Leaving Canada for holiday while inland PR application pending?

[leah-kalinda]

Has anyone out there ever attempted this? I am sponsoring my British husband, whose PR application entered processing on February 3, 2014. He is currently on a visitor permit (that expires next month, but which I am renewing now). His cousin's wedding is in England this July.
I know the CIC website and agents warn that, should a person with their PR application in process be denied re-entry to Canada, their application will be discarded, but I'm trying to deduce if this is a 'worst case scenario' warning or if people have tried it and had no problem.
As always, any and all advice is appreciated and thank you!
lkn

 

[scylla]

There are certainly people who have done this successfully - especially those who are visa exempt such as your husband. Note that his visitor permit will be effectively canceled as soon as he leaves Canada. So he will be entering as a brand new visitor and will be assessed as such by immigration officials.

There is always some chance of refusal to enter Canada, even for those who are visa exempt (and yes - we've seen this happen on this forum). This is why those who apply inland are supposed to remain in Canada. Ultimately it's up to you if you take the risk or not.

It's really too bad you didn't apply outland but I know that's water under the bridge at this point...

 

[QuebecOkie]

Exactly what scylla says. Is it likely that someone who is visa-exempt with no prior difficulty at the border will be refused entry? Nope. Is it possible? Yep. So it depends on how risk-adverse you and he are. You would quite likely be fine, but on the off-hand chance that you get Canada's pissiest border guard on the way back in, a denial of reentry to Canada would nullify an inland app.

 

[leah-kalinda]

Thank you guys so much for your quick and thorough replies- we greatly appreciate it! Hmm, I'm not much of a risk-taker...

 

[alicia13]

Thank you guys so much for your quick and thorough replies- we greatly appreciate it! Hmm, I'm not much of a risk-taker...

I'm in the same situation, Inland application sent in early February, after careful consideration I have decided against risking it, I'm also visa-exempt but the risk just far outweighs the benefit in my opinion even though it means I'll be missing my sister's wedding Not only could your partner be denied entry, his application also automatically becomes "abandoned" and all your waiting so far would be in vain! As other posters have said, it would "probably" be OK but it's very much up to the discretion of whoever you happen to meet at the border on the way back in. Another aspect for me was that I would probably end up spending my holiday worrying about how my re entry would go...lol
One way or the other good luck!

 

[leah-kalinda]

alicia13-- Exactly! I chatted about it with my husband yesterday and we said the exact same thing. We decided we didn't want to risk having everything thrown in the rubbish after all our hard work (we are global nomads, having lived in 4 countries during our 5 years of marriage, so collecting all the documents was a nightmare!), PLUS, you brought up a really good point of not enjoying the holiday because we'd just be stressing about re-entry. Sorry about missing your sister's wedding! We're going to miss my husband's favourite cousin's wedding and seeing his British family... alicia13, let's just all console ourselves by having a Molson by the frigid pool and not worrying about re-entry, eh?

 

[QuebecOkie]

That was my thought, too. I desperately wanted to see my family (my young nephew - the only one I've got, is growing up without knowing his "Tantie Meg"), but I knew I would be so stressed about the possibility of anything going wrong that I wouldn't really enjoy the visit. I didn't travel until after I became a PR. Then I booked a trip to visit family over the holidays last year. I was still a *little* bit nervous, as I hadn't received my PR card by the time I was ready to leave. However, I had no issues on the return trip. Just went to Immigration, and they verified that I was a PR.

Sorry you're having to miss out on fun stuff! But this won't last forever (it'll just SEEM like forever, until it's over).

 

[leah-kalinda]

Yeah, it's definitely tough! We're also missing out on spending time with my husband's nieces and nephew in the States, plus it dashes any plans for our fifth anniversary this August... but it's better to get things sorted, eh?

 

[yvr1234]

We did the same back then.
Also from Visa exempt country and wouldn't want to risk it.

 

[QuebecOkie]

Yeah, I'm pretty risk-averse. Risk-intolerant, you might say. NO WAY would I have wanted to start that process over again at any point!

 

[Linden]

There is always some chance of refusal to enter Canada, even for those who are visa exempt (and yes - we've seen this happen on this forum). This is why those who apply inland are supposed to remain in Canada. Ultimately it's up to you if you take the risk or not.

Can provide a link to where someone had this problem? Thx!