georgekronberg said:
I know that my wife is not allowed to leave Canada until she gets her PR.
While often claimed, this is not what the law, regulations or the CIC manual say. Plenty of people report traveling out of Canada while waiting for inland sponsorship successfully. The risk is that if refused entry at the border the application will eventually fail (oddly, I just read this over the weekend again).
From IP 8 "Spouse or Common-law Partner in Canada":
5.28. Applicants who leave Canada before a final decision is taken on their application for
permanent residence
An applicant's departure from Canada after the application is stamped as received or after assessment of eligibility for membership in the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class may affect their ability to become a permanent resident.
A foreign national becomes a permanent resident, if following an examination, it is established that they meet the selection criteria and other requirements applicable to that class as per R72(1)(d).
Foreign nationals are not provided with any guarantees that they will be allowed to return to or reenter Canada. If they are unable to do so, their application for permanent residence may be refused because they are not cohabiting with their spouse or common-law partner at the time the case is finalized [R72(1)(d) and R124(a)].
It may therefore be appropriate to counsel applicants who are outside Canada to withdraw their spouse or common-law partner in Canada class application and submit a new application for a permanent resident visa to the CPC-Mississauga (CPC-M).
(emphasis added)
georgekronberg said:
Now my question is regarding myself - am I allowed to leave Canada while we're waiting for her status? If it matters, I'm talking about leaving for 1-2 weeks for business trips to US mostly.
The answer here revolves around where you
live not why you travel or how long you travel. Others have speculated as to time, but the actual question for CIC is "does the permanent resident reside in Canada?"
From IP 2 "Family Class Applications":
A sponsor is a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or Registered Indian (see Note below) at least 18 years old, who resides in Canada and has filed an application to sponsor a member of the family class, a member of the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class or an applicant seeking permanent residence status in
Canada under H&C grounds [R130(1)]. Sponsors must meet these requirements on the day the sponsorship is filed and from that day until the day a decision is made with respect to the application (to sponsor) [R133(1)]
In the case of applicants, the issue is often that they travel back to their home country in order to be with family and/or friends. This makes it look like they aren't living with their sponsor.
In the case of a sponsor, the issue will definitely revolve around the nature of the travel. Suppose your travel is to a place where you have significant family ties. An officer might reach the conclusion that you aren't really living in Canada and as long as that is a plausible interpretation of the evidence, their decision is unlikely to be quashed if challenged.
However, suppose you must travel to a half-dozen different cities in the US for work. You stay in hotels, you rent cars, and you meet with your company's clients. When it is done, you fly
home to your house in Canada - that you lease/rent/own. All your residential ties (your spouse, children, friends, etc.) are in Canada. Even if you were gone for a month, an officer that reached a decision this meant you weren't living in Canada would not be upheld if challenged in Federal Court.
Lets suppose you must spend a month in Miami. You own property there, you have a car there and you have family and friends there. When you meet with your client, you stay in your house, drive your car and have dinner with friends and family every night. An officer looking at this situation would likely conclude you were living overseas and such a decision would likely be upheld if challenged in Federal Court.
Thus the real test isn't "how long are you gone" but rather the nature of your ties to Canada: is Canada your home? The weaker your ties to Canada and the stronger to the place you go to work, the more likely it will look as if you aren't living in Canada. This isn't formulaic because it requires evaluating the evidence and coming up with a reasonable interpretation.
Bottom line, I suspect from what you've described that you won't have any issues. But ask yourself: if you are a visa officer looking at your travel record, is it reasonable to interpret it as "living outside Canada"?
I deal with this routinely. In 2013 I spent 88 days outside Canada. One trip was five weeks long. But I stayed in hotels, rented cars, moved from location to location, met with different customers and in the end
I went home. I cannot imagine how anyone could claim I wasn't living in Canada.
One other unrelated caution: be careful about how much income you earn in the US, as once it exceeds a certain threshold you must file a US income tax return as a non-resident (assuming you aren't a US citizen. If you are a US Citizen, you have a legal obligation to file a return each year unless you have essentially no worldwide income.)