Can somebody guide me if I will be able to get extension of my PR status under the following condition:
I left Canada after living for 7 months in 2014 due to my mother's illness.
My mother stayed ill until she had some serious surgery last year. now she is stable and I am planning to move back to Canada again.
My PR card is still valid and will expire next year in September... I won't be able to meet the RO by then.
Will they allow me to enter Canada?
Will I be able to get extension next year if I move back to Canada in a month?
Please guide me
Excellent responses have been provided by
@Buletruck and
@scylla and I concur with those.
Some clarification and emphasis is warranted.
When you travel to Canada, be prepared to make the H&C case upon arrival at the PoE JUST in CASE there is a PR RO examination. It is almost always easier to persuade the border officers to allow you to keep status than it is to win the appeal (except many PRs are not adequately prepared for the PoE examination, and thus first get the chance to make a persuasive case in the appeal, having in effect blown their first and best chance).
As @
bricksonly alluded, if you have been absent from Canada for 1095 or more days the math is simple, no calculating necessary. Risk of PR RO compliance questions is fairly high even if you arrive more than a year before current PR card expires (as others have said, the validity date of the PR card is NOT relevant in calculating compliance with the PR RO, BUT it can influence whether PoE officers discern cause to ask questions regarding RO compliance).
Is hiring a lawyer a good idea at this stage ? I mean he can fight the case on H&C grounds. and I may get the renewal next year.
A consultation with a lawyer could help you gather and organize the information and documentation which will help make your H&C case. But of course the lawyer is not going to be present or representing you upon your arrival at a PoE. And, indeed, as I understand it, travelers will not ordinarily be given access to their lawyer during a PoE examination.
Do NOT confuse immigration consultants and lawyers. Never rely on consultants who are NOT officially authorized consultants in Canada.
If you are reported and issued a Departure Order at the PoE (you still get to enter Canada), you need to appeal and while many do not obtain the assistance of a lawyer for this, it is prudent to do so. H&C cases are almost always tricky.
Whether you get in without being reported, or you are reported and appeal, your best chances to keep PR status will compel you to STAY put in Canada for most if not entirely the next two years . . . and while a lawyer can be a big help in the appeal itself, there is little or nothing a lawyer can do to change the need to stay put in Canada or to accelerate when it will be OK to make a sponsorship application for your spouse. You probably face some difficult questions ahead.
Technically if you are examined and reported for a PR RO breach at the border, but the Minister's delegate (in practice just another border officer) decides to NOT issue a Removal or Departure Order based EXPLICITLY on H&C grounds, you would be more free to come and go (briefly, not for extended periods of time) without first staying two years, and could make the sponsorship application right away. Odds are not good this is how it will go. If your H&C reasons are persuasive at the PoE it is more likely the examining officer, in consultation with others at the PoE, will simply waive you into Canada without reporting you; if you are reported, odds are high the Minister's delegate (again, in practice just another officer there, or perhaps one you talk to over the telephone while you are still in the PoE) will issue the Removal or Departure Order and you will need to appeal.
If you believe there was a favourable and more or less official decision based on H&C reasons, you could consult with a lawyer to discuss whether or not to make the sponsorship application sooner rather than waiting two years. This could, however, be tricky and, potentially, risky.
Further Note:
There is no way to determine or dictate how it will go at the PoE until you actually travel to Canada and are there, in person, at the PoE . . . without your lawyer even if you have a lawyer.
The only way a PR abroad can come close to a before-hand determination is by applying for a PR Travel Document. Which you do not want to do if you can avoid it (visa offices tend to be the most strict in PR RO examinations) and which you are not eligible for so long as you still have your valid PR card.
The key point here is that at this juncture, having already breached the PR RO, you are forced to gamble some . . . to make the trip to Canada planning on staying in Canada for two years, without knowing whether you will in fact be able to keep your PR status and eventually bring your family to Canada.
