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daniel_wslim

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Jan 21, 2023
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My parents landed as immigrants through my sponsorship in 2018 and they have stayed in Canada for a total of 1 year. Prior to the pandemic, they left for Taiwan in November 2019. The pandemic was declared in the early 2020 and they were not able to return to Canada. Due to my mom's immune compromise, the doctor here advised that it is better they stay in Taiwan until the pandemic is over. Last year, my mother was diagnosed of kidney failure and started the dialysis treatment and they couldn't leave Taiwan due to the kind of dialysis treatment she was receiving. Their PR cards will be expiring this year in July and I would like to know if it is better for them to return to Canada before the cards expire and plea our case during the renewal process or just let the cards expire and later apply for the PRTD and justify at that time why we couldn't fulfill the 730 days requirement. Is there a risk for them to return to Canada before the cards exprie knowing that we did not fulfill the RO? Thanks
 
Have you posted this same question previously under a different username? This sounds very familiar to me.

During the Covid imposed travel restrictions (including the closure of the border), your parents could have returned. Even those with a family member in Canada could have returned:
https://www.immigroup.com/topics/can-i-still-come-canada-during-covid-19-coronavirus-outbreak/

Being advised by a doctor to NOT travel, may not be of much help if your parents need to use H&C reasons when applying for their renewed PR Cards.

If they return before their cards expire, they will not be refused entry but should be prepared for questioning by the CBSA officer regarding their failure to meet the Residency Obligation. Not saying that they will be questioned, but they should be prepared. It's always possible that they will be admitted without any questions, but nobody here can tell you with any certainty how things will go with CBSA.
Technically, even if the cards expire they would not be denied entry, but without a valid card would not be able to fly.

If they are allowed to enter without questions, or worse the issuance of a 44(1) report, they would need to remain in Canada until they have accrued at least 730 days (including any days from July 2018 to November 2019 towards that number) if they wait until the last minute to return.
 
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Yes, I previously posted but I didn't receive a reply. Thank you for your response above. We will probably prepare to make the trip to return to Canada before the cards expire in July.
 
Being advised by a doctor to NOT travel, may not be of much help if your parents need to use H&C reasons when applying for their renewed PR Cards.

Why do you say this? Seems to me getting medical advice not to travel would be a factor in how they evaluate H&C. Not the only factor, but A factor.

Separately, for the op, do look into medical matters. I've no idea how difficult it would be to ensure ongoing treatment like dialysis for the parents, and must get informed about provincial health care plans. Note that unlike some countries: it's not so easy to just be willing and able to pay.
 
Yes, I checked with the Alberta Health Care and spoke to the nurse handling the dialysis, my parents will be able to continue the treatment without any issues.
 
Why do you say this? Seems to me getting medical advice not to travel would be a factor in how they evaluate H&C. Not the only factor, but A factor.
Which is why I said that it MAY not be helpful.

What about the sentence that was written before that one, where the OP said this:
The pandemic was declared in the early 2020 and they were not able to return to Canada.

Is that an accurate statement? No, it is not. They very well could have returned, but chose not to because of a doctor's opinion. NOT saying that it was not the right decision, just saying that it did not prevent them from returning.
 
Yes, I checked with the Alberta Health Care and spoke to the nurse handling the dialysis, my parents will be able to continue the treatment without any issues.
This may not be helpful if your mother needs to use the pandemic for the primary reason for not traveling. Based on the AHC info, it doesn't appear that the`kind of dialysis treatment' was exclusive to Taiwan.
 
We are not going the HC route, we will return before the PR cards expire and stay in Canada for 730 days after returning before applying for renewal.
 
We are not going the HC route, we will return before the PR cards expire and stay in Canada for 730 days after returning before applying for renewal.
Unless CBSA questions them and decides to write the 44(1) report. They would probably have no choice but to try the H&C approach to set aside the report. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that but nobody can predict what will happen.

Good luck!
 
Good plan.

It's important to understand/remember that each encounter with a CBSA officer is unique, because each officer is unique.

If the officer asks why they were away so long, they may accept their answer as a reasonable explanation and take no action other than to welcome them back to Canada. Sometimes, it's not so easy.
 
They very well could have returned, but chose not to because of a doctor's opinion. NOT saying that it was not the right decision, just saying that it did not prevent them from returning.

This is, to me, a distinction without a difference. Implicit in a doctor's opinion is that it is not safe to do so from a medical perspective.

You can quibble about whether that means you 'could' have travelled, whether that means life or death or just excess risk, but it's not an unreasonable point of view to take that this means one ... should not travel.

And while I can't say IRCC or other involved will treat this as a 100% given H&C 'relief', it seems not at all controversial to say it is something that would be taken seriously and given some weight - likely substantial - unless some reason to believe otherwise.

It is in my view very much the type of thing PRs returning should mention as reasons they 'could not' return earlier.

Same to significant degree for covid, BTW - not unreasonable to say "it did not seem safe to me to travel" when Canadian government was communicating quite loudly that travel was NOT recommended.
 
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I think it's better to have doctor's letter and the record of her treatments ready. Then travel back before their PR cards expire this year.
Hopefully, they can come back without being reported.
 
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This is, to me, a distinction without a difference. Implicit in a doctor's opinion is that it is not safe to do so from a medical perspective.

You can quibble about whether that means you 'could' have travelled, whether that means life or death or just excess risk, but it's not an unreasonable point of view to take that this means one ... should not travel.

And while I can't say IRCC or other involved will treat this as a 100% given H&C 'relief', it seems not at all controversial to say it is something that would be taken seriously and given some weight - likely substantial - unless some reason to believe otherwise.

It is in my view very much the type of thing PRs returning should mention as reasons they 'could not' return earlier.

Same to significant degree for covid, BTW - not unreasonable to say "it did not seem safe to me to travel" when Canadian government was communicating quite loudly that travel was NOT recommended.
Again...
Which is why I said that it MAY not be helpful.

Call it quibble, but it's just my opinion.
 
I think it's better to have doctor's letter and the record of her treatments ready. Then travel back before their PR cards expire this year.
Hopefully, they can come back without being reported.
yes, we have all the documents from the doctor, finger crossed
 
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