can fly to a US city and drive across border into Canada. For this you don't need valid PR card or a PR TD.

 

[dpenabill]

Thanks for the above valuable advice. I am in the similar situation, I would need some advice urgent. My PR card expires in 24 hours and I would like to travel to China to see my parents, my dad has a stroke. I am using Singapore passport which has 14 days visa free entry China, and 3 month visa exemptions in Canada on passport strength. It is not possible to get Travel document in Shanghai, China on time before my leave is over, I have a young kids here schooling here too, i can not afford to wait too long in China.I have been working in Ottawa since 2012, kids and I are here 99% of the time in last five yrs since we landed as PR ,My husband is a Canadian. We have a good record as residents ...
Questions:
1.) if I book a ticket to China anyways, can I use my passport to board on air Canada back to Ottawa using the strength of my passport even though my pr card is pending renewal approval with travel document issued from shanghai, China?
2.) if I apply urgent renew of my PR today or tomorrow before travel or book tickets in Canada, how fast can I get the new PR Card ?
3.) any alternative way possible I can see my father who is suffering from severe medical condition now. Est my visits is about 2-3 weeks max .

Thank you everyone.

I concur in observations offered by Rob_TO.

Additionally: at the least, even if your PR card application is expedited, it will take a number of weeks.

Depending on the situation with your dad (my condolences and I hope he is doing as well as can be expected) you may not want to wait that long to make the trip, particularly since you cannot know for certain how long the process will take. If there is a need to travel soon, and to assure a return by a date certain, it would be safer to travel via the U.S., assuming that is feasible.

Regarding expedited PR card processing time: Assuming the PR card application is expedited, how long it will take is indeed an unknown, but again it would be at least a number of weeks. While it could happen more quickly, it seems likely that it would be five weeks or more, from the date of sending the application off by overnight courier to the date you actually receive the card. Taking longer is a real possibility. Could be faster, but the uncertainty of that weighs against gambling that it will.

In any event, if the situation is one in which you can wait to make the trip, perhaps five or eight weeks or so, in the circumstances you report it seems very likely the application would be expedited. In addition to including the information and documentation as specified in the instructions for the PR card application, plus those for an urgent processing request (proof of ticket purchase for example), probably a good idea to additionally add a brief explanation detailing the circumstances regarding the sudden emergency reason for the trip together with an explanation of the need to return to Canada by a date certain, the latter supported by a letter or other document from the employer verifying your leave limitations.


By the way, you report your husband is a Canadian. So are you of course. You are a Canadian PR. If he is a Canadian citizen, rather than a Canadian PR, particularly one who has been living in Canada for many years, that is one more factor weighing in favour of the PR card application getting expedited processing. I mention this, though, more to emphasize that you too are a Canadian, and thus for example your passport does not afford you any status in Canada, the 3 month visa exemption afforded a Foreign National (someone who is not a Canadian) having no relevance to you. Which is why, as Rob_TO noted, "you don't qualify" for eTA.

 

[.Steve]

Alternately you can fly to a US city and drive across border into Canada. For this you don't need valid PR card or a PR TD.

Does this mean one can enter Canada from US with expired PR card?
There have been some recent changes to the website.

 

[Rob_TO]

Does this mean one can enter Canada from US with expired PR card?
There have been some recent changes to the website.

By car, yes. I'm not aware of any changes.

Of course if you don't meet residency obligation, you risk being reported upon entry and starting process to revoke your PR status.

 

[FIYAZALI]

Hello Members
I became Permanent residence of Canada day I arrived i.e. 13th July 2016.
I will be staying in Canada until December 19th 2016 says about 159 day’s from 13th July 2016 and will return to DUBAI for next 1.5 years 15 months from December 19th 2016 onwards.
My question is as to keep my PR status valid I must stay in Canada for minimum of 2 years out of 5 years. So if I come back in 2018 July will I be able to renew my PR card without any problem or I may be short of 730 days.
My PR card is valid until 2021 August
I understand, if I arrive in 2018 July and then stay back until 2021 I am good to go, please advice
July 13th 2016 –to- 19th December 2016 = days physically present is 159
Now from 2018 July to 2021 August = it will be more than 730 days as per calculator it is 2018=171 days, 2019= 365, 2020=366 & 2021=232 so in total will be 1134 counting from 2018 year and I believe my current stay i.e. from July 13th2016 –to- 19th December 2016 with 159 days will also be counted.
Number of days physically present per calendar year towards my PR renewal will be 1294 days. Please correct me please

2016 160
2017 0
2018 171
2019 365
2020 366
2021 232

My number is 001-9029409260 if there is any whatsapp group for this please add m