Thank you. She can try renewing her PR card once we move out of the country and see if IRCC counts the number of days spent. If accepted well and good, if not apply for sponsorship and move once approved.
Some clarifications without addressing all the tangents:
Current law, policies, rules, and practices can change over time. Some things
WILL change (especially in regards to practices). For immigrants who are not Canadian citizens it can be a bit tricky relying on what the law, policies, rules, and practices will be in more than a decade.
So, if living outside Canada long term, PAY ATTENTION to what might be changing in Canadian law and rules for PRs!
The way things work now is a good starting point, a baseline. And the guide for making either a PR card application (which currently can ONLY be made when the PR is IN Canada) or an application for a PR Travel Document (needed to fly to Canada if PR card is expired or the PR otherwise does not have one) are a particularly good source of what the PR needs to know, such as information about PR Residency Obligations.
The latter includes what a PR needs to present/show in order to get credit toward the PR RO for days outside Canada accompanying their Canadian citizen spouse.
To be clear (or so is the effort): A PR who is "
accompanying" their Canadian citizen spouse gets RO credit for the days they are ordinarily residing together outside Canada. Thus a PR accompanying their Canadian citizen spouse outside Canada will continue to be in compliance with the RO. They will not be in breach of the RO.
That is current law. References to exceptions are not about whether IRCC allows this credit. It's the law.
Exceptions are about circumstances in which IRCC might conclude the PR was
NOT "
accompanying" their Canadian citizen spouse even if they are together outside Canada. That is a big, complicated subject. For the PR who was settled and living together with their Canadian citizen spouse
IN Canada before the couple relocates outside Canada, and they are ordinarily residing together outside Canada, this should NOT be a concern . . . .
. . . so long as the rules do not change.