Leaving Canada during spousal sponsorship

[anyhopeforme]

Hi OP, I was a PR and left Canada for an extended period of time (4 months) as I was on parental leave and had my son where my husband is. The visa officer sent an email saying that it was ok to be out for an extended visit, but gave me a deadline to prove that I had returned back to Canada and was residing there.

I sent them:

letter from my company saying I was on leave and the date I was returning back
letter from my landlord saying I have a lease till this November
proof of my airline ticket back
scan of my passport stamp when I returned back to Canada

I think it probably ends up being at the discretion of the officer

 

[Stuntxd9]

There is NOTHING in the rules that says a PR cannot travel outside Canada while sponsoring.

 

[badpusacat]

Well if you think about it, the rules do say PRs are not supposed to leave Canada. Just like how for inlanders, the spouse has to remain in Canada. Its the same thing for both situations: Person knows the rules, person agrees to the rules by signing contract, person suddenly wants to break the rules while still keeping the application active.

Why try to have your cake and eat it too? I think if people sign a contract and agree to follow the rules they shouldnt try to skirt them

Can you post the link of that contract, please.

 

[badpusacat]

Hi OP, I was a PR and left Canada for an extended period of time (4 months) as I was on parental leave and had my son where my husband is. The visa officer sent an email saying that it was ok to be out for an extended visit, but gave me a deadline to prove that I had returned back to Canada and was residing there.

I sent them:

letter from my company saying I was on leave and the date I was returning back
letter from my landlord saying I have a lease till this November
proof of my airline ticket back
scan of my passport stamp when I returned back to Canada

I think it probably ends up being at the discretion of the officer

What's the status of your application now or after you went outside of Canada?

There is NOTHING in the rules that says a PR cannot travel outside Canada while sponsoring.

I agree! I've done my research on CIC WEBSITE, read the application forms, and there is nothing in there that states that I CANNOT leave Canada as PR sponsor while the application is in progress.

...unless I missed something!

 

[SadButTrue]

Well if you think about it, the rules do say PRs are not supposed to leave Canada. Just like how for inlanders, the spouse has to remain in Canada. Its the same thing for both situations: Person knows the rules, person agrees to the rules by signing contract, person suddenly wants to break the rules while still keeping the application active.

Why try to have your cake and eat it too? I think if people sign a contract and agree to follow the rules they shouldnt try to skirt them

Show me where it says that the person must be in Canada during the application under review.

 

[Decoy24601]

You can go for short trips/visits, but you can't leave for long periods of time. One to two months might be pushing your luck in my opinion. Exactly how much time would be alright is a bit of a grey area. In my opinion, I wouldn't go for more than 2-3 weeks.

"Note: Permanent residents residing abroad may not sponsor from outside of Canada. Canadian citizens travelling as tourists are not considered to be residing abroad."

It's right in the application guide: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/3900ETOC.asp

I would take what the call center agent says with caution, since this is a grey area.

I'm quoting myself, because people seem to be forgetting.

Yes, you can travel outside of Canada as a PR. The issue is if the case officer decides that your time outside of Canada is long enough to mean you are "residing" in another country. That's when you could run into issues. I personally wouldn't gamble on an individual officer's opinion of a 2-3 month trip outside of Canada.

 

[badpusacat]

I'm quoting myself, because people seem to be forgetting.

Yes, you can travel outside of Canada as a PR. The issue is if the case officer decides that your time outside of Canada is long enough to mean you are "residing" in another country. That's when you could run into issues. I personally wouldn't gamble on an individual officer's opinion of a 2-3 month trip outside of Canada.

Yes, point well taken! That is exactly what I'm trying to say that there is no published rules/contract/law about this issue. There is nothing that says that we cannot leave Canada as PR sponsor while application is in progress. It depends on the visa officer.

I am with you that 2-3 months is too long for a vacation and might be too risky for the application.

Thank you!

 

[Stuntxd9]

It is clear that some persons are misinterpreting the Sponsors Guide.

 

[Decoy24601]

Yes, point well taken! That is exactly what I'm trying to say that there is no published rules/contract/law about this issue. There is nothing that says that we cannot leave Canada as PR sponsor while application is in progress. It depends on the visa officer.

I am with you that 2-3 months is too long for a vacation and might be too risky for the application.

Thank you!

No problem. I completely agree with you that general travel outside of Canada is alright. I think a month should be fine, even though there's a small chance that you could catch a case processor on a bad day (or even a CBSA officer when returning to Canada). I don't think the CIC expects PRs to never be able to leave the country, even for a few days. It's just there's no concrete time when "visiting" becomes "residing" in the eyes of the CIC. I wish they did have something that specifically referred to an amount of time, but they don't.

Stuntxd9, I don't see how I'm misinterpreting. The guide is very clear on this matter. Yes, PRs can travel outside of Canada, but they cannot reside outside of Canada. The issue is at what point a visit is considered residing, which isn't specifically defined anywhere.

 

[screech339]

My 2 cents says a month away is fine for PR to leave Canada while PR application is in process. Beyond that, it is risky. Remember the agent knows most people have 2-3 weeks allotted time for vacation per year. Most senior staff have 4-5 weeks vacation earned due to years of employment. Most company policies have a limit of allowing employees to take 3 weeks straight for vacation. So when someone leaves for more than a month, that is an unusual "vacation" time away from Canada. This can trigger a red flag on the PR sponsor when they return to Canada. Remember they are now able to track PR's exit date through passenger manifest.

 

[badpusacat]

It is clear that some persons are misinterpreting the Sponsors Guide.

I know! That is why I'm asking for the link of the contract/law/rules that he seems to have or found out.

 

[Ponga]

IMHO, the REAL problem is the ambiguity in CIC's own language (in the Guide(s), Operational Maunal(s), etc.), when it states things like: "Brief periods away from their spouse, are acceptable, blah blah blah", without clearly defining what constitutes a brief period of time...or better yet, what violates a brief period of time.

Once again, this is an issue that seems to be whatever the officer `feels' on the day that s/he is reviewing the information. Did s/he come to work grumpy, or is s/he smiling and whistling whilst looking at the application?

Some things (and THIS issue is certainly one of them) needs concrete information from CIC.

 

[SadButTrue]

I tried to search for cases like these but unfortunately couldnt find a lot. Maybe one but without information how long and etc. CIC should look into it and make it understandable.

 

[badpusacat]

I tired to search for cases like these but unfortunately couldnt find a lot. Maybe one but without information how long and etc. CIC should look into it and make it understandable.

I did that as well. I can't even find in this forum a case that they got denied because of PR visiting outside Canada.

 

[SadButTrue]

I did that as well. I can't even find in this forum a case that they got denied because of PR visiting outside Canada.

Yeah. I told the some me some threads that people got refused because of that. They didn't. Still deciding what to do.