Not yet living with sponsored spouse

[NarNar]

Hello everyone, I have a question and hope someone can help me out.

I am a Canadian citizen and I am married to a foreigner. I sponsored him to Canada and he got his PR in October of 2015, which means this October would make it 2 years. We are still not yet living with each other due to unforeseen circumstances; also, I'll be moving to his country for some time (in December) before we move back to Canada together but we have not been living together since he got his PR October 2015. I am just wondering what the deadline is that we must start living together (meaning, he must be living with me, his Canadian citizen spouse) before his PR will be expired? I have heard from some people that it is 2 years and others have said it is 3 years, but I'm not able to find any additional information on the matter. I hope that was not too confusing and I appreciate any help in advance!

Side note: Normally you would need to show 2 years of continuous stay in Canada to maintain your PR status. However, since we will be living outside of Canada together for some time it slightly changes in that the time will be counted by how long he's been living with me, rather than how long he's been living in Canada.

Please correct me if I'm wrong in any of this! Thanks again!

 

[Bs65]

So maybe I am the only one confused here but where do you see the rule that a spouse once they have PR status must physically live with the sponsor spouse, spouse sponsorship obligations maybe but living together not so sure ?. Not saying there isnt a rule as I am certainly not an expert so maybe clarify that.

Your spouse landed in 10/2015 so assuming they have not been out of the country since, they will meet their initial residency obligation 10/2017 2 years out of 5 .

So after 10/2017 they could in theory be out of the country for the following 3 years but still meet their initial residency obligation.

Residency obligation by the way is not 2 years continuous residency it is an accumulated 2 years in any 5 year period with the initial 5 years from landing being the most important after which is a 'rolling' 5 years.. Maintaining PR residency obligation is an individuals responsibility not a sponsors responsibility.

As said I am not familiar or have any knowledge about any living together rule post PR so maybe your question is really about how your spouse maintains their RO when accompanying a citizen outside Canada should this in your case go beyond 10/2020 given address history 10/2015 through 12/2017 where you had different addresses ?

I am sure others will comment and correct me or clarify so take above as just my view to start the conversation for my own education given if nothing else am interested to learn about this minimum living together rule for a spouse post PR landing as opposed to any spouse sponsorship obligations for a period post PR landing.

 

[NarNar]

So maybe I am the only one confused here but where do you see the rule that a spouse once they have PR status must physically live with the sponsor spouse, spouse sponsorship obligations maybe but living together not so sure ?. Not saying there isnt a rule as I am certainly not an expert so maybe clarify that.

Your spouse landed in 10/2015 so assuming they have not been out of the country since, they will meet their initial residency obligation 10/2017 2 years out of 5 .

So after 10/2017 they could in theory be out of the country for the following 3 years but still meet their initial residency obligation.

Residency obligation by the way is not 2 years continuous residency it is an accumulated 2 years in any 5 year period with the initial 5 years from landing being the most important after which is a 'rolling' 5 years.. Maintaining PR residency obligation is an individuals responsibility not a sponsors responsibility.

As said I am not familiar or have any knowledge about any living together rule post PR so maybe your question is really about how your spouse maintains their RO when accompanying a citizen outside Canada should this in your case go beyond 10/2020 given address history 10/2015 through 12/2017 where you had different addresses ?

I am sure others will comment and correct me or clarify so take above as just my view to start the conversation for my own education given if nothing else am interested to learn about this minimum living together rule for a spouse post PR landing as opposed to any spouse sponsorship obligations for a period post PR landing.

Hi thanks for your reply! I'm not an expert in this area by any means...maybe I didn't elaborate enough though. So yes my spouse landed in Canada 10/2015 but spent only about a month and flew back to his country and he has been there ever since. Like I mentioned earlier I'm going to meet him in his country where we will live together for some time (maybe a couple years) before moving back to Canada.

I understand that they need to be in Canada for an accumulated 2 years in a 5 year period. But what if he's unable to be in Canada in that time. Isnt his "2 years requirement" also counted by the amount of time we are living together outside of Canada? Like instead of my spouse being in Canada for 2 years, he will be living outside of Canada with his Canadian citizen sponsor for 2 years (and we'd have to prove that). I've done some searches before and this is what I've come to understand but could be completely wrong.

 

[spousalsponsee]

I understand that they need to be in Canada for an accumulated 2 years in a 5 year period. But what if he's unable to be in Canada in that time. Isnt his "2 years requirement" also counted by the amount of time we are living together outside of Canada? Like instead of my spouse being in Canada for 2 years, he will be living outside of Canada with his Canadian citizen sponsor for 2 years (and we'd have to prove that). I've done some searches before and this is what I've come to understand but could be completely wrong.

In order to meet the residency obligation, your partner must, for at least 2 years out of every 5, be able to prove that he was in Canada, or outside Canada with his Canadian citizen partner.

He will find it a lot easier to keep his Canadian Permanent Residency if, at any point, he actually considers moving to Canada.

 

[NarNar]

In order to meet the residency obligation, your partner must, for at least 2 years out of every 5, be able to prove that he was in Canada, or outside Canada with his Canadian citizen partner.

Thanks! That answers both of my questions. I appreciate your response!