Minor PR going back to Canada as an adult

[eriku]

hi,

my daughter (13 years old at the time) and I landed in Canada Feb 2008. After six months we returned to our home country due to financial issues. Now she's already 18 y/o and wants to go back to Canada. She's currently studying at a Universtiy and will graduate in 2015. She wants to finish first her studies before going back to canada. She did not meet her residency obligation and her PR card will expire in Mar 2013. . What are her options? I heard of this travel document she can apply for to enter canada with an expired PR Card.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Leon]

Yes, if she applies for a travel document in 2015 right after her graduation, stating that she was removed from Canada as a minor by her parents and she wishes to return at this point, first chance after reaching adulthood and completing her education, she has a good chance of getting it. Arriving in Canada, she can apply for a new PR card stating the same reasons she used for the travel document. After that, she will need to meet the residency requirements in the future of staying at least 730 days any 5 year period.

 

[eriku]

Great. I will tell her the good news. Thanks Leon.

 

[kai87]

My younger sister is in the same situation, Parents left Canada 3 months after gaining PR status in 2006, she left with them. She is now 17 though and would like to come back to Canada for university ideally as a PR and not an international student, does she have to wait until she is 18 to apply for a travel document?

Thanks very much

 

[Leon]

My younger sister is in the same situation, Parents left Canada 3 months after gaining PR status in 2006, she left with them. She is now 17 though and would like to come back to Canada for university ideally as a PR and not an international student, does she have to wait until she is 18 to apply for a travel document?

Thanks very much

As a minor in Canada, she would at least need a custodian. Are you living in Canada and she is planning to live in your town? She should talk to the Canadian embassy where she lives about her options. As a PR, she can not get a study permit anyway. Either she gets the travel document and comes back as a PR or she gives up her PR and comes back as an international student paying double the fees.

 

[computergeek]

My younger sister is in the same situation, Parents left Canada 3 months after gaining PR status in 2006, she left with them. She is now 17 though and would like to come back to Canada for university ideally as a PR and not an international student, does she have to wait until she is 18 to apply for a travel document?

Thanks very much

No, there is no age requirement to apply for a PR TD (but as Leon mentions they may wonder who will serve as her guardian). But she needs to understand that if she goes to Canada, she must stay in Canada for 730 days before she leaves again, or she risks being deemed to have defaulted on her residency obligation. That would mean she would be stripped of her status as permanent resident and become a foreign national again.

Children who were removed from Canada after becoming PRs seem to have a good success rate at obtaining a PR Travel Document, but they need to be very clear that they were granted permission to return to Canada on H&C grounds and must come back into compliance before they think of traveling back outside Canada - those H&C arguments generally fail the second time around.

 

[kai87]

Wow. Thanks so much for the quick responses guys, you've been extremely helpful. She would be studying in London ON, I'm living in Toronto 2 hours away. She would be going to university at the same age as a lot of the other first year students. So if she gets a travel document that means she does not lose her PR status therefore coming back to canada as a resident and paying resident fees and will not require a study permit correct? If the embassy denies her travel document she will give up her PR status and apply for an international student visa. From what both of you guys are telling me, there is a good chance she will get the travel document given that she was a minor when my parents made her leave Canada. I am making suffificent income to fully support her and can be her legal guardian for 10 months or so until she turns 18.. or she can wait till she is 18 and apply for a travel document and delay university one year if there is a higher probability of her getting the travel document and maintaining her PR status?

Again. thank you thank you thank you!

 

[kai87]

And she is already fully aware that she has no chance of leaving Canada for at least 730 days if she is granted the PR TD to maintain her status.

 

[computergeek]

or she can wait till she is 18 and apply for a travel document and delay university one year if there is a higher probability of her getting the travel document and maintaining her PR status?

She is fortunate to have family in Canada as that will help her. In fact, the sooner she applies for a PRTD, the better, since she can more convincingly argue that this is the first opportunity she has had to return to Canada.

Good luck!

 

[Leon]

Let her apply for the TD now and include your statement that you will act as her guardian when she comes to Canada to study. If she gets the TD, she comes back as a PR.

Like others have said, if she were to end up without a PR card outside Canada again within the next 2 years and would need to apply for a TD again, it would not be so easy to get. Immigration really doesn't like it when they give you a TD and you don't end up moving to Canada with it.

 

[eriku]

hi leon,

After reading your last response, just wondering, in my daughter's case is it possible to apply for a travel document before the PR card expires (march 2013) but will be used in 2015?

thanks

 

[Leon]

hi leon,

After reading your last response, just wondering, in my daughter's case is it possible to apply for a travel document before the PR card expires (march 2013) but will be used in 2015?

thanks

No, travel documents are only valid for about 6 months as well as they would not give someone a travel document if they still have a valid PR card.

 

[eriku]

ok got it. thanks again so much