Thank you so much for your reply. We live together, we have leases on our name (As co-lease holders), and a bunch of utility bills showcasing the names and same address. I did not get a SIN card (unfortunately).
Are there specific documents other the usual ones on the IRCC to have on hand while returning via a land border ?
Also If flying in, I understand I need to apply for a PRTD, is one choice better than the other ?
Not sure if others take it for granted that you are familiar with and have reviewed the specific information IRCC provides that details what supporting documents a PR needs to present to show their compliance with the PR Residency Obligation, including what needs to be presented when the PR is relying on credit toward meeting the RO for days outside Canada "
accompanying" their Canadian citizen spouse. But just in case you are not familiar with this information, see the appendix to the instructions for a PR card application (which for this part of the instructions is the same as those for making a PR TD application), which is here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...newal-change-gender-identifier.html#appendixA
See, in particular the information under the section titled "
Situation B. Accompanying a Canadian citizen outside Canada." It lists both mandatory supporting documents and additional optional documents.
That's your best primary source of information about showing RO compliance, particularly for a PR relying on the credit for days outside Canada accompanying a Canadian citizen spouse.
It should be easy to compile what you need to show if you have been living together for five years, to establish
-- the marital relationship,
-- the Canadian citizenship of the spouse, and
-- the days outside Canada that you have been ordinarily residing together . . .
There is one potential wrinkle, alluded to by both
@canuck78 and
@armoured, regarding whether or not you (the PR) "
accompanied" or have been "
accompanying" your Canadian citizen spouse . . . as in whether the two of you were settled in Canada and moved outside Canada essentially together (even if not exactly at the same time together). This is NOT an issue many (if any) PRs have reported here in the forum about being personally involved, so what we know about it largely comes from a few actual cases reported in officially adjudicated decisions published by the IAD and Federal Courts. There have been just enough of these cases to know there can be an issue, not necessarily there will be but it can happen at least in some particular situations, such as scenarios referenced by
@canuck78:
-- PR never settled in Canada (so, in effect, could not "accompany" their spouse in going outside Canada to live)
-- Spousal sponsorship for PR while the sponsor is living abroad and not following through with stated plan to settle in Canada (in the sense this could trigger a readily recognized flag the PR was not settled in Canada and therefore factually could not have accompanied their Canadian citizen spouse in going outside Canada)
As I noted, we have only seen enough of these cases to know there can be some risk for PRs in certain situations. Cannot confirm but what
@canuck78 suggests makes sense about it not being worth the effort and taxpayers' dollars to pursue these cases, at least in cases where it appears the couple are on a path to settle in Canada, particularly since the Canadian citizen spouse can sponsor if RO credit is denied and PR status lost.
So how much risk there is appears to be low given the very small number of such cases we know about.
That said, apart from the particular circumstances in most of these cases (the PR not settled in Canada with their Canadian citizen spouse, before living together abroad, being the most common scenario in them), all but one of the cases I am familiar with (see
here for discussion, citation, and links to known cases) arose from a PR TD application. The thing about a PR TD application, its main disadvantage for a PR who may have RO compliance issues, is that processing a PR TD application necessarily involves an assessment of RO compliance and starts from the premise (a presumption) that the PR does NOT have valid PR status. That may be enough to tip the scales in favour of driving to the border, which would have even more favourable odds if the couple are traveling together (as best I recall, in the one case I know about coming out of a Port-of-Entry examination, the PR was traveling to Canada unaccompanied by their Canadian citizen spouse). Then not making the PR card application until after establishing in fact residence in Canada.
